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Saad Khan Receives Presidential Dissertation Fellowship for Groundbreaking LGBTQ Activism Research in Bangladesh

August 15, 2023

Saad Khan, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, has been awarded the prestigious Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowship in Social Sciences for his groundbreaking research on LGBTQ activism in Bangladesh. Khan’s dissertation, titled “Nascent Moves: Loss, Desire, and In/visible LGBTQ Resistances in Bangladesh,” challenges the prevailing narrative that acts of violence against gay activists led to the regression or annihilation of the LGBTQ movement in Bangladesh. Through extensive fieldwork funded by the Social Science Research Council, Khan explores how these tragic events actually transformed the movement, documenting the emergence of nascent LGBTQ cultural and political life. His interdisciplinary research examines the impact of international development, changing economic circumstances, and growing political orthodoxy on LGBTQ individuals in Bangladesh, offering a fresh paradigm for the study of queer activism in global south contexts. In the words of GWSS Professor Shirley Yee, “Congratulations, Saad! This is wonderful news and a testament to the importance of your research on LGBTQ+ resistance in Bangladesh!”

Originally posted by the Department of Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies