PHD STUDENT SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
She/her/hers
Matriculated September 2023
Research Interests
South Asia, widowhood, rituals, shrines, gender
About
Rumana’s research centres around widows’ experiences of piety and how these are impacted by social status of widowhood. She examines this through the lens of shrine rituals in Pakistan and the notion that shrines are public sanctuaries known to challenge social norms and identities. Rumana is also interested in seeing how silence and mundanity of every-day rhythm plays out in the lives of widows and whether this has any impact in their spiritual and/or religious endeavors.
Prior to joining Boston University, Rumana was an Erasmus Mundus scholar (2019-2021) and completed her double Masters in Women and Gender Studies from University of York (UK) and Universidad de Granada (Spain). Her Masters thesis was titled ‘Towards Financial Security for Married Muslim Women: Re-evaluating Nikahnama, Mahr and Jahez in Pakistan. She also holds a B.A in Liberal Arts (2018) from Bennington College. Her undergraduate thesis-novel was an ethnographic study of the shrines of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan and Bulleh Shah in Kasur and was titled ‘Bulleh ki jaana main kaun: Politicisation of Sufi Shrines in Pakistan.’
Rumana is also a poet whose work has been showcased and published at numerous events including the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2021. She is a member of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA). Rumana currently serves on the IPRA council, the APPRA executive council and as the Editor-in-Chief of the IPRA newsletter.
Awards & Grants
- Boston University Dean’s Fellowship (Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
Publications
- Mehdi, Syeda Rumana. “Ghar Ki Shaadi: Of Family Pressure, Maulvis and the Nikahnama.” Himal SouthAsian, 27 Sept. 2022.