I love to write!

I wrote my junior essay for my History & Literature degree on a Pakistani women's magazine called Mirror of the month, published during the military dictator Ayub Khan's regime. 

Below is an excerpt from my essay:

As the leading women’s magazine of the time, Mirror was not just a passive reflection of the tastes of the Pakistani upper class; the magazine actively constructed the tight-knit community of elites that spanned the wings of Pakistan. Through a close reading of issues published between the 60s and 70s, this essay provides a sustained look at the unconventionally feminist Mirror magazine, focusing on the strengths and limitations of its ambiguous vision of liberation. I begin by examining the historical roots of the vision for a modernized Pakistani Islam, starting with Ayub Khan’s coup. In doing so, I situate Mirror and Hamidullah’s career in the dynamic Cold War period, during which the relationship between the United States and Pakistan flowered. After establishing this backdrop, this essay explores the models of modern marriage and love championed by Mirror and their deep entwinement with ongoing efforts to build the nation. Finally, I consider how Mirror’s heightened attention toward the material world, such as fashion, connects the pursuit of modernity with the new responsibilities shouldered by Pakistani women. For upper class women — the primary readers of Mirror — the dream of Pakistan represented the reconciliation of modernity and tradition through the mediums of marriage, fashion, and motherhood. My analysis of Mirror, however, indicates that no such resolution was made. In fact, the magazine itself seems to collapse from the weight of its own contradictions, akin to the very nation it was attempting to mirror.