Ayesha Syed, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Ibn Haldun University, participated in the NISIS Autumn School 2025 program—organized by the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies—held on 29–31 October with her study titled “Gender Relations in Premodern and Modern Muslim Contexts.” The program addressed gender norms, identities, and the interaction of the historical, cultural, and political dynamics that shape them across different Muslim societies.
Syed also presented a paper titled “Between God, State and Man: Muslimness and the Curation of the Ideals of Womanhood” during the event. This study critically examines how state discourses and narratives of religious consciousness shape the constructions of “Muslimness” and “womanhood,” revealing the exclusions and idealizations embedded within national identity formation by comparing the contexts of Pakistan and Türkiye. Through a decolonial and autoethnographic perspective, it interrogates how nationalism and modernity construct, negotiate, and memorialize forms of subjectivity related to gender and religion.
In addition, as part of her doctoral research, Ayesha Syed conducted a series of focus group interviews at various educational institutions in Lahore, Pakistan, for her study titled “Pakistaniyat: A Saga of DisemmiNation of Master and Counter Narratives.”
We congratulate our student on her productive work and wish her continued success.
