Current PhD Students

Zaynab Seedat

Thesis Title:

Writing the South Asian Muslim Terrorist: Politics, Religion and “Terror” Through a Postcolonial Lens

Supervisor:

Dr Claire Chambers

Description:

Terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism is a constant global threat. Viewing terrorism through a media narrative which both reports on and shapes a changing political reality can be confusing. Drawing on poetry, memoir and fiction’s engagement with the ideological narratives of Islamic terrorism, my thesis shows that popular assumptions are deliberately played with by these diasporic, transnational and transcultural narratives. I analyse Muslim literature which writes back to damaging Orientalist stereotypes, including authors such as Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Ed Husain, Nadeem Aslam, Karan Mahajan, Kamila Shamsie and Fatima Bhutto. My focus on South Asia means that I investigate state terrorism, through Kashmir and Afghanistan, alongside non-state terrorism, so complicating the definition of terrorism. Using an interdisciplinary approach encompassing postcolonial and critical theory, politics, sociology and history, I intend to critically ‘write’ the Muslim terrorist.

My doctoral project is fully funded by the AHRC through WRoCAH.

I hold a BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Durham.

I am a member of the State Violence Research Network (@stateviolenceRN) and a committee member of the White Rose South Asia Conference (@SouthAsiaConf20).

Twitter: @zaynab_seedat