My long-time readers know how much of an impact my mother, Tasmima Hossain’s work and passions have influenced me. But perhaps what many of you do not know is that I spent a lot of time growing up at her magazine, Anannya’s offices as a little girl in Bangladesh. So suffice to say it was a …
*This post of mine is also published on Women in the World/New York Times.* One of my earliest memories about Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence is a story my mother told me about the bodies Pakistani soldiers would dump across the capital, Dhaka. She said you would go to search the mass graves in certain …
Why is the mass sexualized violence of Bangladesh’s Liberation War being ignored? Read More »
A series of apparently endless attacks on secular writers in Bangladesh continue to rock the nation & the world. After publishing my piece on the murders in The Daily Beast, I went on HuffPost Live to analyze what the deaths mean in the larger context of regional politics & Bangladeshi identity. There are so many …
I managed to make a quick trip back to the motherland, Bangladesh last month to visit family. It’s always a shock to the system to go back to where I come from and then zoom back into Washington life, but the perspective I gain is invaluable. One of the best things I managed to do …
*This article was also published in The New York Times/Women in the World.* It’s something like Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, vying for the throne, but the setting is contemporary Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Khaleda Zia are at loggerheads, duking it out for the country’s prime ministership. Each claims her original political …
I went home to Bangladesh after three years last month, and although the trip was personal and I try to make a point not to work, I was too honored to turn down an invitation to speak at the Fortnightly Anannya’s auditorium in Dhaka. The publication, amongst its many other social contributions, also manages a …
Anushay’s Point Speaks on Feminism & Youth in Dhaka Read More »
This past May, an interview with an Australian doctor, who performed late-term abortions on Bangladeshi rape victims from the 1971 War of Independence, came to my attention. The more I read and the more I researched online, I found countless testimonies and even some old news footage, providing evidence to what Bangladeshis already know, but …
The War Heroine Speaks: A Special Series on Women And Bangladesh’s Independence War Read More »
**This is a developing story and has been updated** Hena Begum, a 14-year-old old Bangladeshi girl, was publicly flogged recently in Shariatpur, 35 miles outside of the capital, Dhaka after being accused of having an affair with her 40-year-old old married cousin. According to the BBC, a village court made up of Islamic clerics and elders …
I was approached by The Daily Femme for an interview to be featured on their fantastic website for women. They had some really great questions for me on my favorite topic- feminism! We discussed the misconception surrounding women’s rights movements, my mother, my country Bangladesh, US foreign policy on global feminism, Yeardley Love’s murder at …