Assistant Professor of Anthropology

on leave 2020-21
Kirner-Johnson 243
315-859-4871
mdurrani@hamilton.edu

Mariam Durrani’s research focuses on Muslim youth and communities, cultural mobilities, higher education in Pakistan and the United States, race, gender, and migration studies. Importantly, she incorporates feminist and decolonial methodologies in her research. Durrani uses multimedia, including film, podcasts, and photography, to present her research and as part of her pedagogical strategies in the classroom. She is a committed social-justice advocate and hopes to work with local organizations on relevant issues.

Her current book project examines the category of "Muslim youth" through an ethnographic study of migration, mobility, and aspiration among Pakistani-origin Muslim college students. Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Lahore and New York City, she followed transnational working-class college students from rural family backgrounds at two ‘global’ universities that espoused a similar American liberal arts ethos. Her work argues that aspiration for mobility is a key organizing principle to understand the construction of South Asian-origin, Muslim youth subject-making.

Durrani received her joint doctorate in anthropology and education from the University of Pennsylvania and joined Hamilton after completing a year of her postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She taught at the University of New Mexico, Hunter College, Lahore University of Management Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania.