Final Year Project

Project Title

Identity and Integration of Rohingya Women

Description

My thesis was exploratory research on the identity formation process among refugee Rohingya women that reside in Karachi. I explored the extent to which the idea of nationalism is influenced by masculinity to inform gender roles experienced by women. With interviews, speaking to the representatives of the Burmese Welfare Organization, and conducting field observations, this study intends to shed light on the struggles and perspectives of women in particular. I have predominantly drawn on a post-colonial and intersectional feminist theoretical lens to build a framework that keeps women at the centre of its argument. The narrative surrounding them and their process of identity formation is deeply rooted in their role as “secondary” members within a patriarchal structure, which may or may not be amplified in the process of displacement. There is minimum to no literature on the refugee Rohingya community of Pakistan, and even less so on women. My thesis aims to contribute to the body of knowledge about South Asian refugee women and present an informed analysis of their experience of them as migrant/refugees in Pakistan.