Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji to visit Lafayette

On Wednesday, October 23, as part of Lafayette College’s book club on Islam and Muslims, Al Maydan, Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji will be visiting campus. Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji is an Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College. Her work examines the interplay of gender, race, religion, and power in transnational contexts, particularly in relation to Muslim populations.

Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji will be giving a public lecture in Kirby 104 from 12:15-1:15 pm. Later that same afternoon, there will be a discussion of her book Forging the Ideal Educated Girl at 4:10 pm – 5:30pm in the Grossman House library. Electronic copies of her book are available here. If you are interested in taking part in the book discussion, please RSVP to Professor Hafsa Kanjwal (kanjwalh@lafayette.edu).

Her book Forging the Ideal Educated Girl, traces the figure of the ‘educated girl’ to examine the evolving politics of educational reform and development campaigns in colonial India and Pakistan. She challenges the prevailing common sense associated with calls for women’s and girls’ education and argues that such advocacy is not simply about access to education but, more crucially, concerned with producing ideal Muslim woman-/girl-subjects with specific relationships to the patriarchal family, paid work, Islam, and the nation-state.

Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji is an Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Bowdoin College. Her book combines historical and cultural studies analyses with ethnographic work to examine the figure of the ‘educated girl’ in colonial India and postcolonial Pakistan.