CV

Fatima Mukaddam is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Lucerne. She is a holder of the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS). Her research is inter-disciplinary and investigates legal pluralism in South Africa and how it affects Muslim women’s access to marital rights and justice. At a political level, the research aims to understand what governmental and non-governmental institutions are doing to alleviate the plight of Muslim women. At a sociological level, the research aims to uncover the manner in which Muslim women in Cape Town, South Africa, practice marriage. These two main threads will contribute to the discussion of legal pluralism in South Africa and its complications.

Ms. Mukaddam obtained her Masters with Distinction in Political Studies from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits University). She began reading for her masters at Sciences Po. Her Master’s research report investigated the perceptions of domestic violence amongst select Muslims in Johannesburg, South Africa. She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Honours Degrees at Wits University. Broadly, her research interests lie in legal pluralism, religion, feminism, gender studies, and gender-based violence.

Research

Subject of dissertation project
Legal Pluralism in South Africa and Muslim Women's Access to Justice: A Case Study

Research Interests

• Legal pluralism
• Feminism
• Gender and women studies
• Gender-based violence
• Religion