Words In Action: Speaker Bios

Nosheen Ali: Dr. Nosheen Ali is a sociologist and feminist environmentalist from . Her research lies at the intersection of the social sciences and humanities and focuses on a wide range of issues including political dispossession in Kashmir, poetic histories in Muslim South Asia, and ecological pedagogies. Her recent publications include “From Hallaj to Heer: Poetic Knowledge and the Muslim Tradition” (2016) and “Seed Inc.: Food Sovereignty, Farmers’ Rights, and New Legal Regimes in Pakistan” (2016). Dr. Ali has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for South Asia at UC Berkeley from 2010-2012 and previously taught courses at UC Berkeley, New York University, and Habib University. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Educational Development, Aga Kahn University, Karachi, where she teaches courses on cultural diversity, citizenship, and the environment. She is the founder-editor of the digital humanities endeavor Umangpoetry.org, which documents and promotes poetic understanding in South Asia, and the founder of the alternative research center Karti Dharti, which studies land, culture, and community in South Asia. Dr. Ali serves on the editorial boards of the journals Himalaya and SAMAJ, and is the founder of the international network GRASP (Group for Research in the Anthropology, Sociology, and Politics of Pakistan).

Shaista Aziz: Shaista Aziz is a former BBC News, Aljazeera and CNN journalist and has worked as a communications specialist for a number of international organisations including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and . Shaista has worked extensively across the Middle East, Pakistan, East and West Africa. Shaista's writing and journalism has been published in a number of international publications including , Globe and Mail, Huffington Post and New York Times and others. Shaista contributed to the 2017 anthology, The Things I would Tell You, British Muslim Women Write and is an award-winning stand up comedian and broadcaster. She regularly contributes as a guest on national radio and TV panel discussions including reviewing the newspapers for BBC Radio. In 2016 she presented a BBC TV documentary examining what it means to be young, French and Muslim following the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Shaista is the founder of the anti-racism, anti-bigotry digital platform, The Everyday Bigotry Project and is co-founder of the Women's Advancement Hub, WAH, Pakistan. Shaista is an experienced international speaker.

Naomi Breeze: Naomi Breeze trained at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire), where her core subjects included acting, arts administration, classical & contemporary theatre, community theatre, dance, directing, fencing, history of theatre, teaching, theatre in education, movement studies, set design, singing, stage management, verse speaking and voice & speech production. Since graduating with a B.A. in dramatic studies, Naomi has gained professional experience as an actor, drama worker, youth worker, fundraiser, development worker, arts project manager and as artistic director for her own small business, Breeze Productions. ‘Breeze Productions’ was formed in January 2002. This friendly, professional company produces its own new writing and one-person theatre and offers the creation and performance of customized, made-to-order plays and bite-sized scenes on any theme, mainly in the social justice arena. The company has worked for a wide range of voluntary and statutory organizations and within a variety of different departments including Health, Education, Social Work, Housing and Criminal justice performing at a variety of different events and venues including workplace settings, conferences, schools, colleges, theatres, art centers, church halls, youth clubs, hospitals and prisons. Naomi is a member of British Actors Equity.

Hilary Robinson: Dr. Hilary Robinson is Professor of Feminism, Art, and Theory at Loughborough University. Initially she trained as a painter (University of Newcastle); she has an MA in Cultural History (Royal College of Art), and a PhD in Art Theory (University of Leeds). At the University of Ulster (1992-2005) she taught the history and theory of contemporary art to studio Fine and Applied Art students. She became Head of School and gained her first Chair, as Professor of the Politics of Art. In 2005 Hilary was appointed to be Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. While in Pittsburgh she was a board member of The Andy Warhol Museum and The Mattress Factory Museum. She moved back to the UK in 2012 to take up the position Dean, School of Art and Design, Middlesex University, before taking up her present position this academic year. Her publications include Visibly Female: Women and Art Today (1987); Reading Art, Reading Irigaray: The Politics of Art by Women (2006); Feminism-Art-Theory 1968-2014 (2015). She is currently finishing work co-editing (with Maria Buszek) The Companion to Feminist Art (Wiley Blackwell; Jan 2019). Her present book project is ReSisters: Activism, Art, and Feminist Resistance (forthcoming, Duke University Press). She is on the advisory board for the AHRC-funded research project Black Artists and Modernism, led by Prof. Sonia Boyce.