A budding writer & emerging anthropologist, Sonia needs your support to share her unique work about decolonization on the appropriate stage.
I am Sonia, originally from a village located in the lower Himalayas region of Pakistan. I lived all my life in Pakistan before moving to the UK in 2021. I am the first generation in my family to attend a University. I am currently studying for an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS in London. In the pursuit to reclaim my identity and my place in this world as a brown South Asian woman, I am studying Anthropology because I grew up feeling very apologetic about the colour of my skin, my culture, and my language. I also do freelance writing alongside my studies to make ends meet. I have written in the Guardian, Brown History Newsletter, SOAS blog among others. Before I came to study Anthropology, I was a lecturer teaching International Relations and Pakistan Studies at a public university in Islamabad, Pakistan. I hold an M.Phil. degree in International Relations. I am asking for your support to share my work at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) 2024 Conference, participate in discussions, build rapport with colleagues and become an Anthropologist.
My current research looks at how Pakistan's Army operates as a continuation of the British Royal Indian Army. The logic of these armies having been built on the principles of colonialism – extraction, expansion, and dispossession of surplus from the indigenous population. The Pakistan Army is the largest capitalist empire in the country, producing cornflakes, cement, fertilizers, insurance, real estate, etc. Most decolonization debates in Pakistan do not consider the role of the Pakistan Army and its colonial logic. The work I will present at EASA draws on historical and archival data, interviews, and participant observation with Pakistan’s Military. It aims to contribute to a more nuanced decolonization debate on decolonization by analysing the role of Pakistan’s Military in Pakistan today.
A message from EASA panel chair: Hello, my name is Dr Khalil Betz-Heinemann and along with my co-chairs and convenors we decided that we wanted to support Sonia to participate in EASA so we have started this crowdfund to ask for your help in this. Sonia did apply for support via the relevant EASA channels but along with many others she did not receive it as it was oversubscribed. This also impacted multiple other anthropologists who had also hoped to attend and are from various marginalized backgrounds including a working class ethnographic filmmaker, a recently long term rough sleeper, a wheelchair bound refugee etcetera. Together with them we organised alternative options in their cases, but decided we wanted to help Sonia participate in person. We sincerely ask for your help in bringing Sonia to our panel on breaking the binaries of colonialism at EASA. Thankyou!
This project successfully funded on 13th July 2024