Research
My research explores refugee knowledge, the politics of expertise, and humanitarian interventions, with a focus on gender and forced migration. I investigate how displaced individuals and communities produce, circulate, and legitimize knowledge about their own experiences of gendered violence across academic, policy, and civil society networks. By centering refugees as active knowledge producers, my work aims to challenge hierarchical and top-down assumptions about expertise in global governance and humanitarian practice.
I draw on comparative ethnographic research in diverse forced migration contexts, such as Syrian refugees in Jordan, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and LGBTIQA+ communities in transnational settings ranging from India to Canada. My projects examine how marginalized actors assert authority through grassroots networks, digital mutual aid, advocacy, and scholarly engagement, reshaping humanitarian and policy frameworks.
Current and recent projects include:
Refugee Expertise and Gender-Based Violence: My dissertation research analyzes how refugees participate as experts in global governance networks, challenging dominant narratives about victimhood and authority.
Intersectionality and Durable Solutions for Refugees: Examining how gender, race, and social identity shape refugee access to resettlement and integration, and how displaced people navigate and resist humanitarian categorization.
LGBTIQA+ Forced Migration in South Asia: Investigating the experiences and advocacy of Hijra and other queer migrants, highlighting the role of sexual and gender minorities in shaping humanitarian and academic knowledge.
My work bridges rigorous political ethnographic research with policy engagement and public scholarship, producing insights that inform both academic debates and practical interventions in refugee protection, humanitarian programming, and community-based justice initiatives. My research and professional development has been funded by FRQSC, the Fulbright Commission, Critical Language Scholarships (CLS), and Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) .
