My work focuses on South Asian women’s movements, South Asian folklore, and postcolonial feminist identities. I am also currently working on two projects that specifically intersect with contemporary Human Rights and Nationalism discourse in South Asian feminist contexts. I am a former Human Rights journalist who worked primarily in Pakistan on issues concerning Gender and Minority rights in Pakistan for over 12 years.
At LUMS, I teach introductory and advanced courses on multiple topics including Gender and Sexuality, Political Science, Media and Master narratives, Folklore, and Writing and Communication. I am also affiliated with the Gender and Sexuality Studies minor and the Saeeda Waheed Gender Initiative (SWGI) at LUMS. I hold an MSt in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, UK, an MA in Mass Communication from Kinnaird College, Lahore and am currently in the final stages of my PhD in Global Gender Studies from University at Buffalo, SUNY under a Fulbright Fellowship.
Awards and Honors
- Fulbright PhD fellow, 2017, Global Gender Studies at University at Buffalo, SUNY
- Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowship, 2012, New York Times
- Journalism for Peace exchange, Print fellowship, Government of Denmark, 2011
- Media Matters student visiting fellowship, Lady Sri Ram College, New Delhi, 2004
Publications
Journalism –
Dawn articles:
https://www.dawn.com/authors/3169/maria-amir
The Express Tribune articles:
https://tribune.com.pk/author/89/maria-amir
Academic Publications:
- 2021 - Chapter titled "Generation Jugni: Mapping the Influence of Folklore in Pakistan's Aurat Marches" published in 'A Cartographic Journey of Race, Gender and Power: Global Identity' (ed) Syrrina Ahsan Ali, Sameer Afzal. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- 2023 (Forthcoming) - Chapter titled "Pakistan's Churails: Young Feminists Choosing Witch Way is Forward" to be published in The Witch Studies Reader published by Duke University Press.
2023 - Chapter titled "All the Women in Me Are on Fire" to be published in anthology titled 'The Feminisms of Our Mothers' published by Liberty Books. - January 5, 2011 - The Blasphemy Law: Upholding Pakistani bigotry since 1986. Published in The Missing Slate.
Conferences
- September 2-4, 2022 - University of South Carolina, Magic Un/Disciplined Conference. Presented paper titled 'Jugni as Jadoo: Exploring Themes of Magical Realism in a Spark'.
- March, 2020 - University of Chicago South Asian Graduate Student Conference. Presented a paper titled 'Generation Jugni - Mapping the Influence of folklore in Pakistan's Aurat Marches."
- April, 2019 – _Presented a paper titled "Sufi Subversions: Coding and Framing female rebellion" at the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) annual convention in Washington DC.
- April, 2018 – _Presented a paper titled 'Zan, Zar, Zameen: Negotiating Nationalisms & the politics of framing Indo-Pak feminist solidarity' in the panel titled "South Asian Culture: Tradition, Transgression and Dialogue at the Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) conference in Pittsburgh.