LUMS - Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Scholars and academics from prominent institutions around the world will gather at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) from Dec 10 to 13 to remember late anthropologist Saba Mahmood, whose academic contributions to anthropology shifted global conversations on the Middle East, Muslim women, and non-western subjecthood.

LUMS to remember scholar, public intellectual Saba Mahmood LAHORE: Scholars and academics from prominent institutions around the world will gather at the Lahore University of...

Meet the DHL awardees | 🏅

At the DHL ceremony, we also honour faculty and staff members who have dedicated over 10 years to LUMS. Meet Danish Iqbal, who has been an office attendant in the HSS department. We applaud him for his excellent service. Here he is pictured with his father who is also an employee at LUMS, and here is what Danish has to say:

“میں اپنی کامیابی اپنے والدین خصوصاً اپنے والد کے نام کرنا چاہتا ہوں جو Lums کے ملازم بھی ہیں۔
براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ سرخیوں میں درج ذیل نام ہونے چاہئیں۔
1-میرا نام دانش اقبال ہے۔
2-والد کا نام اقبال
3-ڈاکٹر علی خان،
4-نصیر صاحب، اور پورا ایچ ایس ایس ڈیپارٹمنٹ ان کے مسلسل تعاون کے لیے۔

ان خوبصورت لمحات کو مہارت سے قید کرنے پر یونس صاحب کا خصوصی شکریہ ادا کیا جاتا ہے”

Meet the DHL awardees | 🏅

Aleeza Sarfraz is a senior at MGSHSS, majoring in Economics and Maths. She is the Vice President of Amnesty International (LUMS Chapter) and also serves as a tutor at the ASL.

She sums up her experiences by saying "I am truly grateful I was able to absorb so much in a short time from the LUMS community and I am passionate about passing on what I've learnt. As Vice President at Amnesty International, I've learnt to critically think about my place in the world and use my privileged position to spark conversations on the rights of the silenced, despite the constant censure. It has certainly taught me a lot about resilience and how to remain optimistic when faced with setbacks like social media pages being taken down or events banned.

Being an ASL tutor and mentoring students in one-on-one sessions has been a meaningful journey, as I’ve had the joy of seeing students break out of their shells over the course of the semester. Overall, I owe it to my HSS family of dedicated professors who've offered me tremendous support in office hours and students who've challenged my perspectives, and it is this spirit of inquiry and giving back to the community that I wish to take with me."

Starting this Sunday - Gender, Piety, and Secularity: Conversations with Saba Mahmood (1962- 2018)

Event will be live streamed on: https://facebook.com/MGSHSSLUMS/
For more information visit: https://mgshss.lums.edu.pk/node/15619
(All times are Pakistan Standard Time, GMT +05:00)

Meet the DHL awardees | 🏅

Here’s Syed Muhammad Sarim Gillani - a star student who actively participates in extracurriculars, was given an outstanding service award, and is also one of our helpful PALs!

Sarim shares “The rigour of the Economics program at MGSHSS allowed me to excel in challenging courses such as 'Advanced Econometrics' that I studied during my exchange at Queen Mary University, London. I also explored a wonderful mix of humanities and social sciences at MGSHSS that enabled me to delve deeper into nuances of education policy issues, giving me the confidence and opportunity to play key roles in organising ‘The Baltistan Experience' and 'CEO's Retreat' earlier this year.

Such leadership experiences were only possible due to the agency we have as students in designing our own customized curriculum at MGSHSS. My Religious Studies minor has further fostered my interest in pursuing “Islamic History and Culture” in the future. Popular opinion: MGSHSS is the BEST school at LUMS!!! Alhumdulilah”

Happening tomorrow!

Happening this Friday!

Meet our alumnus Laiba Ahmed and read what she says about the employability of an English major -

“From "unemployable" English grad to CEO & Co-Founder in a year.

Pictured is a freshly graduated Laiba, with a supposedly "unemployable" English degree, desperately justifying her worth with a minor in Public Management and Policy. My career journey since then has been anything but typical.

I ditched business school after a year because I craved a versatile degree that would obliterate my limits and broaden my worldview. No regrets. I delved into everything from history to economics, philosophy to policy. After I graduated, I hit pause and gave myself one last summer vacation; legos and a summer of nonstop reading after four grueling years of academics and part-time gigs.

Enter the job market, where all I wanted was a chance to work for women in any capacity. Luckily, I stumbled upon wecamp. In just a few months, I catapulted from program officer to project director to CEO & Co-Founder. How? Simple—many, many 10-12 hour days dissecting e-commerce, business development, project management, M&E work, training delivery and every skill in the wecamp arsenal. I wasn't interested in working to the "best of my capacity"; I aimed to work to the best capacity the organization needed.

Did I have all the skills when I started? Nope. Did that stop me? Obviously not. I learned on the go—made a ton of mistakes, read countless articles, devoured Coursera courses, and, of course, depended heavily on tried-and-true YouTube tutorials. Somewhere in this chaotic journey, I got hooked on business studies and its relevance in the modern world of e-commerce and social media marketing. Cue an ongoing 6-month Google certification.

Fast forward, and I'm confidently collaborating with women entrepreneurs and donor agencies on projects to support marginalized women entrepreneurs scale their micro and home-based businesses.

And to everyone who predicted I'd be jobless without some concrete 10-year plan, I'm glad I didn't submit. I kept exploring, I kept learning, and look at me now. “

Developing the love of humanities and social sciences at an early age! Our instructors visited LGS 55 Main to talk to the students and teachers about all that MGSHSS offers and dispelling myths about the humanities.

Drop us a message if you want us to visit your school!

Congratulations to our very own Dr Ali Cheema for being appointed the Vice Chancellor of LUMS! We wish him the best of luck for his tenure 🎉

Super proud of our alumnus Neha Mankani making it to !

She is featured as a climate hero, celebrating the important role of midwives in climate emergencies and highlighting her work with in last year's floods and in the climate affected island communities of Karachi.

Congratulations, Neha!

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Maria Amir discussed the idea of ‘Desi Futurism’ that helps craft and conceive new and varied tools and strategies for reimagining and repurposing the past for a feminist present and future in localized contexts. Indigenous story telling methods are central to this project as they help ground these new explorations in Land and Memory.

14th October 2023

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Sharing experiences and focusing on the future |

The faculty and students of ANTH-SOC, POL, and ENGL met and discussed different topics to understand each other and grow together.

Cheers to the batch of 2027 and their commitment to excellence!

شاہین ہے پرواز ہے کام تیرا

تیرے سامنے آسمان اور بھی ہیں

Celebrating Iqbal Day with the hope for cleaner, healthier, and happier days ahead!

Highlights from the high-tea organised for the Anthropology and Sociology Faculty and MGSHSS Batch of 2027.

Students and faculty enjoyed stimulating conversations over tea, discussing academic journeys and aspirations.

Happening next week!

Meet the Academic Support Lab |

The ASL is a student-run initiative dedicated to providing exceptional academic support to undergraduate students. The skilled tutors are well-prepared to guide you through effective reading strategies, unravel dense academic jargon, and facilitate your writing endeavors.

If you want to know more, simply reach out to them at [email protected]

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MGSHSS proudly hosted a transformative 5-day skill-building workshop from October 16th to 20th 2023. This significant event was an integral component of the groundbreaking 'Cultivating the Humanities & Social Sciences & Supporting Under-Represented Scholars of Asia' transnational initiative, spearheaded by the prestigious Association of Asian Studies (AAS) and generously sponsored by Sweden.
 
The primary objective of this workshop was to empower and elevate the research capabilities of 20 early-career scholars and untenured full-time faculty members hailing from Higher Education Institutes that face resource constraints and are situated in regions distanced from the bustling metropolitan and provincial centers of Pakistan. This targeted effort aimed to bridge the academic gap by nurturing talent where it's most needed.

Under the guidance of an illustrious lineup of faculty members, including Dr. Furrukh Khan and Dr. Shabbir Ahsen, participants were exposed to a diverse range of academic perspectives and expertise. Throughout the week, these distinguished mentors, including Dr. Hadia Majid, Dr. Ilyas Chattha, Dr. Waqar Zaidi, Dr. Saba Pirzadeh, Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Dr. Salman Rafi, Dr. Yunas Samad, Dr. Asma Faiz, Dr. Abid Burki, Dr. Amen Jaffer, Dr. Manan Asif, Dr. Kamran Asdar, Dr. Krisna Uk, and many others, held insightful sessions that covered a wide spectrum of topics in the humanities and social sciences.

Mids season reminder 🔔 Don’t forget to get some steps in and notice the colours changing around you 🍂
Good luck!

The Fall/Mids Season Essentials | Restocked now at the LUMS Souvenir Store! Thank you for all the love - (very) limited quantities remaining!

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Happening next week!

The place to have conversations and learn about each other and yourself 🏡

What are our faculty members are up to? |

One of the oldest settlements in Karachi, Lyari has been the site on-going violence between political parties, criminal gangs and law enforcement agencies since the early 2000s. For this reason, Lyari, has been labeled by law enforcement agencies and the media as one of several ‘no-go areas’ in the city. However, residents of Lyari tell a different story, referring to this area as ‘Karachi ki maan’ or the mother of Karachi.

Dr Nida Kirmani, a sociologist and Associate Professor of Sociology at MGSHSS, utilizes documentary film as a means of learning, healing and teaching about Lyari’s violent past through ‘Shadowlands’ - a documentary that follows two residents of Lyari, both of whom have lost family members to police encounters.

Dr Kirmani was the Madeleine Haas Russell Visiting Associate Professor of South Asian Studies for the 2022 – 2023 academic year at Brandeis University’s South Asian Studies Program. Her documentary has been screened at many places across the world including Columbia, Boston, and Stanford Universities.

It gives us great pleasure to announce the promotion and tenure of Dr Amen Jaffer to Associate Professor!

Dr Amen joined the department in 2016 and has since excelled in both his teaching and research roles. He has also increasingly played an important role in terms of his institutional contribution.

Dr. Jaffer’s research is very strongly reviewed externally with all the reviewers commenting on his work being a model of ethnographic sensitivity, methodological rigour, and theoretical creativity. Dr Amen has already made an international reputation for himself and we look forward to his continued success!

Mark your calendars - we’ve got some great stuff coming up!

Welcoming the Mahbub Ul Haq Research Center to Instagram! Give them a follow and check out the internship opportunities they offer to students!

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In this episode of Books@HSS, Dr. Nauman Faizi hosts Dr. Asma Faiz and they talk about her book, In Search of Lost Glory, Sindhi Nationalism in Pakistan

Complete Episode on the .lums YouTube channel.

About last week - a movie night, a documentary screening, and an information session about exchange programs - fun learning experiences all around ✨

It’s a very happening week, part 3: screening of ‘Shadowlands’ along with a discussion with producer Dr Nida Kirmani! Happening this Wednesday at 4pm in the Faculty Lounge.

We’ve got a very happening week next week, part 2 - an outdoor movie night in the Central Courtyard on Tuesday at 7pm!

Looking forward to watching Spider Man and enjoying some popcorn with you 🍿

We’ve got a very happening week next week, starting with this very helpful session on Monday for anyone interested in UGRAD!

Visit the link in bio to register!

Watch the colours change 🍁

Grateful for a green campus 🌿

It’s what’s inside that counts! Thrive at LUMS brings together a host of different tools and activities that make sure you stay on track with your goals and stay sane while you’re at it!

Swipe to find out more and visit the super store to see for yourself!