Shenila Khoja-Moolji
{{Short description|Pakistani-American academic}}
Shenila Khoja-Moolji is the Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Endowed Chair of Muslim Societies and an associate professor at Georgetown University.{{Cite web|url=https://acmcu.georgetown.edu/2022/07/06/acmcu-welcomes-professor-shenila-khoja-moolji-to-the-faculty/|title=ACMCU Welcomes Professor Shenila Khoja-Moolji to the Faculty|date=July 6, 2022|access-date=July 8, 2022|archive-date=July 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002940/https://acmcu.georgetown.edu/2022/07/06/acmcu-welcomes-professor-shenila-khoja-moolji-to-the-faculty/|url-status=live}} She is a Shia Ismaili Muslim scholar known for her scholarship on Muslims, gender, and Pakistan studies.
Khoja-Moolji is the author of several books that have won awards from international academic associations. Her books include: [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298408/forging-the-ideal-educated-girl Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia] (University of California Press, 2018); [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520336803/sovereign-attachments Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan] (University of California Press, 2021); [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rebuilding-community-9780197642030?lang=en&cc=us Rebuilding Community: Displaced Women and the Making of a Shia Ismaili Muslim Sociality] (Oxford University Press, 2023); and [https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-impossibility-of-muslim-boyhood?lang=en&cc=us The Impossibility of Muslim Boyhood] (University of Minnesota Press, 2024).
Early life and education
Khoja-Moolji grew up in Hyderabad, Pakistan.{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Sarah |title=Meet Dr. Shenila Khoja-Moolji, a Champion for Inclusive Education |url=https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/women/article/15108731/meet-dr-shenila-khoja-moolji-a-champion-for-inclusive-education |website=Issues in Higher Education |date=3 March 2021 |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002941/https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/women/article/15108731/meet-dr-shenila-khoja-moolji-a-champion-for-inclusive-education |url-status=live }} She belongs to Sindhi Khowaja community, she speaks Sindhi language,{{Cite book |last=Khoja-Moolji |first=Shenila |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35LCEAAAQBAJ&q=editions:6yUY8iSf3gsC |title=Rebuilding Community: Displaced Women and the Making of a Shia Ismaili Muslim Sociality |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-764202-3 |pages=142 |language=en}} She received a scholarship from the United World Colleges to do an International Baccalaureate. She studied at Brown University, Harvard University, and Columbia University.
Career
Between 2016 and 2018, Khoja-Moolji was a postdoctoral and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania's Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality and Women.{{cite web |title=Visiting Scholar, Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality and Women |url=https://gsws.sas.upenn.edu/people/shenila-khoja-moolji |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002940/https://gsws.sas.upenn.edu/people/shenila-khoja-moolji |url-status=live }} In 2018, she joined the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies program at Bowdoin College, where she earned early tenure and promotion within three and a half years.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} In 2022, Khoja-Moolji was appointed as the Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Associate Professor of Muslim societies, a tenured and endowed chair position,{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} at Georgetown University.
Khoja-Moolji is known for her theorizations of Muslim girlhood, which includes several articles that analyze the portrayal of Malala Yousafzai and the politics of international development campaigns.{{cite news |last1=Khoja-Moolji |first1=Shenila |title=Why is Malala such a polarising figure in Pakistan? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/4/1/why-is-malala-such-a-polarising-figure-in-pakistan |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=April 1, 2018 |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402212103/https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/4/1/why-is-malala-such-a-polarising-figure-in-pakistan |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Khoja-Moolji |first1=Shenila |title=Reading Malala: (De)(Re)Territorialization of Muslim Collectivities |journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East |date=2015 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=539–556 |doi=10.1215/1089201X-3426397 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article-abstract/35/3/539/59924/Reading-Malala-De-Re-Territorialization-of-Muslim |access-date=2022-04-02 |archive-date=2022-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402212510/https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article-abstract/35/3/539/59924/Reading-Malala-De-Re-Territorialization-of-Muslim |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Khoja-Moolji |first1=Shenila |title=Death by benevolence: third world girls and the contemporary politics of humanitarianism |journal=Feminist Theory |year=2020 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=65–90 |doi=10.1177/1464700119850026 |s2cid=197718506 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464700119850026}}{{cite journal |last1=Khoja-Moolji |first1=Shenila |title=The Making of Humans and Their Others in and through Transnational Human Rights Advocacy |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |date=2017 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=377–402 |doi=10.1086/688184 |s2cid=151443956 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/688184 |access-date=2022-04-02 |archive-date=2022-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402212103/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/688184 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Khoja-Moolji |first1=Shenila |title=Doing the 'work of hearing': girls' voices in transnational educational development campaigns |journal=Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education |date=2016 |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=745–763|doi=10.1080/03057925.2015.1084582 |s2cid=143121465 }}
Her first book, [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298408/forging-the-ideal-educated-girl Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia], published by the University of California Press (2018), is a genealogy of the 'educated girl.' The book shows how girl's education is a site of struggle for multiple groups—from national to religious elites—through which they construct gender, class, and religious identities.{{Cite journal |last=Leyava |first=Emily |date=2019 |title=Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia by Shenila Khoja-Moolji. |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/704135 |journal=Comparative Education Review |language=en |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=447–449 |doi=10.1086/704135 |s2cid=240934549 |issn=0010-4086 |access-date=2022-07-12 |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002941/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/704135 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last=Adenuga |first=Taiwo |date=2020-08-19 |title=Forging the ideal educated girl: the production of desirable subjects in Muslim South Asia. |url=https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jise/article/view/1666 |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education |volume=9 |issue=2 |doi=10.32674/jise.v9i2.1666 |s2cid=225429213 |issn=2166-2681 |access-date=2022-07-12 |archive-date=2022-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301185705/https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jise/article/view/1666 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Marin-Velasquez |first1=Melba |last2=Closson-Pitts |first2=Brittany |date=2019-05-19 |title=Forging the ideal educated girl: the production of desirable subjects in Muslim South Asia |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2019.1583322 |journal=Gender and Education |language=en |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=560–561 |doi=10.1080/09540253.2019.1583322 |s2cid=150972391 |issn=0954-0253 |access-date=2022-07-12 |archive-date=2022-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002941/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540253.2019.1583322 |url-status=live }} The book was published in the Islamic Humanities open-access series.{{cite book |last1=Open Access |title=Forging the Ideal Educated Girl The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia |year=2018 |doi=10.1525/luminos.52 |isbn=9780520298408 |s2cid=150332143 |url=https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.52/ |access-date=2022-04-02 |archive-date=2022-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319054314/https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/m/10.1525/luminos.52/ |url-status=live }} The book won the 2019 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award from the Comparative and International Education Society.{{cite web |last1=Comparative and International Education Society |title=2019 Jackie Kirk Award Outstanding Book Award |url=https://www.cies.us/resource/resmgr/files/awards_documents/2021jackie_kirk_award_recip.docx |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002940/https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.cies.us/resource/resmgr/files/awards_documents/2021jackie_kirk_award_recip.docx |url-status=live }}
Her second book, [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520336803/sovereign-attachments Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan], also published the University of California Press (2021), re-theorizes sovereignty by drawing on affect, cultural, and religious studies.{{Cite journal |last=Howard |first=Jamie Lee |date=2021 |title=Sovereign Attachments Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan. Khoja-Moolji, Shenila. 2021. Berkeley: University of California Press. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/etho.12312 |journal=Ethos |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=etho.12312 |doi=10.1111/etho.12312 |s2cid=243979475 |issn=0091-2131}}{{Cite journal |last=Hocking |first=Elise |date=2021 |title=Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan by Shenila Khoja-Moolji |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/848094 |journal=CrossCurrents |language=en |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=446–448 |doi=10.1353/cro.2021.0037 |s2cid=247164767 |issn=1939-3881}} The book won the Best Book Award from the Theory section of the International Studies Association.{{cite web |last1=International Studies Association |title=2021-2022 Awards Recipients |url=https://www.isanet.org/News/ID/6219/2021--2022-Awards-Recipients |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407015357/https://www.isanet.org/News/ID/6219/2021--2022-Awards-Recipients |url-status=live }} The book also won the 2022 Best Book award from The Association for Middle East Women's Studies.{{cite web | url=https://acmcu.georgetown.edu/2022/12/05/professor-khoja-moolji-wins-award-for-new-book-sovereign-attachments/ | title=Professor Khoja-Moolji wins award for new book: Sovereign Attachments | date=5 December 2022 }}
Her third book, [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rebuilding-community-9780197642030?lang=en&cc=us# Rebuilding Community: Displaced Women and the Making of a Shia Ismaili Muslim Sociality] published by Oxford University press (2023), is a first attempt to archive the lives of twentieth-century Ismaili women. The book follows Ismaili women who were displaced in the 1970s from East Africa and East Pakistan, to elaborate how they recreated their religious community in transit and in new regions of settlement, particularly North America. The book won the 2024 Nautilus Book Award.
Her fourth book, [https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-impossibility-of-muslim-boyhood?lang=en&cc=us The Impossibility of Muslim Boyhood] (University of Minnesota Press, 2024) is a public cultural critique of Muslim boyhood in America.
In 2019, Khoja-Moolji was elected to the South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies.{{cite news |last1=Association for Asian Studies |title=AAS 2019 Election Results |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-2019-election-results/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |date=November 25, 2019 |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724052158/https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-2019-election-results/ |url-status=live }} In 2023, she joined the Steering Committee of North American Religions at the American Academy of Religion.{{cite web |title=Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Unit and Secularism and Secularity Unit {{!}} PAPERS |url=https://papers.aarweb.org/pu/asian-north-american-religion-culture-and-society-unit-and-secularism-and-secularity-unit |website=papers.aarweb.org}}
Khoja-Moolji is the recipient of multiple career awards: the Emerging Scholar Award from the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative based at Indiana University;{{cite web |title=Awards |url=https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/skhoja/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=March 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311104920/https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/skhoja/ |url-status=live }} the Early Career Award for Community Engagement from the International Studies Association's Feminist Theory and Gender Studies section; and the Early Career Award from Teachers College, Columbia University.{{cite web |last1=Teachers College, Columbia University |title=Working Towards Social Justice: Academic Festival 2021 |url=https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2021/november/working-towards-social-justice/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=November 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119001752/https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2021/november/working-towards-social-justice/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Teachers College, Columbia University |title=2021 Alumni Award Recipients |url=https://www.tc.columbia.edu/alumni/awards/2021-alumni-award-recipients/ |access-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-date=July 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712002943/https://www.tc.columbia.edu/alumni/awards/2021-alumni-award-recipients/ |url-status=live }}
Khoja-Moolji has published writing in Al Jazeera and the Express Tribune on Ismaili culture and Islamic culture.{{cite web |title=Shenila Khoja-Moolji |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/author/shenila_khoja_moolji_171126114218100 |website=Al Jazeera author profile |access-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-date=April 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220402212602/https://www.aljazeera.com/author/shenila_khoja_moolji_171126114218100 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Stories from Dr Shenila Khoja Moolji |url=https://tribune.com.pk/author/6203/dr-shenila-khoja-moolji |website=The Express Tribune |access-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211010112/https://tribune.com.pk/author/6203/dr-shenila-khoja-moolji |url-status=live }}
References
{{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khoja-Moolji, Shenila}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American people of Sindhi descent
Category:Georgetown University faculty
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:21st-century Pakistani women writers
Category:Women scholars of Islam
Category:American Islamic studies scholars
Category:20th-century Ismailis