Biography

Munira is a lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries. Her research interests are at the intersection of cultural studies, media, and politics. She is currently working on two projects, the first one looks at the rise of social media as an alternative public sphere in Pakistani context while the second one evaluates the participation of female politicians across mediated and parliamentary contexts in Pakistan. Her work speaks to the specifics of Pakistan and other South Asian media cultures and engages transnational issues of race and gender in the global diaspora and Western democracies. Her book Women and TV Culture in Pakistan: Gender, Islam and National Identity was published by Bloomsbury in 2018. Munira is also on the editorial board for Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. Before joining the Department, she was Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

• Protests and social media
• Populism in the Global South (South Asia, Muslim countries)
• Women in Politics
• Gender and Climate Politics
• Counter public spheres
• Cultural Industries in the Global South
• Muslim/South Asian feminisms
• Media and citizenship
• Political Economy of Media
• Identity Politics in the Global South

Selected Publications

Book

Cheema, M. (2023) Guest Editor for the Special Issue of Gender Activism in India in Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Volume 7, Issue 1.

Cheema, Munira (2018) Women and TV culture in Pakistan: gender, Islam and national identity. London, New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781788311779

Journal Article

Cheema, M. (2020) Patriotism and Islam on Social Media: How Pakistani publics revisit their allegiance to the state? in Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, 13:2, 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00017_1

Cheema, Munira (2018) Talk shows in Pakistan TV culture: engaging women as cultural citizens. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics,, 2 (1). 8 1-12. ISSN 2542-4920

Book Section

Cheema, Munira (2016) Producing domestic abuse in Pakistani television: between commerce, ratings and social responsibility. In: Moseley, Rachel, Wheatley, Helen and Wood, Helen (eds.) Television for women: new directions. Routledge, pp. 183-202. ISBN 9781138914292

Cheema, Munira (2014) Understanding the gender dynamics of current affairs talk shows in the Pakistani television industry. In: Raicheva-Stover, Maria and Ibroscheva, Elza (eds.) Women in politics and media: perspectives from nations in transition. Bloomsbury, London and New York. ISBN 9781628921069