Khatijah Rahmat

Khatijah (Kat) Rahmat studies the tension between human imaginaries of time and the temporal possibilities within animal lifeworlds. Her PhD dissertation examined how conceptions of time shape the assessment and interpretation of elephants across diverse knowledge systems. Her current work at the MPIWG builds on this foundation, asking how regarding elephants as temporal subjects can challenge the anthropocentric limits of historiography. If elephants are capable of exhibiting historically contingent behavior, and their vocalizations encode layered temporalities, can an interrogation of bioacoustics serve as a testimonial record of elephant experience? If so, could it form the basis for a history of elephants through sound?

Rahmat received her doctorate in Geography from the University of Oxford in 2025. Her previous degrees include an MFA from The Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, and an MA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Edinburgh. She is co-editor of the volume, Composing Worlds with Elephants (IRD Éditions, 2023), an interdisciplinary dialogue exploring the historical, social and ecological entanglement of humans and elephants.

At the MPIWG, Khatijah is also co-organizer of the "Multispecies Militarism" Reading Group.