Maria Amir

I am currently a PhD candidate and Fulbright Fellow completing my dissertation at the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies at University at Buffalo, SUNY. I work primarily on South Asian folklore and transnational women's movements. I have previously worked as a teacher at the undergraduate level and as a human rights journalist for eleven years at various print and electronic media outlets in Pakistan.

Fellowships and Awards:

* August 2017 – Fulbright scholarship for PhD program in Global Gender Studies at University at Buffalo, SUNY.

* November 5, 2012 – UNESCO, Member of the National Consultative Meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity in Islamabad. Signatory to Islamabad Declaration to be presented at the UNESCO conference in Vienna on November 22, 2012.

* December 2011 - Was selected in 2011 for the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship as a Daniel Pearl Fellow to work at The New York Times, however I was unable to attend the program due to personal commitments.

* December 2011- Attended a 2-week fellowship on social media networking in Copenhagen, Denmark for Pakistani journalists arranged by the Danish Foreign Ministry.

* June, 2005 - Worked as a part of a group of four in re-designing PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) regulations regarding television program content.

* May- June, 2004 - Journalist exchange program / Award between Kinnaird College and Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi, for 3 weeks, focusing on peace building between Pakistan and India.

* May, 2004 - WISCOMP workshop in India, on conflict resolution, dialogue and peace building between India-Pakistan on Kashmir and other matters of discord.

Volunteer Work:

2010 – Worked with several Darul-Aman’s in Lahore and Southern Punjab with regards to providing women skills training, legal aid and vocational assistance. Work counseling rape and acid victims in Southern Punjab districts.

2005- I volunteered in Azad Kashmir during the 2005 earthquake helping to arrange adoptions for orphaned children with the S.O.S Village foundation.

2004- Designed, recorded and wrote the script for a national social awareness campaign for radio, regarding the plight of Thallassaemia- Major patients in Punjab.

Green Peace January, 1999

International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) 2010- Present

Oxford Union (Life time membership) 2008- onwards

Aurat Foundation, NGO for Women’s Rights 2009- present

S.O.S Village, NGO for Children 2004- present

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 (Forthcoming) - Chapter titled "All the Women in Me Are on Fire" to be published in anthology titled 'The Feminisms of Our Mothers' to be published by Routledge Publications.

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.

October-November 2013 – Researched and wrote manual on ethical considerations for journalists working in conflict zones for UNESCO, titled ‘Letting ‘Peace’ set the News Agenda -A Manual for Journalists’

November, 2012 – Consultant for Raabta Consultants ‘Media, Tolerance and Violence’ project exploring representations of violence in mainstream and social media in Pakistan. Consulting on conservative non-violent groups.

The Blasphemy Law: Upholding Pakistani bigotry since 1986. Published in The Missing Slate. January 5, 2011

Asking that queer question – the truth about homosexuality in Pakistan. Published in The Missing Slate January 5, 2011