“Doctoral project: Embodiment in Islam: the everyday menstrual experiences of Hyderabadi Muslim Women in India.”

Research area: 1 & 2

Contact : 30486391@fsv.cuni.cz

My doctoral dissertation project explores the intricate relationship between menstruation, religion, societal norms, and the consequences of religious adherence and transgressions in menstrual management among married Muslim women in Hyderabad City, South India. It focuses on menstruation as a practice-oriented phenomenon to understand the gendered behavioral attributes within communities.

This research aligns with Area 2 of CEFRES, which examines norms and transgressions, as it delves into the role of menstruation as a normative functional system regulated by religion. Menstruation is viewed as a complex societal system with imaginary boundaries that shape individual actions and carry profound consequences. The study aims to shed light on the multifaceted aspects of menstruation and its regulation by studying actions and outcomes, including techniques adopted to conform to or resist societal expectations.

This innovative approach challenges traditional perspectives on menstruation, moving away from viewing it as a mere individual management issue or an object of exotic fascination. Instead, it focuses on the subjective experience of menstruators and how menstruation shapes their emotional and spatial identities, tracing the intergenerational transfer of menstrual knowledge. By intertwining the research area’s emphasis on transgressions and the societal functions they embody (Area 2) with the exploration of displacements and imagined boundaries (Area 1), the study aims to uncover the profound influence of menstruation on both individuals and the societies they inhabit. This contributes to a broader understanding of menstruation beyond Western frameworks and Orientalist stereotypes, shifting the discourse from shame and taboo to viewing menstruation as a phenomenon involving actors, actions, and consequences.

CV

Education

2020-present: Ph.D. in Sociology, supervised by PhDr. Mgr. Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková, Ph.D. (ISS, FSV, UK).

2017-2019: Master in Sociology, University of Hyderabad, India.

2014-2017: Bachelor in Sociology, Farook College, University of Calicut, India.

Research Projects & Grants

2022-2024 (Principal Investigator): “Changing social meanings of menstruatio

n – the role of taboos, rituals, and agency and the experience of Indian women,” Grants Agency of Charles University (GAUK), Czech Republic.

Teaching

2019-2021: Teaching intern at Blossom Public School, Tamil Nadu, India.

Recent Publications

Book review: “A Reflection on the Interventionist Approach to Menstrual Manag

ement in the Global South,” Gender and Research Journal, 22(2), 185-190.

• 2020: “Menstrual hygiene and the flood apocalypse: gender and disaster management,” Amal College, India.
• 2019: “Feminization of agriculture; plausible implications in sustainable farming,” Kerala Sociological Society, Kottayam, India.
• 2019: “Digitalization, modernity, and inclusiveness: the case of special needs students in smart classrooms, a study at the University of Hyderabad,” New Government Degree College, Telangana, India.
• 2015: “Challenges of people’s participation in local governance; experiences from Feroke Panchayath,” Kerala Sociological Society, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

I am a Ph.D. student of Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University. The primary focus of my research is the philosophy of Georges Bataille, along with Alexandre Kojève and Pierre Klossowski. In my project, I attempt to interpret the notion of community from a Bataillean perspective. The concept of community was revitalized in 1983 through the debate between Maurice Blanchot and Jean-Luc Nancy. While both authors frequently refer to Bataille, it is their philosophical systems that emerge from the debate rather than Bataille’s own work. Consequently, his position remains somewhat uncertain. Drawing from various aspects and fragments of his work, I reconstruct Bataille’s stance by exploring different types of community, such as political community, community of lovers, community of writers, and even community of those who lack community. I examine the limitations of such communities, their relationship to transgression, and the norms beyond which they are experienced.

Publications:

Sémiotika a ideologie [Semiotics and Ideology], Lenka Vojtíšková, Jakub Zítko (eds.), Togga, 2022.

Bataillova dvojí četba Hegela [Bataille’s Double Read of Hegel] (in:) Mladá Filozofia 2022, Alžběta Kuchtová, Marcel Šedo and Katarina Podušelová (eds.), FÚ SAV, 2022.

Conference papers:

V nadbytku není krása [There is no beauty in abundance], Ergot, FF UJEP, 2019.

Svrchovanost fašismu [Sovereignty of fascism], Sémiotika a ideologie, FHS UK, 2020.

Georges Bataille a nezavršený systém nevědění [Georges Bataille and the non-finished system of non-knowledge], Conference Think, ÚFAR UP, 2020.

Heterology and the sacrifice of knowledge, Arts, Ontology and Politics, University of Antwerp, 2021.

Bataillova četba Hegela: oběť, smrt a slavnost [Bataille reads Hegel: sacrifice, death and festivity], Mladá Filozofia, FÚ SAV, 2022.

Portrét, v jehož očích zříme hrůzu a utrpení [Portrait in whose eyes we see horror and suffering], Summer school of semiotics, FHS UK, 2022.