I am a second-year MPhil in Political Theory at Oxford, funded by a Rhodes Scholarship (Pakistan & Balliol 2024). My research examines the intersections of labour, gender, and political theory in colonial and 'post'-colonial South Asia, with particular attention to housework, caste, and kinship, and the conceptual distinction between productive and reproductive labour. I am also interested in investigating the role of right-wing women and trans-exclusionary feminist thought in shaping contemporary gender politics, engaging critically with figures such as Anjali Arondekar, Andrea Dworkin, and Sophie Lewis. More broadly, my work seeks to situate postcolonial political theory within debates on universalism and difference, decolonial Marxism(s), nativism, and secularism. In addition, I am eager to study terror as both an affective formation and a politico-legal category, tracing the implications of anti-terror legislation and its uses and abuses, drawing on scholarship in history and anthropology, including the work of Talal Asad, Durba Ghosh, Joseph McQuade, and Alpa Shah, among others.
Prior to Oxford, I completed two bachelor’s degrees in History and Philosophy at Yale University, graduating with distinction in both. At Yale, I worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Madiha Tahir, examining extrajudicial disappearance in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I am also an avid language learner and am presently working to improve my Arabic, German, and Bengali speaking skills. I am a native Urdu and Punjabi speaker.
Currently, I am Chief Editor at South Asian Avant-Garde Magazine (SAAG), and help run a public library in Lahore (Kitab Ghar Lahore).
