FARIS A. KHAN

Invited Lectures 

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• “Khwaja Sira Politics: Gender Ambiguity in Everyday Life and Activism in Pakistan," Gender and Sexuality in the Global South; Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Yale University, 2017.

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• “Representing ‘Transgender’ Citizens: The Role of Duplicity in Khwaja Sira Identity Politics and Activism in Pakistan,” Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 2013.

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• “Creating Respect: The Gendered Experiences of Khwaja Siras in Karachi Mohallas,” Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, 2013.

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• “Toils of the Field: An Anthropological Approach to the Study ‘Transgender’ Activism in Pakistan,” Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, 2013.

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• “Khwaja Sira: ‘Transgender’ Activism and Transnationality in Pakistan,” Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, 2013.

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Conference Papers 

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• “Translating Khwaja Sira: The Politics and Poetics of Resistance,” Trans;Form: A Comparative Literature Conference with Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew and Urdu. The Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, 2018.

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• “EthnoVlogs: New Modes of Ethnography and Trans Becoming in Pakistan,” Queer Symposium. Annual Conference on South Asia, October 11, 2018.

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• “Between the Psychic and the Material: An Exploration of Ambiguity and Affect Among the Khwaja Sira in Pakistan,” Queering Psychoanalysis: The Sexed Body in South Asia. Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life (IRCPL), Columbia University, March 30-31, 2018.

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• “Gender Ambiguity in the Everyday Life of Khwaja Siras in Pakistan,” Intimacies Conference; Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, Columbia University, 2017.

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• “Contextualizing Khwaja Sira Rights: Toward a History of the Pakistani State’s Gender and Sexuality Politics,” AIPS Junior Scholars Conference on Pakistan, University of Wisconsin, Madison, October 22, 2015.

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• “Khwaja Sira: Gendered Bodies, Rights and Taxonomic Regulation,” Re-envisioning Pakistan: The Political Economy of Social Transformation, an international conference at Sarah Lawrence College, April 4-5, 2014. (Invited session)

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•  “Khwaja Sira: Identity Terminology, Representation and ‘Transgender’ Activism i Pakistan,” American Anthropological Association annual meeting, November 20-24, 2013. (Panel selected)

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• “Khwaja Sira Domesticity: Gendered Embodiment, Sexual Labor and Desire Among Gender Ambiguous Pakistanis,” the Annual Conference on South Asia, October 17-20, 2013. (Panel selected)

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• “Representing ‘Transgender’ Citizens: the Role of Deception in Khwaja Sira Identity Politics and Activism in Pakistan,” the Annual Conference on South Asia, October 18-21, 2012.

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• “Always the Bridegroom, Never the Bride: Familial Obligations and Yearnings of Khwaja Siras in Pakistan,” the Association for Asian Studies annual conference, March 15-18, 2012. (Panel selected)

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• “Homosexuality in a Global Age: The Origins and Dynamics of the Neoteric Pakistani Gay Culture,” Central States Anthropological Society annual meeting, March 17-20, 2005. (Panel selected)

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Campus Lectures 

• “Illegible Bodies: Khwaja sira Activists, the State, and Sex/Gender Regulation in Pakistan,” Department of Anthropology (Co-Sponsored by South Asian Studies, Sexuality and Queer Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies), Brandeis University, 2016.

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• “‘This lipstick is the work of the devil!’: Being ‘Transgender’ and Muslim in Pakistan,” Department of Religion, Syracuse University, 2013.

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• “Non-Normatively Gendered Muslims in Contemporary Pakistan,” Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, 2013. 

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• “Pressure and Desire: The Weddings of Gender Ambiguous Pakistanis,” Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, 2012.

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• “‘Transgender’ Activism in Pakistan,” Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, 2012.

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• “Local, National and Transnational Influences in ‘Transgender’ Activism in Pakistan,” LGBT Studies Program and LGBT Resource Center, Syracuse University, 2012.

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• “Same-Sex South Asian American Weddings,” Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University, 2009.

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• “Powerful Cultural Productions: Identity Politics in Diasporic Same-Sex South Asian Weddings,” Spring Speaker Series, South Asia Center, Syracuse University, 2009.

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Please refer to my CV for a complete list of publications and presentations.