Area of research: My research focuses on the history, culture and politics of South Asia and Islamicate societies. My dissertation elucidates the heritage of contemporary feminist social movements in South Asia by examining Indian intellectual Ismat Chughtai’s advocacy for progressive social change through cosmopolitan Bombay cinema and transnational Urdu literature. I argue that in order to understand the breadth of modern Muslim societies, we must look beyond self-consciously religious circles to shapers of film and literary culture. By breaking down west/rest binaries, my work enriches possibilities for understanding global histories of gender and sexuality. 

Why NELC? I've always been interested in alternative Muslim subjectivities and I aim to explore the many manifestations and experiences of Islam in my work. Thesis title: "Social Justice in Islamicate South Asia: Ismat Chughtai's Feminist Intellectual Cosmopolitanism, 1911-1991."