Sabeena Shaikh is both a PhD Candidate and Faculty Lecturer of Urdu-Hindi in the institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. Focused on courtesans and early Urdu/Dakani women’s literature, her dissertation navigates the interplay between male-gaze narratives and the creative output of courtesans. Using performativity as an analytical lens, she explores how repeated representations shape historical and contemporary perceptions of these often unknown women. Her research languages are Hindu-Urdu, and Persian.