South Asian Students Association

Afiya Zia will trace the backlash against the liberal and/or secular women's movement as betrayers of the Muslim (male) cause. She will also discuss the misguided prescription of academic and developmental projects that advocate the instrumentalization of Islam as an appropriate and 'authentic' approach in Muslim contexts. Her concern is to recover the nascent working class secular movements that are being rendered invisible in the competing discources of Islam, imperialism, and nationalism.

Afiya S. Zia is a feminist researcher and activist based in Karachi, Pakistan. She has published in scholarly journals and recently written about this lecture topic in the Guardian. She is presently working on a book titled 'Faith and Feminism'.