I usually am conflicted about publicly declaring the projects/books/art I am working on because I know the connotations of the urge to productivity capitalism puts on all of us and the devastating impact of it on our mental and physical health. My ‘now’ page is not meant to create a vicious ‘busy culture’ but it is a glimpse into the projects and works I am passionate about and therefore prioritize. It also allows me to remind myself to say ‘no’ to opportunities that does not fit within my priorities. So, here is what I am working on these days.

Pedagogies of Hope

This last fall, I initiated a collective called ‘Pedagogies of Hope'.’ Teaching and Pedagogy is a passionate subject to me. Being involved in this amazing collective with wonderful group of people gives me hope, helps me keep going and brings so much joy to my academic life. Check here if you are interested in knowing more about this collective or getting involved with it.

Hopeful Queers!

Can you see the pattern with joy and hope?! This is another project that has my whole heart in it. I, and two of my most favourite people, are putting together an edited volume/collective on Queer Hope and Futurity from Global South. This project will bring together artists, scholars, and activist to dream together about a future otherwise. Stay tuned for more updates on this and connect if you’d like to be part of it!

Shadows of Nothingness: Queering Silence and Absence

This project engages with Islamic Sufism, a decolonial feminist readings of quantum field theory, and queer theory in developing a framework for gendered and racial perceptions of silence and nothingness, queering the construction of absence and in/difference in Western Imagination. I posit that in many ways, what has historically been deemed “nothing” (nothing important, nothing relevant, nothing significant), with its racial and gendered consequences, has either been erased, violated, or colonized. A monologue, solo art exhibit, and short documentary are in the works for this project. Very exciting if I say so myself!

SWANA Feminist and Queer Research Lab

To help promote the research that focuses on the question of ‘liberation’ and ‘freedom’ of female, femme, and queer people from the SWANA region, I have co-founded a Research Lab titled SWANA Feminist and Queer Research Lab. This lab, currently under preliminary formation, aims to create a collaborative environment for research excellency. It also seeks to provide a space to dream/hope/imagine a future without cis-heteropatriarchy, one that does not risk being co-opted by neocon propaganda, Islamophobia or geopolitics in the SWANA region

Articles and Book Chapters I am currently working on

Aytak Dibavar, “Transnational Feminist Solidarities: Decolonial Imaginaries and Feminist Revolutions, in Birgit Poopuu, Xymena Kurowska, and Shivani Singh(ed), Handbook of Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics, currently under contract by Oxford University Press.