Faiza Rahman

Faiza Rahman pursues an inter-disciplinary and policy-oriented approach to the study of Islam. Her work focuses on the topics of reproductive care, menstrual norms, and sexual health in the Islamic context of Pakistan. Her PhD dissertation, Islamic Period: Menstruation and Muslims in Pakistan, is an anthropological study of the creation and circulation of Islamic knowledge about menstruation in Pakistani society. At the heart of Islamic Period is the relationship between the menstrual guidance found in Islamic legal texts, and a cultural repertoire of Pakistani women's orally-transferred wisdoms about menstrual medicine, menstrual ethics, and menstrual hygiene. This relationship, as the project argues, determines the extent of Pakistani women's engagement with the global feminist currents of menstrual activism in today's world. The project was undertaken through on-ground collaboration with menstrual health advocates in the city of Karachi. It addresses the critical need of speaking and writing about menstruation in empathetic, responsible, and culturally-relativistic ways. It received support from the Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship, the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, and internal grants from Emory University.