The Looking Glass is a multimedia ethnographic research project under the ambit of the Education, Justice, and Memory Network (EdJAM), and co-sponsored by the Gender Studies Network. It explores the following themes using case studies of the lived experiences, heritage, history, and violence of different minoritised and marginalised gender communities in Pakistan:

• Power and its presentation in private and public spheres
• Gender as a negotiation of power
• Visibility and its relationship to violence, particularly the violence of omission
• Post-colonial perspectives on reading indigenous diversity and heritage
• Language as a tool for creating and reinforcing power dynamics

About the event

Screening: The Looking Glass

A multimodal 6-episode docuseries that explores histories of colonialism, criminalization of gender diversity, and Western knowledge production. These ideas are traced across different social spheres, including the legal system, education, family, religion, and the economy. It explores the imposition of imposing foreign moral systems onto native cultures. These connections help us explore the different types of violence, including the violence of erasure and omission, faced by gender minority communities. We highlight the visible manifestations of these legacies in the everyday lives of Indigenous communities in the present day with ethnographic case studies.

Discussion

An exploration of the research underlying the project and docuseries. The session will highlight the decolonization of research in the context of indigenous gender ethnographies employed in this project. An understanding of how the project emphasizes participatory research methodologies, reiterative design, and multimodal outputs in the development of scholarship and pedagogical tools.

About the speakers

Rameen Iftikhar

Rameen Iftikhar is the lead investigator for The Looking Glass. She works in the research and implementation of international education development, with a specialization in equity, inclusivity, and gender. She is currently pursuing her MSEd in International Education Development from the University of Pennsylvania as a Fulbright scholar. She co-founded Aghaaz, an extra-academic program for at-risk youth in Lahore, Pakistan. She is interested in designing and implementing education system reform at scale. Her research explores gender governance, social systems, and equity in education.

Ramsha Fatima

Ramsha “Fatima” is the lead investigator for The Looking Glass. She served as the co-investigator for the grant, working with international and local partners to mobilise research and the development of multimodal pedagogical tools. She is currently at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing her MSEd in International Education Development. She served as the co-founder of Aghaaz, leading the research and implementation for education outreach. Her research focuses on social and education policy, equitable access to education, EdTech, and human-computer interaction.

The symposium is open to all, including faculty, students, and interested public and civic society groups.