Bramsh Khan, a doctoral candidate in social science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has received the Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant. The Wenner-Gren Foundation was established in 1941 to advance anthropological knowledge worldwide and its grant supports innovative, field-based research.
Khan’s research focuses on the effects of state-led infrastructure development in Balochistan, Pakistan, particularly on Baloch communities that have faced marginalization and persecution. Her project uses ethnographic fieldwork centered on Baloch women’s experiences. She describes her approach as centering voices from “the periphery of the periphery.”
Her study examines how large-scale projects such as the $62 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor and its M-8 motorway, funded by China and Pakistan, have disrupted traditional ways of life for shepherds, farmers, and fishermen in the region. These developments have led to displacement and changes in migration patterns for local people. Khan’s work also looks at how the language of development can mask violence and destruction. “These communities that are negatively impacted are not ‘undeveloped,’” Khan says. “They have been living sustainably with their environment for many generations.”
The research raises questions about who defines development and who benefits or suffers from it. According to Khan, infrastructure meant to connect regions has instead isolated communities through environmental harm and increased militarization, resulting in both direct violence—such as disappearances and gender-based harm—and indirect consequences like economic instability.
Despite these challenges, Khan highlights examples of resilience among Baloch women. She notes grassroots efforts where women teach skills like embroidery to help displaced families regain autonomy. “Nation-state building seeks to prioritize a national identity over ethnic, or ethno-national, identities, which means cultural erasure,” Khan says. “So, teaching one another, sharing cultural knowledge—this is resistance.”
With support from the Wenner-Gren grant and her previous Fulbright Scholarship awarded in 2021, Khan plans to expand her dissertation using multimodal storytelling. She is working with Baloch filmmakers on a film project documenting violence against Baloch women as well as their responses to adversity. “Writing is powerful, but involving the other senses—visual, auditory—will allow us to convey these women’s experiences and what they are living through in a much more visceral way,” she says.
Khan learned about the Wenner-Gren grant after consulting Dan Olson-Bang from Syracuse University’s Graduate School for advice on fellowship opportunities. Olson-Bang said: “The Wenner-Gren is a great fit for Bramsh, and she has done a great job of refining her work and creating a project that is powerful and relevant. I tremendously enjoyed working with her to craft her proposal. These types of opportunities for external funding are integral to the success of graduate students like her.”
