Sheba Saeed

Sheba Saeed

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School: School of Communication & Design
Department: Professional Communication
Position: Lecturer
Location: Hanoi campus
Email: sheba.saeed@rmit.edu.vn

I have taught undergraduates as a teaching fellow in the UK (University of Birmingham, UK), as an assistant professor in Pakistan (IBA, Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan), and as a lecturer in China, (HBU-UCLan, Hebei University and University of Central Lancashire) prior to joining RMIT, Vietnam.

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  • Ph.D. (University of Birmingham, UK) 
  • M.Phil History, Film and TV (University of Birmingham, UK) 
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (DeMontfort University, UK)
  •  Diploma in Legal Studies (University of Birmingham, UK)
  • B.A. (Honours) (University of Birmingham, UK)

Media and Communication, Cultural studies, Communication theories, Media theories, History of media, Modern Asia, New Media.

These include areas such as poverty, religion, film, visual ethnography, cultural studies, semiotics, visual analysis. I have conducted extensive research for the past fifteen years on the topic of begging and the consequences of social exclusion and have been using the medium of film. More recently, I have been researching the transgender communities of Lahore and Karachi.

  • Saeed, S. (2022). Begging, Street Politics and Power: The Religious and Secular Regulation of Begging in India and Pakistan. London: Routledge. 
  • Saeed, S. (2018). “Begging, urbanisation and the Lahore dream”. “City: An Evolving Organism.” Thaap Journal 2018. 
  • Saeed, S. (2018). “Spiritual Begging: The dichotomy of Ziyarat”. Journal issue-Fluid Faiths: Rigid Religions for the International Journal on Humanistic Ideology. 
  • Saeed, S. (2017). “Filming Beggars of Lahore- a reflexive critique.” The Journal of Sikh and Punjab Studies. Volume 24, Numbers 1 and 2, Spring-Fall 2017 Studies. 
  • Saeed, S. (August 2014). "The Business of Begging." Foreign Affairs. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141978/sheba-saeed/the-business-of-begging. 
  • Beggars of Lahore. (2010). Saeed. S. Pakistan/UK: asetikbird films.

During the course of my career, funding has been granted from my universities for both travel and research.

I have been successful in obtaining funding from Erasmus +, the ESRC, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, (HECSU), UK, Worcestershire County Council, UK.

I have supervised undergraduate theses and would be happy to supervise students in areas related to my research.

My debut documentary, “Beggars of Lahore” was screened at a number of International film festivals. I also held exhibitions in the UK of a set of stills and photographs of the film along with film screenings in the UK.

I founded asetikbird, an arts social enterprise that endorses socially orientated projects. It branches into film, photography, consulting and workshops. The first project of the company is “Beggars of Lahore”.

My academic employment history is comprised of a great deal of cross-cultural insights within a global context.  I have taught a range of courses, both theoretical and practical with course content comprising of diverse disciplines and fields, such as:  media and communications, cultural studies, social policy, visual criminology, ethnicities and diasporas, parallel cinema, film production, promotional and music video production, experimental film.