Doctoral Researcher Secures Funding to Examine Infrastructure, Violence, and Resistance Movements in Pakistan
In the heart of Balochistan, Pakistan, Bramsh Khan, a Ph.D. candidate in social science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is delving into the layered consequences of state-led infrastructural development on Baloch women. Her research focuses on the impact of these projects on their lives, livelihoods, and traditional roles, as well as their strategies of resistance.
Khan's work reveals that these developments result in multiple intertwined impacts, including social, economic, and political disruptions. For instance, alterations in local economies and social fabrics may reduce women's autonomy and increase vulnerabilities.
However, Baloch women are not passive recipients of these changes. Khan's research uncovers various resistance strategies employed by these women to assert their rights and preserve their communities. These strategies range from grassroots activism, leveraging local networks, to alternative social practices.
One such example is a grassroots initiative where women from farming communities teach embroidery and craftwork to displaced shepherd women. This not only preserves traditional skills but also provides a means of income and empowerment in challenging circumstances.
Khan's research contributes to understanding the complex interplay between state policies, infrastructure development, and gendered experiences in a conflict-sensitive region. She emphasises that impacts are not monolithic but deeply contextual and multi-dimensional.
To further deepen and expand her dissertation, Khan is collaborating with emerging Baloch filmmakers on a film project. With the aid of a Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, she aims to document the experiences of Baloch women, both the direct and indirect violence they face, as well as their strategies of endurance and resistance.
The film project seeks to convey these experiences in a visceral way through multimodal storytelling. It aims to shed light on how the rhetoric of development and modernity can obscure violence and destruction, and how infrastructure designed to "connect" can in fact isolate and disrupt, leading to environmental degradation, increased militarization, direct forms of violence, gender-based harm, and cultural and economic precarity.
Moreover, Khan's work exposes cultural erasure as a consequence of nation-state building. She illustrates how these megaprojects, such as the $62 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor and its M-8 motorway project, while touted as progress, can have devastating impacts on local communities and their cultural heritage.
Dan Olson-Bang, director of professional and career development in the Graduate School, believes that the Wenner-Gren grant is a great fit for Khan and her work. He helped her find and apply for the fellowship to support her dissertation fieldwork.
In addition to the Wenner-Gren grant, Khan has also been awarded a 2021 Fulbright Scholarship. Her work continues to shed light on the often overlooked consequences of infrastructure development and the resilience of communities, particularly the adaptations and resistances of Baloch women, in the face of adversity.
- Balochistan's state-led infrastructural development, as studied by Bramsh Khan in environmental science, shows that climate-change initiatives, renewable-energy projects, and industry growth can lead to social, economic, and political disruptions.
- The climate-change challenges in Balochistan, as well as Khan's research findings, highlight the need for policy-and-legislation that prioritizes sustainable practices to reduce vulnerabilities and protect women's autonomy.
- Khan's research on the impact of infrastructure development also sheds light on the importance of education-and-self-development in providing economic opportunities and empowerment for Baloch women.
- In the face of these societal changes, finance plays a crucial role in supporting grassroots initiatives that preserve traditional skills, such as the embroidery teaching program by farming women for displaced shepherd women.
- Online-education platforms could be beneficial for Baloch women to learn about climate-change mitigation strategies, renewable-energy technologies, and lifelong-learning opportunities, especially after displacement due to migration.
- The war-and-conflicts in Balochistan, as well as the environmental degradation caused by state-led infrastructure development, have grave impacts on the living conditions, learning environments, and sporting opportunities of local communities, especially youth involvement in European leagues or football in the Premier League.
- Khan's film project aims to bring general-news attention to the violent harm faced by Baloch women, highlighting the need for crime-and-justice reform and advocating for protections for women's rights in the industry, society, and politics.
- By showcasing the destructive consequences of state-led infrastructural development, such as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Khan's research emphasizes the need for careful consideration and planning to preserve the environmental-science, cultural, and economic integrity of local communities.
- In collaboration with emerging Baloch filmmakers, Khan's film project seeks to educate numerous audiences, using multimodal storytelling to impact and ultimately influence science, politics, and the arts in Balochistan and beyond.
- Through her research, Khan goes beyond scientific findings and into policy-and-legislation recommendations, advocating for a sustainable and inclusive approach to state-led infrastructural development that consider the voices, lived experiences, and strategies of resistance demonstrated by Baloch women.
