Contributors

ABIDA BEGUM: Abida Begum is working as faculty member at the Professional Development Center North (PDCN) which is a component of the Aga Khan University that leads teacher education and research initiatives in the remote region of Gilgit Baltistan Pakistan. She has associated herself with many educational projects including the research presented here.

AJI K.M.: Assistant Professor of Malayalam at K.K.T.M. College, Kodungalloor

ALPHONSA C.A.: Assistant Professor of English at Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam.

AMINA WADUD: Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies and Visiting Scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry, Berkeley, California. Because of her embodied ethics, she is best known internationally as the “Lady Imam.” Her intellectual work focuses on critical reading of Islamic Classical sources and the Sacred Text from a gender inclusive perspective. Her first book, Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Text from Woman’s Perspective, published in 1992, is the first publication to challenge male-only interpretation. Her second book, Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam, integrates the personal politics of Muslim women’s movements with both spiritual and philosophical discourses over Muslim women, agency and authority in Islamic thought and practice. A founding member of Sisters in Islam, she is a member of the Musawah network. Currently she is doing research, funded by the Arcus Foundation, on Sexual Diversity, Human Dignity and Islamic Classical Sources to further her methodological work as it intersects with the lived realities of Muslims and their allies on issues of social justice and Islamic theology. She is the architect of the Tawhidic Paradigm the humanist Islamic rubric for Universal Human Rights. A mother of five, she is also Nana to six.

ANA KARTHIKA: Presently a candidate of the Interdisciplinary PhD Programme in Social Studies at the Makerere Institute of Social Research where she completed MPhil in the year, 2018, under the directorship of Prof. Mahmood Mamdani. Currently, Anna is working toward her PhD dissertation on “Que(e)rying of Colonial Bodies in the Matrilineal Homosocial Spaces of Kerala” under the guidance of Dr. Lyn Ossome. Her research interest spans decolonizing the history of sexuality, epistemic study of body as colonial archive, and gender and feminist thoughts in colonial and postcolonial societies, especially South Asia. In April of 2020, Anna was invited to be a discussant to Prof. Judith Butler’s lecture-seminar, “Who is Afraid of “Gender?” following which her discussion was published under the title, “Who is Afraid of the Body?” Anna’s PhD programme is being funded by the Makerere Institute of Social Research, and she was also a recipient of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation: Governing Intimacies Postgraduate PhD Scholarship awarded by the University of Witwatersrand for the year 2020. Her articles and commentaries on politics, international affairs and governance have appeared in The Pioneer, Asia Sentinel, Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, Malayalam Varika, The Viewspaper, Eurasia Review, Countercurrents and Daily Maldivian.

ANDREW GEORGE KORAH: Currently working on his doctoral research is interested in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Ludology, the up and coming field of Video Game studies.

ANITA SINGH: Professor in the Department of English at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. Her areas of interest are Gender Studies and Performance Studies. Her recent book is Gender, Space and Resistance: Women and Theatre in India. She was at the University of Virginia, USA as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar (2013).

ANITHA S.: Assistant Professor of English at Government College, Tripunithura. Anitha S is a translator.

ANNU SABU PALATHINGAL: Content creator and digital marketing specialist interested in researching the representation of ethnic identities in films and literature

ARSHA SUBBI: PhD Research Scholar, Department of English andLanguages, Amrita ViswaVidyapeetham, Kochi Campus, India.

ARYA B.: Post-graduate in English Language and Literature from HHMSPBNSS College for Women, Neeramankara, Thiruvananthapuram.

ASHA KRISHNAN: Assistant Professor of English at HHMSPBNSS College for Women, Neeramankara, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She is an award-winning creative writer.

ATHIRA A R: Post Graduate student of English at the P G and ResearchDepartment of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

AZZA BASARUDIN: Lecturer in the UCLA Department of Gender Studies and a Research Affiliate at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Her research interests include feminist studies in Islam, transnational/ postcolonial feminist theories, and feminist ethnography. She has held visiting positions and fellowships at Harvard Divinity School, Syracuse University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the American University in Cairo. Her research has been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Her writings have appeared in Journals, edited anthologies, and popular forums including: “Meditations on Friendship: Politics of Feminist Solidarity in Ethnography” in Dissident Friendships: Imperialism, Feminism, and the Possibility of Transnational Solidarities; “On Women Carving Out Spaces of Prayer” in Kafila. Her first book, Humanizing the Sacred: Sisters in Islam and the Struggle for Gender Juslice in Malaysia was published by the University of Washington Press (2016),

B.HARIHARAN: Professor at the Institute of English, University of Kerala. He is also the Director of the UGC Area Study Centre for Canadian Studies. He has a book length study on the novels of Robert Kroetsch, three translations and has also co-edited four books. During 2009-11, he worked on a Major Project focused on the Cultural and Architectural Expression of Public Spaces in Kerala.

BASIL THOMAS: Assistant Professor of English at Christian College, Chengannur. His research interests centre on popular culture with special reference to the study of cartoons.

BINUMOL ABRAHAM: Assistant professor at the Dept. of History, Assumption College Changanassery. Her areas of research include History of Modernity, Cultural and literary history, Gender studies, Postcolonial studies, and History of Mentalities.

CANDICE C. CARTER: Educational researcher and consultant in the USA, taught children of all ages in multiple regions and recognized their hope for peace. Her relevant books include Conflict Resolution and Peace Education: Transformations Across Disciplines (2010) that illustrates peace education across university programs; Peace Philosophy in Action, about applied theories in peace pursuits around the world; Youth Literature for Peace Education (2014) that describes literacy development with recent literature for children; Social Education for Peace: Foundations, Curriculum, and Instruction for Visionary Learning which emphasizes the crucial skill of envisioning along with knowledge of peace history; and Teaching and Learning for Comprehensive Citizenship: Global Perspectives on Peace Education (2021) with research on formal and nonformal instruction worldwide.

CAROLYN PEDWELL: Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Cultural Sociology in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. She is the author of Affective Relations: The Transnational Politics of Empathy (Palgrave, 2014) and Feminism, Culture and Embodied Practice: The Rhetoric of Comparison (Routledge, 2010). She is an editor of Feminist Theory and has recently been AHRC Visiting Fellow at the Department for Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney and The Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London.

CHANDRALEKHA K R: Assistant Professor of English, Saraswathi College of Arts and Science, Vilappil, Thiruvananthapuram.

CLAUDIA ORENSTEIN: Chair and Professor of Theatre at Hunter College with an appointment at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her books include The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance (co-editor), The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation (with Mira Felner), and Festive Revolutions: The Polities of Popular Theatre and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Recent articles include “Women in Indian Puppetry: Negotiating Traditional Roles and New Possibilities” (Asian Theatre Journal), “How Puppets and Performing Objects Express Elements of Storytelling in Concrete Terms” (International Conference on Exploring Classical Roots and Living Traditions in Puppetry), “Forging New Paths for Kerala’s Tolpavakoothu Leather Shadow Puppetry Tradition” (Routledge Companion), ‘”Finding the Heart of Indian Puppetry” (Puppetry International), “Women in Indian Puppetry: Artists, Educators, Activists” (Gender, Space and Resistance: Women and Theatre in India), “The Object in Question: A Peek Into the FIDENA – International Puppetry Festival” (TDR). She has served as Board Member of the Association of Asian Performance and UNIMA-USA and is Associate Editor for Asian Theatre Journal. She also works as a dramaturge for productions using puppetry including Stephen Earnhart’s Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Tom Lee’s Shank’s Mare.

DALE T. SNAUWAERT: Professor of Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education and Peace Studies at Judith Herb College of Education, Ohio, USA. He is also the Editor of In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice.

DANIELA ROMERO-AMAYA: Postdoctoral Fellow in the International and Comparative Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarly work is related to history and citizenship education in conflict-affected contexts, with emphasis on the interplay
between education and transitional justice measures. Her research engages with youth perspectives and decisions concerning the legacies of armed conflict and their daily navigation of social life. Against the backdrop of protracted violence in Colombia, Daniela’s research gives attention to issues around memory, accountability, and civic trust. In her postdoctoral research project, she analyzes the ways in which “the victim” enters the classroom and the role they play in shaping students’ understandings on the Colombian armed conflict and how young
generations may partake in its transformation. In her work, Daniela considers “the victim” as a political subjectivity to which specific knowledge, emotions, imaginaries, and expectations are tied. Exploring how these aspects circulate within the school setting and how students address them is relevant to better understand the challenges and opportunities of ongoing initiatives for peacebuilding and peace education in Colombia and other conflict-affected communities.

DAWN D. BENNETT-ALEXANDER: Emerita Associate Professor of Employment Law and Legal Studies at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business in the US and founder of Practical Diversity LLC, consulting on issues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging. A lawyer, academic and consultant whose specialty is employment discrimination, diversity and Inclusion, she has been dealing with diversity issues since 1982 and co-authors the leading Employment Law textbook in the US that created the discipline.  Recipient of over 60 awards and recognitions, upon her retirement in February 2021, in honor of her work in Diversity & Inclusion, the University of Georgia established the endowed Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander Inclusive Community Award presented annually to a faculty member exhibiting a significant commitment to Diversity and Inclusion inside and outside the classroom. The mother of 3 daughters and two grandchildren, she dedicates all of her work to them and her Ancestors. Her life motto and the thought that guides all of her work to have society accept those it may think of as different in some way: It’s ALL about LOVE…

DEEPSIKHA CHATTERJEE: Lecturer of Costume Design and Technology at Hunter College CUNY where she enjoys teaching theatre and the practice of costuming to a diverse student body. She has worked at several reputed theatre companies across the US including Santa Fe Opera, Glimmer glass Opera and Utah Shakespearean Festival. She had been researching costumes, film, makeup and masks from India and Asia and has presented on these topics at several international conferences including United States Institute of Theatre Technology, Costume Society of America and recently at Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. She jointly received a research grant from USITT for research in Bollywood costume design process with her collaborator Prof. Cheri Vasek from University of Hawaii. Articles on this are forthcoming. Her costume design for Butoh Medea received the Best Costume Design award at United Solo 2014.

DEEPTI PARANGOT: Editorial Assistant, H & C Publications, Thrissur.

DINA AL-KASSIM: Critical theorist working in Arabic, English and French with a special emphasis on the public sphere in colonial and postcolonial cultures. Specifically, she works on contemporary political subjectivation, sexuality and aesthetics. Global and interdisciplinary in approach, she studies politics and literature in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She teaches in the English Department and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at University of British Columbia. With publications appearing in Grey Room, International Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Public Culture, Cultural Dynamics, and the volume Islamicate Sexualities. Her recent book, On Pain of Speech; Fantasies of the First Order and the Literary Rant (University Of California Press, 2011)) examines ranting as a waste product of modern subjectivity. A Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Associate, Dr. Al-Kassim has been a Mellon Postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, Senior Seminar Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute, and Sawyer Seminar Residency Fellow at the University of California, Humanities Research Institute.

E.A. IBRAHIM: Manager of the Reserve Bank of India, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

ESRAÖZCAN: Communication Studies scholar at Tulane University, Department of Communication in New Orleans. She received her Ph.D. in Communication Science from Jacobs University Bremen in Germany. She was an Assistant Professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. She is a contributor to the alternative news network Bianet in Turkey. Her recent publications include ‘Women’s Headscarves in News Photographs: A Comparison between the Secular and Islamic Press during the AKP Government in Turkey,” European Journal of Communication, vol. 30, no. 6 (2015) 698-713; and “Lingerie, Bikinis and the Headscarf: Visual Depictions of Muslim Female Migrants in German News Media” Feminist Media Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, (2013) 427-44. She is author of the forthcoming book Mainstreaming the Headscarf: Islamic Politics and in the Turkish Media (1.13. Tauris, 2018).

FARAH ZACHARIAH: Works as an officer of the Indian Revenue Service.  Her study of the hermeneutics of photographs was highly appreciated and it has thrown open a new way of enquiry into the area.

FARHANA ISMAIL: Community activist and academic with a focus on gender equality and youth development. Farhana obtained an M.A. in Religion, Gender and Health at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in 2016, and B.A. with honors in Journalism and Media studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2007. She participated in the anti-apartheid activism of the progressive Muslim movement in South Africa, including women-led gender rights struggles. She was a presenter from 1997 to 2000, and later trustee, of the community radio station The Voice in Johannesburg, hosting programs on women’s experiences of injustice related to the Muslim family and marriage law. She has written on the non-recognition Of Muslim marriages in South Africa. She helped draft a submission to parliament on the South African Muslim Marriages Bill. She offers a woman-friendly Qur’an study group for young teens with an ethos of equality, dignity and justice.

FIRDOUZAWAGGIE: Registered physiotherapist and Senior Lecturer at Cape Town University of Technology. She holds a BSc and MSc in physiotherapy, and PhD from the University of the Western Cape. She completed a postgraduate certificate in project management at Cape Town University of Technology. She worked as a physiotherapist at Groote Schuur Hospital where she became a senior physiotherapist. She is currently the Director of the Inter-professional Education Unit in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape. The unit is responsible for developing and coordinating interdisciplinary community-oriented core courses and service-learning in both rural and urban communities for health science students. Her expertise and research areas include health professions education, community engagement and development, inter-professional education, service-learning and school health promotion.

GADIS ARIVIA: Retired Lecturer in Philosophy and Gender Studies at the University of Indonesia at the Faculty of Humanities in the Philosophy Department where she has taught for more than 20 years. Her courses include feminist theory, ecofeminism, and ethics. She founded the first feminist journal in Indonesia, Jurnal Perempuan, in 1996. Her books include FilsafatBerperspektifFeminis (Philosophy with a Feminist Perspective) 2003 and FeminismeSebuah Kata Hati (Feminism from the Heart) 2006. She published poetry in AntologiPuisi, Yang Sakral dan Sekuler which also appeared in English: Poetry Anthology, The Sacred and The Secular. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her family.

GOPIKA GOPAN: Post Graduate student of English at the P G and Research,Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

GOWRI MEENAKSHI S.R:  Post Graduate student of English at the P G and Research Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala, India.

HATEM BAZIAN: Founder and National Chair of American Muslims for Palestine, and the co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College. In addition, Prof. Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also Director of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at the Center for Race and Gender, a research unit dedicated to the systematic study of Othering Islam and Muslims.

HEBA AHMED: PhD student at the Centre for Political Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her MPhil dissertation was titled ‘Remembering Gujarat 2002: Contending Memories and the Politics of Violence’. She has also been a part of YFDA, an independent group of Muslim students in JNU, since its formation.

HEMA NAIR : Teaches English at the N S S College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram. Was Fulbright Post-Doctoral Visiting Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her doctoral work was on Doris Lessing. Has published widely in research journals. She is an experienced translator and is involved actively in women support activities. Is Associate Editor of Samyukta.

HUSEIN MUHAMMAD: Known in Indonesia as the “feminist kyai (venerated scholar)”, he began his education at his parents’ pesantren (a religious boarding school) in Cirebo in West Java and continued his schooling at pesantren in Lirboyo in East Java. He did his undergraduate studies at Al-Quran Higher Education Institute (PTIQ), Jakarta and studied briefly at AL-Azhar University in Cairo. He established the Fahmina Institute. With former first lady, SintaNuriyahWahid he founded the Puan Amal Hayati, an NGO dealing with Islam and women. Kyai Husein served on the National Commission on Violence Against Women. He is the author of numerous books including Women’s Fiqh: A Kyai’s Reflection on Religion and Gender Discourse (2005).

HUZAIFA PANDIT: Assistant Professor, LPU, Punjab, India.

K.B. SREEDEVI: A novelist as well as a short story writer. She has more than thirteen works to her credit which include Yajnam, Munnam Thalamura(Third Generation), Daasaradham (Pertaining to Dasaradha), Chaanakkallu (Touchstone), Chiranjeevi (Eternal Man) and Agnihotram. Her deep interest in the epics and the myths of Kerala results in her re-reading of those texts from a unique perspective and that gives to her stories a charm that is distinctive. She has represented a few quiet but strong women characters with a capacity to think and act independently. Her research works include a study on the short stories of Malayalam women writers and another on the contributions made by ancient Gurukul as to Kerala culture. In 1974, she received the Kumkumam Award for Yajnam and in 1998, the Janmaashttami Award for Krishnaanuraagam (Love for Lord Krishna). In 1975, for the screenplay based on her story Niramaala, she received the Kerala State Film Award for the best story and script.

K.M. SHEEBA: Associate Professor of History at SreeSankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kaladi.

KHANUM SHAIKH: Assistant Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies at California State University, Northridge. Originally from Pakistan, she has been a long-time resident of Los Angeles. Prior to her career as an academic she worked at a number of social justice organizations on issues of racial and gender equality in Southern California. She is particularly interested in the study of gender and/in Muslim communities.

KIRAN KESHAVAMURTHY: His PhD is on gender and sexuality in modern Tamil literature from the department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at University of California, Berkeley. He is currently Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. His interests Include gender and sexuality studies, caste studies and modern Indian literature. His publications include, “Tanjai Prakash: Between Desire and Politics” (forthcoming, December 2015, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla), “Gender, Sexuality and Caste in Tamil Literature” (Vidayasagar University Journal, March 2015).

KRISHNA KUMAR: Former Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi. One of the major educationalists of India, Professor Krishna Kumar has authored several important books on Peace Education.

KRISHNAN NAMBOOTHIRI: Associate Professor at S D College, Alappuzha. His interests range from Indian Writing in English to Ecocriticism.

KRISTEN RUDISILL: Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA. She has a Ph.D in Asian Studies from the University of Texas, Austin. Her research focuses on Indian theatre and dance. She has published a number of articles on topics such as sabha theatre, the theatre of Pritham Chakravarthy, and Disney sponsored dance competitions in India. She has translated several plays by Cho Ramasamy, is finishing a book manuscript about the sabha theatre in Chennai, and is currently researching Tamil dance competition reality television shows.

KUKKU XAVIER: Assistant Professor with the Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Her areas of interest include, Subnationalism, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies and Cultural Modernities.

LAKSHMI B: Assistant Professor of English at NSS College for Women, Neeramankara, Thiruvananthapuram. She is doing pioneering work in Blue Humanities and has several publications to her credit.

LAKSHMI MENON: Assistant Professor of English at VTMNSS College, Dhanuvachapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

LAKSHMI S.: Assistant Professor, Dept of English, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.

LEAH LOWTHORP: College Fellow and Lecturer in Folklore and Mythology at Harvard University. She completed her dual degree in Anthropology and Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, with a dissertation entitled, “Scenarios of Endangered Culture, Shifting Cosmopolitanisms: Kutiyattam and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Kerala, India.” Broadly examining how changes in artistic cultural practice reflect wider social and political changes over time, her work takes a postcolonial approach to cosmopolitanism, UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, and the politics of culture in India through the lens of Kutiyattam –Sanskrit theatre of Kerala state. As part of her research she studied and performed her arangettam in NangiarKoothu, the female solo performance form of Kutiyattam.

M.SRIDHAR: Teaches English at the University of Hyderabad. Sridhar has been doing collaborative work in translation with Alladi Uma for several years. They published a translation of a collection of short stories by Volga, a Telugu feminist writer, entitled The Woman Unbound. A collection of translations of Telugu short stories from 1910 to the present, with woman as the main focus has been published by Katha, New Delhi. They have recently helped the Sahitya Akademi in bringing out two special issues of Indian Literature on contemporary Telugu writing. Sahitya Akademi is bringing out their translation of a novella, Govulostunnai Jagratta! by RachakondaViswanatha Sastry. They won the Jyeshtha Literary Award in 1992 and the Katha Commendation Prize in 1996 for their translations.

MADHU IRAVANKARA: Former Professor of Chemistry at Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, and a film-maker.

MADHURI DIXIT: Associate Professor in Pemraj Sarada College, Ahmednagar, India. She is presently a doctoral student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and her research is on representation of women in Marathi theatre. Her academic interests include theatre studies, cultural studies, education, and gender and caste discourse. She has written articles and essays on films, cultural issues and Marathi theatre in Marathi newspapers and magazines. Her essay ‘Begum Barve: Embodiment of Subversive Fantasy” appeared in South Asian Film and Media (5.1, April 2013).

MARA MATTA: Teacher of Modern literatures of the Indian Subcontinent at ‘Sapienza’ Universita di Roma (Rome). Her current researches focus on indigenous literatures, cinemas .and performing arts along/ across South Asian borderlands. She is a member of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and of the Archive of Migrant Memories (AMM).

MARGERY FEE: Professor who teaches Science Fiction, Science and Technology Studies and Indigenous Literatures at the University of British Columbia. In 2008, she was Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies, writing about how some discourses of genetics/genomics contribute to the racialization of minority groups, particularly Indigenous people. She was the Editor of Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism Review (2007-2015), and is an Associate Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian English on Historical Principles (2nd online edition). Her book, Literary Land Claims: “The Indian Land Question” from Pontiac’s War to Attawapiskat (Wilfred Laurier UP, 2015), examines how land ownership figures in the work Of John Richardson, E. Pauline Johnson, Archibald Belaney (Grey Owl), Louis Riel, and Harry Robinson. With Dory Nason, she has edited Takehionwake: The Writings of E. Pauline Johnson on Native North America (Broadview, 2015).

MARGOT BADRAN: Historian and feminist studies scholar specializing in the Middle East and Islamic world. She is presently a senior fellow at the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Her research on feminism goes back to the 1960s in Egypt and continued in the 1970s when she was working on her D Phil at St. Antony’s College, Oxford which resulted in her book Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. She co-edited Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing. She later researched the emergence of Islamic feminism around the globe. She published Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergences; Feminism beyond East and West: New Gender Talk and Practice in Global Islam; and edited Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law.  She has taught courses on Middle Eastern secular feminisms and Islamic feminism at universities in the United States and abroad including Northwestern University where she was the Edith Kreeger Wolf distinguished visiting professor; St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, as the Khatib visiting chair in comparative religions; the University of Chicago; Sanaa University in Yemen (where as a Fulbright lecturer.. she helped establish the Women’s Studies Center); Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg (where she was part of a team teaching on feminisms in Africa); and the University of Cape Town. She has given lectures and talks in many countries around the world including India, Indonesia, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Bahrain, Bosnia, Bulgaria, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom. She is currently working on a book on Islamic feminism that will assess its thirty-year history and present developments.

MATHEW A. VARGHESE: Assistant Professor at the School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

MAUSUMI SEN BHATTACHARJEE: Associate Professor in English at the Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata, India

MUHAMMED SHAH S: Student of M.Phil, in Comparative Literature from the University of Hyderabad. His Mphil dissertation is on the implications of the political in various theological discourses ,with particular focus on antagonism and soverignity in the works of Abul A’ala Maududi. He was an active  participant in the Justice for Rohith movement in HCU.

MUHSINA N: MPhil scholar at the Institute of English, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

N.B. LATHA: Doctoral student at the Research Department of English, Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.

NA’EEM JEENAH: Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, a research institute based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received an MA in Religious Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2002 with a thesis on ‘The Emergence of Islamic Feminisms in South Africa’ in the 1990s, and is currently working on a PhD on political Islam in South Africa. He lectured in the Department of Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Jeenah is a former president of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa and assisted in developing its Gender Desk. He has been a columnist for a South African Muslim community newspaper, Al-Qalam, for over a decade. He co-authored (with Shamima Shaikh) the book, Journey of discovery:(A South African Hajj (2002). Among his articles are: ‘Towards an Islamic Feminist hermeneutic’ (Journal for Islamic Studies: 2001) and more recently,” Pretending democracy: Israel, an Ethnocratic State” (AMEC, Johannesburg: 2012).

NIKHIL GOVIND: Head of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities. His areas of interest are Indian literature and thought. He is the author of Between Love and Freedom: The Revolutionary in the Hindi Novel (Routledge, 2014).

NOORJEHAN NIAZ: Co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan and a founding member and managing trustee of Ashana Trust supporting justice, peace and development initiatives of women from marginalized communities. She has steered the process of preparing a draft of Muslim Family Law through nationwide consultations. She is a co-petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation (class action suit) in the Supreme Court demanding a legal ban on the practice of unilateral divorce and halala. Niaz who holds a Ph.D in Sociology from the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University and an M.A in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai which published her Ph.D. thesis Women’s Shariah Court-Muslim Women’s Quest for Justice (2016). She has authored five booklets on women’s rights in Islam which have been translated into Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. She has co-authored Seeking Justice Within Family-Muslim Women’s Demand for Reforms in the Muslim Family Law (published by Bharatiya Muslim MahilaAndolan, 2015). She co-authored with J. S. Apte a study on the status of Muslim women in Mumbai MoklyaShwashachaShodhat (2014), published From Seclusion and Exclusion to Inclusion-Indian Muslim Women and Their Initiative (2013). Niaz gives presentations on Muslim women’s concerns and challenges in universities across the country.

P.S. MANOJKUMAR: Assistant Professor of History, C. Achutha Menon Government College, Trichur.

PARVEENA AHANGER: Founder and Chairperson of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Indian Administered Kashmir. She had started this organization in 1995 to provide support and mobilize family members of missing persons due to enforced disappearances to put pressure on the India’s government to investigate the estimated 8-10,000 cases of involuntary and enforced disappearances in Kashmir. Parveena is also referred to as the “Iron lady of Kashmir”. Her efforts attained global recognition on 10 July 2005 when she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

PRASEEDHA G.: Assistant Professor of English, Mercy College, Palakkad. She is a research guide of the Research Centre for Comparative Studies, PG Department of English, Mercy College, Palakkad, Kerala.

PRASIDA P: Assistant Professor in Kerala Government Service. Her doctoral study was on Harry Potter and she has published several articles on the iconic series

PREETI KALRA: Research fellow at the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi. Her areas of interest range from language studies to gender politics and performance studies.

PRIYA JOSE K.: Assistant Professor of English, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. She has translated from Malayalam into English and vice versa and also published widely.

PRIYA V.: Assistant Professor, Jain University, Bangalore. She is pursuing Ph. D at the Institute of English, University of Kerala.
Her research interests include gender, culture and performance studies. . She did her doctoral studies at the Institute of English, University of Kerala and is currently working on her first book which is a recuperated history of the devadasis of Keralam.

RAJ SRI M. S: Assistant Professor, P G and Research Department of English,All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

RAJA RHOUNI: Associate Professor of literature, gender and cultural studies at ChouaibDoukkali University at El Jadida, Morocco. She received her Doctorate in 2005 from the Cultural and Development Studies program at Mohammad V University. Her doctoral thesis dealt with the work of Moroccan feminist author and activist Fatima Mernissi. During the 2006-2007 academic year, she was a Fellow in the multi-disciplinary research program “Europe in the Middle East: the Middle East in Europe” of the Institute Of Advanced Study in Berlin. Her project dealt with “Islamic feminist hermeneutics of the Qurlan.” She has published several articles on gender issues, Islam and feminism. She is author of Secular and Islamic Feminist Critiques in the Work of Fatima Mernissi (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010).

REMYA: Assistant Professor of English at G.T.N Arts College, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.

RESHMA.P.K: M.Phil Scholar at the Institute of English, Thiruvananthapuram.

ROOPA PHILIP: Lecturer at the Dept. of English (PG), Jyoti Nivas College. Before that, she taught English at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore (2007-2008) and Zakir Hussain College, Delhi (2005-2006). The topic of her PhD thesis was ‘An Examination of Select Feminist Writings in Malayalam in the Late Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century’. She was awarded the Library fellowship for 2007-2008 by Centre for Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore.

S.DEVIKA: Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, HHMSPBNSS College for Women, Neeramankara, Thiruvananthapuram. She is a research guide of the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

SAHIL RATHOD: Holds a Masters in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Sussex. He focuses on exploring the ambiguity of cultural practices and representation in films and pop-culture.

SAIMA KARAM: Saima Karam is an Instructor of Science Education at the Professional Development Centre North of Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan. She holds a master’s degree in Organic Chemistry, and a master’s in Education from Aga Khan University.

SAMRA FUAD: Post Graduate student of English at the P G and Research,Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

SANGEETHA MENON: Sangeetha Menon heads the Consciousness Studies Programme at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. One of her primary contributions in consciousness studies is in engaging with the concept and experience of self from the neurobiological and philosophical point of views, and theorising a ‘self-challenged brain and brain-challenged self’. Her major area of research is in philosophy of psychology. Her latest books published by Springer are: Brain, Self and Consciousness: Explaining the conspiracy of experience; and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Consciousness and the Self (Ed.). In August 2007 she was invited to be a member of the International Society for Science and Religion whose 100 plus invited members, in science, philosophy and other disciplines, include Nobel laureates. Dr. Menon has taught at many Universities across the world. She was invited to be a panellist at the World Parliament of Religions, Melbourne 2009. Apart from her academic interests she writes poetry, fiction, and is an avid photographer, artist and web- designer. She can be contacted at smenon@nias.iisc.ernet.in

SANGEETHA VARMA: Assistant Professor of English at NSS College, Ottapalam, Kerala.

SANIL. V: Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi, India. After his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, he worked as a Scientist in the Defense Research and Development Organisation. He obtained a PhD in Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His areas of interest include biological and social sciences, technology, art, violence and politics. He writes and publishes in Malayalam.

SASIDHARAN:  N. Sasidharan, Marxist Historian, retd. as Professor from the department of Political Science, Sree Narayana College, Kollam. He was the Head of the Post graduate department and Research Centre of Political Science. He has written extensively on the emergence of the communist movement in Kerala in consonance with the social reform movements. His studies based on original research has deepened our understanding of the provenance of the communist movement in the state. Koshy Tharakan

SHALINI M: Assistant Professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, Central University of Kerala, India. She received her research degrees M.Phil and Ph.D from University of Hyderabad, India. She worked at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain for a year as a research fellow before joining the Central University of Kerala. She participated as a delegate in the London Critical Theory School in July 2013. She has participated in many national and international conferences and presented papers. Her areas of specialization are Comparative Literature, Women’s and Gender Studies. She has guest-edited the special issue of Samyuktha: A Journal of Gender and Culture on Early Women’s Magazines in Malayalam (2022). Her recent works include “Hunger as a Political Critique: Memories as Resistance in M. Kunhaman’s Ethiru” in Contemporary Voice of Dalit (Sage, Apr. 2022) and “Ecofeminism and Its Impasses: Women Writing Nature in Malayalam Literature” published in the volume Indian Feminist Ecocriticism(Lexington Books, 2022) edited by Douglas A. Vakoch and Nicole Anae. Her current work is in the area of life writing.

SHIMISHAJAN A.: Post Graduate student of English at the P G and Research Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

SHUEB SULTAN: Shueb Sultan is currently working as an instructor at the Professional Development Centre North of Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development, Pakistan in the School improvement programme. He has been associated with the Aga Khan University for the last three years. He has also the experience of working with Aga Khan Education Pakistan as a school improvement specialist. He graduated from the Aga Khan University in teacher education.

SREEBITHA P.V: Associate professor and the head of Department of English, Kannur University. Prior to joining the university,  she worked as Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Central University of Karnataka, and as Asst. Professor (Ad-hoc) at Sree Ram College of Commerce and Motilal Nehru College, Delhi University. Her Ph D (The Making of ‘Ezhava’:Caste, Communities and Gender among North Malabar Thiyyas and Thiruvithamkoor Ezhavas) and M Phil (Questions of Sexuality: A Critique of Lalithambika Antherjanam’s Select Writings) are from the University of Hyderabad.

SREEDEVI K. NAIR: Former Associate Professor and Head, Dept. of English, NSS College for Women, Neeramankara, Thiruvananthapuram

SREEKUMAR.P.K.: Assistant Professor of English in Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. He is a prominent critic in cultural studies who has published extensively in English and in Malayalam.

SREYA MIRIAM SHAJI: Post Graduate student of English at the P G and Research Department of English, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala, India.

SUJA T.V.: Assistant Professor of English, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.

SUSAN SEIZER: Associate Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University and an Affiliate Faculty member m India Studies, American Studies, Gender Studies, and Folklore & Ethnomusicology, also at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests include performance studies; disability studies; stigma and its effects; humor in use; documentary, diasporic, & feminist film; and ethnographic methods. Her first book, Stigmas of the Tamil Stage: An Ethnography of Special Drama Artists in South India (Duke U Press 2005; Seagull Books 2007) won the A.K. Coomaraswamy Prize from the Association of Asian Studies in 2007. In 2012, she produced a film from her ethnographic fieldwork with stand-up comics entitled Road Comics: Big Work on Small Stages (www roadcomicsmovie.com). Her articles have been published in American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, Anthropological Quarterly, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Transition, Public Culture, and in numerous edited collections. Susan was a dancer and circus performer prior to her training as an anthropologist, and many of her scholarly interests follow threads she first explored as a performer, Including: improvisation; the way comedy can be used to do just about anything; and the particular exhilaration many women find in transgressing normative gender roles through public performance.

T.R.S. SHARMA: T.R.S. Sharma (after his MA in English from the University of Mysore), as Smith-Mundt/Fulbright Fellow, got his MA in American Literature from the University of Colorado, and a PhD from the University of Alberta, Canada. He has taught English and American Literatures at the Universities of Delhi, Alberta, Annaba (Algeria), and Kakatiya. His published works include Poetic Style in Robert Frost (1981), Tale of the Glory-Bearer (1994), a verse translation of a medieval Kannada classic Yasodhara Carite by Janna, and Toward an Alternative Critical Discourse (2000). He is the Chief Editor of the Sahitya Akademi’s three-volume Ancient Indian Literature: An Anthology (2000). He has also edited a collection of essays on the Mahabharata for the Sahitya Akademi (2009). Dialogics of Cultures in Ancient Indian Literatures is his recent work published in 2014 by the IIAS, Shimla, besides several artic les published in literary periodicals on American, British, African, .and Indian literatures.

TEENA ANTONY: Independent researcher. Her areas of interest include Kerala history, gender studies and cultural studies. She has been working on Malayali women’s educational history for the past few years. She works as a freelance thesis editor and content writer.

URMIMALA SARKAR MUNSI: Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She is a Social Anthropologist, specialised in Dance Studies. Beside her principle area of work on body, dance and society, her research Interest is in gender and performance, documentation of living traditions, and performance as politics. She is a choreographer and dancer trained at the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre. Her publications include ‘Engendering Performance: Indian Women Performers Searching for Identity’, co-authored with B. Dutt (Sage publishers, 2010), ‘Traversing Traditions: Celebrating Dance in India’, co- edited With S. Burridge (Routledge, 2009), ‘Dance: Transcending Borders’, edited (Tulika Books, 2008) and many journal articles and chapters in edited books.

URVASHI SABU: Associate Professor in the Dept of English, PGDAV College, Delhi University Delhi. She was the Charles Wallace India Trust Translation Fellow, Autumn 2018 at the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK. Her monograph Women, Literature, and Society: Discovering Pakistani Women Poets was published in March 2020. She has published research papers, as well as poetry and prose translations in numerous national and international journals, books, and anthologies. Her areas of interest are translation, drama, poetry, social media studies, and environmental conservation.

V. ASHWINI: Completed both her MA and M.Phil in History from University of Hyderabad. For her M.Phil, she worked on sartorial changes in the context of modern Malabar. She is currently an independent researcher and her research interests include gender, modernity and sartorial reforms.

VARSHA BASHEER: Affiliated Faculty (Visiting Fellow) with the IRDP (Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project) run by the Centre for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley, USA where she has been cooperating with a global group of faculty to share methodology, analysis, and theory across the boundaries of “European” and “Asian” studies and to connect interfaith alliances to build understanding and peaceful coexistence.

VIDYA RAJAGOPAL: Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Mahatma Gandhi College, Kesavadasapuram, Thiruvananthapuram. She is a research guide of the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

WHYNI GOPI: Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Assumption College (Autonomous), Changanassery. Her research areas include Family history, Local and Social History.

YUMNAHHATTAS: Experienced public health professional and development specialist, has worked in development for the last twenty years. She started as a volunteer coordinating youth and gender related camps and development projects. She then became a full-time employee and consultant in gender, sexuality and HIV related projects, and health systems strengthening. A firm belief in conducting life with integrity, responsibility and accountability are key principles and values she lives by. Her choices of work are driven by a deep passion to define herself in a world that is fair, just and equal. Her efforts are inspired by leaders who are accountable, responsible and respectful of the rights of every human being, especially those who have a full understanding of the magnitude of the contribution of women in this world. She lives her life daily inspired by her three daughters trying to carve a future for them to be able to fulfil their purpose as women who are just, fair and possess integrity.

ZAKIA SOMAN: Co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim MahilaAndolan (BMMA), and NGO supporting Muslim women’s citizenship rights and gender justice in Islam. She is currently a petitioner before the Supreme Court calling for abolition of triple talaq. Soman is the founder of Centre for Peace Studies engaged in knowledge activism for peace and justice, religious tolerance, pluralism and rights of minorities. She worked closely with the survivors of communal violence that took place in 2002 in Gujarat. She set up the Peace & Justice theme in Action Aid to work with issues of minorities across the country. She has been part of the peace movement in South Asia advocating for peoples’ friendship and solidarity across borders to reduce militarisation and regional conflicts. She led a national research project that resulted in the publication, Broken Promises; A Study on the Socio-economic Status of Indian Muslims Seven Years Post Sachar issued by Centre for Peace Studies in 2014 and a national research project resulting in the publication Socio Economic Conditions of Muslims in India issued by Action Aid in 2006. She co-edited the volume Peace and Justice in South Asia; co-authored Changing Contours of Gujarati Society: Identity Formation and Communal Violence and edited Issues of Indian Muslims: Some Progressive Writings. Soman who holds an M.A. and M. Phil in English Literature from Gujarat University has been on the faculty at the SJVM College of Gujarat University for over twenty-five years.

ZIBA MIR-HOSSEINI: Legal anthropologist, specializing in Islamic law, gender and development, and a founding member of the Musawah Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family (www.musatvah.org). Currently a Professorial Research Associate at the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, University of London, she has held numerous research fellowships and visiting professorships. She has published books on Islamic family law in Iran and Morocco, Iranian clerical discourses on gender, Islamic reformist thinkers, and the revival of zina laws. She has also co-directed two award-winning feature-length documentary films on Iran: Divorce Iranian Style (1998) and Runaway (2001). Her latest books are Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Tradition, edited with Lena Larsen, Christian Moe and Kari Vogt (I. B. Tauris, 2013); Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition, edited with Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger (Oneworld„ 2015). In 2015 she received the American Academy of Religion’s Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

ZILKASPAHICSILJAK: Her Ph.D is in Gender Studies. The scope of work includes addressing cutting edge issues involving human rights, politics, religion, education and peace building with more than fifteen years’ experience in academic teaching; and work in governmental and non-governmental sectors. She runs TPO Foundation Sarajevo and teaches at several universities in BiH and abroad. As post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard University she published the book, Shining Humanity — Life Stories of Women Peace builders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, 2014. She also published: Contesting Female, Feminist and Muslim Identities. Post-Socialist Contexts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo in 2012, and Women Religion and Politics in 2010. Her current research at Stanford University focuses on the intersection of leadership, gender and politics.