Sadia Zulfiqar specializes in African literature, particularly African fiction post-1940, the Nigerian Biafran civil war, Islam and the African novel, with a critical emphasis on the politics of gender and sexualities, and decolonial methodologies. Her secondary research interests include the medical humanities and harem literature. Her work has appeared in Research in African Literatures (Indiana University Press), Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa (Taylor & Francis), and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing (Taylor & Francis).
Zulfiqar’s book Who is a Muslim Woman? Leila Aboulela, Histories and Fiction (forthcoming from Manchester University Press) is the first full-length study of the Sudanese-Scottish author Leila Aboulela, contextualising Aboulela’s work within both diasporic and African literary traditions. Zulfiqar is also co-editing a collection of essays on Aboulela, under contract with Manchester University Press and scheduled for release in 2027.
In 2022, Zulfiqar was an MIAS Fellow at New York University, USA, and a British Academy Fellow at Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK, 2023–2024. She completed her MLitt in Modern and Postmodern Literature and her PhD in English Literature at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
At LUMS, Zulfiqar’s current course offerings include:
- 2026: "Decolonial Intimacies of Islam and Singlehood: Reading Najwa in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret (2005)." New Directions in Single Studies, Leeds University, 3rd of June -5th June 2026.
- 2026: "Reimagining the Imaginary Homeland: Leila Aboulela and the Politics of Home." Guest Lecture at Aberystwyth University, 27th May 2026.
- 2024: “The Politics of Home and Exile in Leila Aboulela’s Bird Summons.” Imaginary Homelands: Writing Home and Exile, Aberystwyth University, 21st May 2024.
- 2023: “The Politics of the Veil: Historizing History, Contextualizing Context.” The Question of Refugees: Historizing History, Contextualizing Context, Aberystwyth University, 29th November 2023.
- 2022: “Creative Remembrance, Women and Biafra.” 4th Biennial Conference, African Studies Association of Africa, University of Cape Town, 11th -16th April 2022.
- 2021: “Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and the Politics of Censorship.” African Literature Association Annual Conference, USA, May 26th-May 29th, 2021. (Online)
- 2018: “‘Sisteracrhy’ in Sisterhood: African Women Writers’ Difficult Relationship with Feminism.” African Literature Association Annual Conference, Washington D.C., 23rd-26th May 2018.
- 2017: “Women and Biafra.” Legacies of Biafra Conference, SOAS University of London, 21st-22nd April 2017
- 2016: “Does Co-existence Exist? Leila Aboulela and her Fictional World.” 1st International Conference on Social Sciences, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University, Quetta, 26th -27th April 2016.
- 2014: “‘I’m not One of Them But I’m Not One of You’: Colonial Education and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Women.” ASAUK Biennial Conference, University of Sussex, 9th - 11th September 2014.
- 2013: ‘‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ Feminism and African Women Writers’, FWSA Biennial Conference: The Lady Doth Protest: Mapping Feminist Movements, Moments and Mobilisations, University of Nottingham, 21st-23rd June 2013.
- 2012: ‘‘‘The Past is Only Yesterday’: Postcolonial Trauma in Nigerian Fiction.” Postcolonial Trauma Conference, Nottingham Trent University, 13th-14th September 2012.
- 2012: ‘‘‘Remember to Forget’: Nigerian Civil War and a Legacy of Frustration.” ASAUK Biennial Conference 2012, University of Leeds, 6th-8th September 2012
- 2012: Performance of text recorded for the exhibition: Hutchinson S, Kennedy A &Mcstravick C. ‘(SAC) Ongoing Bodies: Le Syndrome de Paris Suite’. Multimedia installation, 2 – 18 February 2012, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow.
She also curated the English Seminar Series at LUMS for three years (2020-2022; 2024-2025), inviting leading scholars of African literature from institutions worldwide, including the University of Oxford, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Manchester, University of Florida, Northeastern University, Brown University, American University (Washington, D.C.), University of Connecticut, Nottingham Trent University, and Université de Lomé, Togo.
Zulfiqar, Sadia, Mukherjee, Sumita, ed. Islam and the West: A Love Story? (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, UK, 2015)
Zulfiqar, Sadia, African Women Writers and the Politics of Gender (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, UK, 2016)
Zulfiqar, Sadia, "Do Muslim Women Need Saving Again? Representations of Islam in Leila Aboulela s Fiction", in Islam and the West: A Love Story? ,ed. Sadia Zulfiqar and Sumita Mukherjee (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, UK, 2015)
Zulfiqar, Sadia, Mukherjee, Sumita, "Introduction", in Islam and the West: A Love Story? ,ed. Sadia Zulfiqar and Sumita Mukherjee (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, UK, 2015)
2015: "New Narratives: Feminism and African Women Writers", 3rd Annual Social Science Conference, Lahore School of Economics, 2nd_3rd April, 2015 .
2013: ""Ain t I a Woman?": Feminism and African Women Writers", FWSA Biennial Conference: The Lady Doth Protest: Mapping Feminist Movements, Moments and Mobilisations, University of Nottingham, 21st-23rdJune 2013.
""Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?": Representations of Islam in Leila Aboulela s Work", Islam and the West: A Love Story?, University of Glasgow, 24th November 2012.
2017: "Women and Biafra", Legacies of Biafra Conference, SOAS, University of London, 21st -22 ndApril,2017
2012: Performance of text recorded for the exhibition: Hutchinson S, Kennedy A & Mcstravick C. (SAC) "Ongoing Bodies: Le Syndrome de Paris Suite". Multimedia installation, 2 -18 February 2012, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow.
2012: ""The Past is Only Yesterday": Postcolonial Trauma in Nigerian Fiction", Postcolonial Trauma Conference, Nottingham Trent University, 13th -14th September 2012.
2012: "Exhuming the Ghost of a Troubled Present: Memory and Reconciliation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie s Hall of a Yellow Sun", Haunting Memories - Unsettled pasts and disputed spaces, University of Stirling, 18th May 2012.
2016: "Does Co-existence Exist? Leila Aboulela and her Fictional World", 1st International Conference on Social Sciences, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women s University, Quetta, Pakistan 26th- 27thApril, 2016
2012: ""Remember to Forget": Nigerian Civil War and a Legacy of Frustration", ASAUK Biennial Conference 2012, University of Leeds, 6th -8th September 2012.
2014: "I m not One of Them But I m Not One of You: Colonial Education and Tsitsi Dangarembga s Women", ASAUK Biennial Conference, University of Sussex, 9th-11th September 2014.