Tahira Khan

Country

Pakistan

Known for

Women's Rights

Dates

Hijri Unknown-Present (AH); Common Era Unknown-Present (CE)

Tahira Khan

Biography

Born and raised in Pakistan, Tahira Khan has written extensively on gender and Islam, gender and politics, and violence against women.1 Tahira earned a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Denver and an MA in political science from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She has led several workshops on gender studies and held numerous lectures on feminist theory and human rights approaches. Tahira is known for her book, Beyond Honour: A Historical Materialist Explanation of Honour-related Violence, which considers honor killings from a Marxist Historical Materialist perspective. Her work attempts to explain the presence, or absence, of honor killings in Muslim societies as motivated by socio-cultural factors other than the cultural notion of honor.2 Published in 2006, the book presents a broad overview of honor killings from ancient civilizations to contemporary societies and pays particular attention to Pakistan.3 The study blends academic research with the narratives of the victims of gender related violence and Tahira’s own stories as well. In addition to her academic work, Tahira integrates her research with feminist activism. She has worked with the Asian Pacific Women, Law and Development Forum (APWLD), Chiangmai since 1997, and she is also the Convener of the Women's Participation in Political Processes (WPPP). In 2003, she was elected vice president of the Irteqa Institute of Social Sciences, Karachi.4 [1] http://www.naropa.edu/ebadi/bios.cfm">“Biographies,” Naropa University. [2] “Tahira S. Khan: Beyond honour: A Historical Materialist Explanation of Honour-related Violence,” Global Sisterhood Network. [3] Ibid. [4] “Biographies,” Naropa University.

Sources

<a href="http://www.naropa.edu/ebadi/bios.cfm">“Biographies,” Naropa University. </a> <a href="http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/view/1313/76/">“Tahira S. Khan: Beyond honour: A Historical Materialist Explanation of Honour-related Violence,” Global Sisterhood Network. </a>