CURA Travel Grantee Rumana Mehdi Conducts Fieldwork in Iraq
From June through August 2026, CURA travel grantee Syeda Rumana Mehdi accompanied hundreds of people on pilgrimages to Karbala, Iraq, marking the beginning of her dissertation fieldwork. The pilgrimages commemorated Ashura, the anniversary of Imam Hussain’s martyrdom in 680 CE, and Arbaeen, the fortieth day of mourning that includes an 80-kilometer walk from Najaf to Karbala. Her research examines women’s experiences of pilgrimage and how these experiences shape their lives after returning to Pakistan, with a focus on hope, vulnerability, wish fulfillment, and divine presence.
Mehdi found that some of her richest ethnographic observations emerged not from formal rituals, but from the everyday experiences of pilgrimage: walking, eating, illness, navigating crowded spaces, and caring for others. Traveling with her mother, who fell ill on the second day of the pilgrimage, made practices of care particularly visible, as the two relied on assistance from strangers. At the same time, Mehdi observed that genuine care existed alongside gossip, disagreements, and interpersonal tensions, challenging the idea that pilgrimage necessarily resolves social differences.
Her own experiences also became an important part of her fieldwork. While some women questioned her because was living and studying alone in the US, others cared for her like family when she suffered from heat stroke. Following the Arbaeen pilgrimage, Mehdi was hospitalized after falling ill and spent three weeks on bed rest. These unexpected experiences deepened her engagement with the questions of suffering, hope, and divine presence that she was studying among her interlocutors.
Mehdi is now conducting follow-up interviews with the women she met in Iraq, exploring their experiences of pilgrimage and what happened after they returned to Pakistan. Her summer fieldwork has prompted new questions about why pilgrims care for strangers, how age, gender, and mobility shape practices of care, and how women navigate uncertainty around wish fulfillment after pilgrimage.
