Curriculum Vitae
Education
2010
Dphil (European) in Anthropology & Law. University of Sussex (Brighton)/EHESS (Paris).
Dissertation title: Malalai's sisters: women's public visibility in 'post-war/reconstruction' Afghanistan
2006
MSc in Social Research Method (With Merit). University of Sussex. Brighton.
2002
MA in Contemporary European Studies (Distinction). University of Sussex.
Thesis title: Women’s activism for Peace in the Middle East. The case of the Women in Black in Paris
2001
Diploma of the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po), Paris.
1999
Licence in modern literature (Bachelor of Arts equivalent). Nouvelle Sorbonne. Paris III.
Professional Activities / Teaching
2013 -
Research Fellow, Department 'Law & Anthropology', Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany
Teaching Assistance at the University of Sussex
2008 (January-June)
Associate Tutor, University of Sussex, School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, United Kingdom
‘Gender across Cultures’
‘Development and Social Change’
‘Ethnographic Research methods’
2006 (September-December)
Associate Tutor. University of Sussex, United Kingdom
‘Culture and Development’
‘How to do Gender Studies?’
Fieldwork
England
1 September 2013 – 30 March 2014 (London, Birmingham, postdoctoral project with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology)
1 January – 30 March 2012 (London, Birmingham, postdoctoral project at Humboldt University, ‘Legal Cultures’ program)
1 January – 30 June 2009 (London, Birmingham – EuroPublicIslam-ERC project directed by Nilüfer Göle)
Switzerland
1 November 2010 – 1 September 2011 (Geneva, UN Human Rights Council, British Academy project directed by Jane Cowan)
Afghanistan
1 January – 20 December 2007 (ESRC doctoral project)
Grants / Scholarships
2011 – 2012
Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Forum for Transregional Studies (Humboldt University, Berlin) for the research project: “Everyday uses of Islamic justice in the UK”. Program: ‘Legal Cultures: Confrontations beyond comparison’.
2005 – 2009
Economic and Social Research Council (1+3) PhD grant for the completion of a DPhil thesis in Social Anthropology and Law at the University of Sussex (UK).
Organizations of Conferences and Workshops
2013
‘Where are values? Exploring the "genuine" within the law’. Panel co-organised with Miia Halme-Tuomisaari and chaired by Sally Engel Merry. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Chicago, USA (22 November 2013).
2013
‘La circulation des référents islamiques en Europe: Economies morales, espaces, acteurs et stratégies’. Workshop organized by Julie Billaud and hosted by Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Solitarités, Société, Territoire-Centre d'Anthropologie Sociale (CNRS), Université Toulouse-Le Mirail, France (10-11 April 2013).
2012
‘Under pressure: Gender performances and irony in contexts of uncertainty’. Panel organized in collaboration with Julie Castro (EHESS) during the annual conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA), under the theme: « Uncertainty and Disquiet » (12 July 2012).
Presentations at Conferences and Workshops
2014
‘Relevant yet (almost) Invisible: NGOs’ Interventions in the UPR’ (with Jane Cowan). Critical Legal Conference. Stream: Political Struggle and Performative Rights. University of Sussex (4-6 September 2014).
2013
‘The Afghan Crisis in Perspective: Understanding the Vectors of Social Change’. Workshop organized by Alessandro Monsutti, Graduate Institute in Geneva (21-22 March 2013).
2012
‘The Role of the Secretariat in the UN Universal Periodic Review’ (with Jane Cowan). Workshop Rights, Rituals and Ritualism: The Universal Periodic Review organized by Hilary Charlesworth. Australian National University, Canberra (15 December 2012).
2012
‘Poetic Suicide: Expressions of Discontent in a Girls’ Dormitory in Kabul’. Lecture given at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin (12 August 2012).
2012
‘An islamic counterpublic? Shari’ah councils in the UK’. Presentation during the conference The Political impact of religious activism organized by Prof. Marcia Pally. Humboldt University, Berlin (22 June 2012).
2012
‘Caring for the Soul: authority, ethics and knowledge practices in British shari’ah councils’. Rechtskulturen colloquium. Law faculty. Humboldt University, Berlin (18 June 2012).
2012
‘Human Rights Monitoring as Public Audit Ritual: Observing the Universal Periodic Review within the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva’. Presentation with Jane Cowan during the monthly seminar of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin/Humboldt Law Faculty: ‘Rights in Context’ (21 May 2012).
2012
‘Everyday Uses of Islamic Justice: Gender, Legal Interpenetrations and Non-Secular Modernity in Shari’ah Practices in England’. Presentation at the 8th Feminist Conference organized by the Central European University (Budapest), within the panel ‘Religion Revisited: Spirituality, Gender and the Post-Secular’ (17 May 2012).
2012
‘Researching Shari’ah in a multicultural megalopolis: Methodological considerations’. Presentation during the ‘theme days’ organized within the project Global Prayers: Redemption and Liberation in the City. Forum for Transregional Studies. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (23-26 February 2012).
2011
‘Gender Politics and Transnational Governance in "Post-Taliban" Afghanistan’. Annual conference of the Swiss Ethnological Association (SEA) organized by the University of Zurich. Panel on the theme: ‘Gender, family moral and expertise: the International Circulation of Gender Norms’ (17 November 2011).
2011
‘Whores and Niqabees: The sexual boundaries of French nationalism’ (with Julie Castro). Paper presented at the international conference Sexual Nationalisms, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organizers: Amsterdam Research Center for Gender and Sexuality (UvA), Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux (IRIS/EHESS) (27 January 2011).
2009
‘Afghan women: Stories from the 1920s onwards’. Paper presented at the monthly research seminar of the Centre for Life History and Life Writing, University of Sussex, UK (October 2009).
2008
‘Afghan Women Under Cosmetic Surgery: Reconstruction as Modernization in "post-Taliban" Afghanistan’. Paper presented at the international conference Trans-nationalism in Central Asia, organized by Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (LAIOS)/CNRS, Paris. Organizers: Boris Petric (EHESS), Deniz Kandiyoti (SOAS), Svetlana Jacquesson (Max Planck Institute) (11 December 2008).
Guest Lectures
2015
‘Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan’, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (21 May 2015).
2014
‘Everyday Use of Islamic Justice in the UK’, Department of History and Sociology, University of Konstanz, Germany (10 December 2014).
2014
Course of Dr. Gavin Weston on ‘Anthropology of Rights’. Title of the presentation: ‘An introduction to the anthropological study of Islamic legal cultures’. Anthropology Department, Goldsmiths College, UK (25 March 2014).
2014
Course of Prof. Jane Cowan on ‘Culture and Performance’. Title of the presentation: ‘Political Performance and the Carnivalesque: Everyday Life in Postwar Afghanistan’. Anthropology Department, University of Sussex, UK (4 March 2014).
2013
Institute of Islamic Studies’ 60th anniversary. Title of the presentation: ‘Humanitarian Theatre: Gender, the Ordinary and the Carnivalesque in ‘Post-war’ Afghanistan’. McGill University, Montréal, Canada (18 November 2013).
2013
Introductory seminar to ‘Gender and Development’ as part of an Executive Master in Development Policies and Practices (DPP) provided to 20 Afghan civil servants working at the Ministry of Finance. Programme supported by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and run by the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva. Abu Dhabi (29-30 April 2013).
2012
Course of Prof. Agnes Fines on ‘Gender and Kinship’. Title of the presentation: ‘Politique et éthique de la beauté dans un dortoir de jeunes filles à Kaboul’. Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Centre d’Anthropologie Sociale (December 2012).
2012
General Anthropology Seminar. Title of the presentation: ‘Ethique, autorité et affects dans la pratique du droit islamiaue en Grande Bretagne’. Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Centre d’Anthropologie Sociale (December 2012).
2011
Course of Prof. Alessandro Monsutti. Title of the presentation: ‘Global Feminism and Afghan Women’. Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland (April 2011).
Membership in Professional Associations
Allegra Lab: Anthropology, Law, Art & World
Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA)
European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
Languages
French (mother tongue)
English (fluent)
German (intermediate)
Dari (intermediate)