Researcher, Professor, Writer

Jennifer Fluri, PhD is an author and feminist political geographer concentrating on conflict, security, and aid/development in South and Southwest Asia. She is particularly interested in understanding the spatial organization and corporeal representations and experiences of individuals and groups working and living within conflict zones. 

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Her doctoral research focused on the use of public and private space by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a clandestine feminist-nationalist organization. Her interest in this organization was sparked through interactions with their international supporter's network in the United States. She compared how this organization operates and represents itself internationally through the use of the Internet and its geographic placement and operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. RAWA's feminist politics remains unconventional within an Afghan context, while their methods for disseminating their sociopolitical beliefs expanding their organization relies on conventional methods such as social reproduction and educational indoctrination.

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Jennifer’s post-doctoral research project examined the spatial arrangements, interactions, and gender roles within the international "community" in Kabul, Afghanistan in comparison with the "local" Afghan population. The geopolitics and geo-economics associated with the placement of International workers and their interactions with Afghans were central to this project. She also became increasingly interested in the differentiated methods used by Afghans and internationals to provide for their own security in spaces increasingly beset by political violence and a general state of insecurity.

Her current research examines gender, security and development in Afghanistan with a focus on women’s leadership and influence at multiple scales. Jennifer is a Professor and Chair of the Geography Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-director of the CU-Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative (CU-BAHRI).