Sadia Khatri

Sadia Khatri (Urdu: سعدیہ کھتری) is a Pakistani writer, photographer[1] and feminist based in Karachi. She has worked as a journalist at Dawn and The Kathmandu Post, and as a reportage editor with Papercuts Magazine.[2] Khatri is also one of the founders of the feminist collective Girls at Dhabas.[3]

Sadia Khatri
سعدیہ کھتری
Born
Sadia Khatri
NationalityPakistani
OccupationWriter, Journalist, Photographer,[1] Film critic
Known forFeminist, Founder of Girls at Dhabas

Early life and education

Sadia Khatri graduated from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA.[4] She began as an Astronomy and Physics major and later added Journalism and Media Studies.[5]

Before coming to the United States, Khatri pursued photography as a hobby.[1] Her interest in art and photography stems from her adventures in Karachi’s art and culture scene. She often attended concerts, literary lectures and community art shows with her sister, Fiza Khatri, who also attended Mount Holyoke College.[6] Similar to the US blog "Humans of New York," Khatri blogged on the theme of "Humans of Pioneer Valley" during her college graduation period in the US.[1]

In 2011, Khatri took photographs of children who spend most of their time living by the roadside in commercial areas of Karachi. These photographs were displayed in an exhibit in Karachi. Underneath each photograph, there was a quote from the corresponding street child to convey their perspective on life through their own words.[7]

Career

In her autobiographical essay "Fear and the City," which received a special citation in the recently announced Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women, Khatri narrates her liberation through travel and struggle reclaiming public spaces in her hometown of Karachi, She ends her essay with her experience of a recent hate assault.[8][9][10]

Khatri won The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction for her short story The City of Mitr.[11] She has worked as a journalist at Dawn[12] and The Friday Times.[13] She also is a film critic.[14] She also participated in Critic's Academy at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival.[15]

She also acted in a music video of a feminist anthem by all-girl band Garam Anday.[16]

Feminism

Girls at Dhabas

Khatri is one of the founders of the feminist collective Girls at Dhabas.[17][18][19][20] Her social activism has helped South Asian women in general and Pakistani women in particular to reclaim public spaces for women, in particular Dhabas (roadside tea restaurant) which are dominated by male customers and might be considered as a place to loiter.[21][22] The collective was born out of the daily frustrations of middle- and upper-class women experience who are forced to stay in safe locations and cannot go out alone without good reason.[23] This led Khatri to think about the violence she had experienced at home, in private spaces, which was far greater than anything she had been subjected to on the streets.[24] It made her see how safety was just an argument used to reinforce the private/public binary and to police the bodies and sexuality of women.[25] [26][27][28]

Aurat March

Khatri's Girls at Dhabas was among the organisers of Aurat March (women's march).[29][30][31]

References
  1. Uloop, ContributorOnline Marketplace for College Life (13 December 2012). "Sadia Khatri: Photographer Behind 'Humans of Pioneer Valley'". HuffPost.
  2. "Meet the Team". DWL. 2014-09-29. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  3. "Meet Sadia Khatri: Karachis Chai Rebel". Daily Times. 12 October 2017.
  4. Advancement, M. H. C. "From MHC chai groups to #DhabaForWomen". blog.mtholyoke.edu.
  5. Inayat, Naila. "Women in Pakistan just want to have fun -- like the men". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  6. "Top Student Artists Reunite to Create Their Own Show". Office of News & Media Relations | UMass Amherst.
  7. Newspaper, From the (12 September 2011). "Exhibition on impact of violence opens". DAWN.COM.
  8. "NEWS AND RESULTS 2019". ZHR WRITING PRIZE.
  9. "Zeenat Haroon Writing Prize for Women announces the winner of the competition". Daily Times. 17 December 2019.
  10. "2019 AWARD CEREMONY". ZHR WRITING PRIZE.
  11. "Winning Story of 2019". The Salam Award.
  12. "News stories for Sadia Khatri - DAWN.COM". www.dawn.com.
  13. "Sadia Khatri". The Friday Times.
  14. Mannan, Hera (24 July 2019). "Pakistani Activist Gets Selected for Switzerland's Film Festival!". Brandsynario.
  15. "Sadia Khatri - Locarno Festival". Locarno Festival. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  16. Chaudhry, Amna (2018-11-15). "Garam Anday's new music video is an unapologetic celebration of female anger". Images. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  17. Amjad, Farah (20 March 2019). "Making #MeToo Work in Pakistan". The New Republic.
  18. Sengupta, Anuradha (16 April 2016). "Feminism over chai". The Hindu.
  19. "How drinking tea became an act of female rebellion". September 6, 2015.
  20. Sheikh, Imaan. "Here's Why South Asian Women Are Uploading Photos Of Themselves At Dhabas". BuzzFeed.
  21. "PSCA to Develop App for Eradicating Women Harassment in Society". PhoneWorld. 19 December 2016.
  22. "Punjab to Combat Women Harassment Through Technology". MIT Technology Review Pakistan. 10 December 2016.
  23. "This Feminist Gang In Pakistan Is Holding Bike Rallies To Combat Sexism On The Streets". Cooler.
  24. "What Pakistani Feminists Want You To Know About Qandeel Baloch's Murder". BuzzFeed News.
  25. Khan, Sameera (26 March 2019). "On Pakistan's marching women". The Hindu.
  26. "Aurat March 2018 — the rise of sisterhood". The Express Tribune. 8 March 2018.
  27. "The cool girls of Pakistan". mid-day. 13 August 2015.
  28. Dixit, Shubhra (5 August 2015). "Gender: Hang Out With These Girls at Dhabas". TheQuint.
  29. "Global Voices - Aurat March (Woman March) Marks Resistance Against Misogyny in Pakistan". Global Voices. 11 March 2018.
  30. "The 'womanspreading' placard that caused fury in Pakistan". BBC News. 5 April 2019.
  31. "In pictures: Aurat March brings together new sisterhood clan". www.thenews.com.pk.
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