Hayward Alker Best Student Paper Award Winner 2019: Zainab Alam, for "Do-it-Yourself Activism in Pakistan: The Fatal Celebrity of Qandeel Baloch"
Winner: Zainab Alam (PhD Student, Rutgers University), for "Do-it-Yourself Activism in Pakistan: The Fatal Celebrity of Qandeel Baloch," presented at the International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFJP) Conference, April 2018, and at the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS) Conference in September 2018.
Alam's paper exemplifies an innovative and articulate use of methods to examine the political activism of Qandeel Baloch against the cultural backdrop of contemporary Pakistan. Using the lens of do-it-yourself-activism to explore the impact of a Pakistani female social media celebrity, Alam analyzes texts and visuals to show how marginalized voices use alternate means like satire to make forceful political statements. Challenging work on celebrity politics and digital media activism that privileges frameworks from the Global North, Alam offers a decentering of the Western obsession with Hollywood and privilege as well as conventional thinking on contentious politics.
Efficacious and eloquent, Alam’s paper broadens our understanding of protest. The use of critical discourse analysis is instructive in unveiling the importance of social media and individual action as opposed to collective action. The paper foregrounds the importance of a feminist lens and the need to address political phenomena from a “Global South” perspective.
The members of the selection committee – Martha Balaguera Cuervo, Alexandra Budabin, and I – invite the audience to join us in celebrating Zainab Alam's excellent work and to further congratulate her on the recent publication of the paper in Perspective on Politics.
Award committee:
Sarah Marusek, Chair
