Kauthar Khamis

Kauthar Khamis is a PhD candidate in the Madina Project which is part of the research programme Religious Matters in an Entangled World, lead by Prof. Birgit Meyer at Utrecht University. Her research focuses on beauty practices amongst Christian and Muslim women in Madina Zongo, a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic community in Ghana’s capital city. She is interested in how women from diverse religious and social backgrounds imitate each other’s beauty practices in their everyday encounters and its effects on their relationship. She uses beauty salons as her entry point to investigate how Christian and Muslim women negotiate their differences in the process of beautifying themselves. The research further explores the contestations about Islamic fashion in Ghana’s public institutions as well as why women resort to sexual beauty as a form of transactional sex in the Zongo. 

Kauthar has a BA (2009) in History and Study of Religions, and an MPhil (2013) in Religious Studies with specialization in Islamic studies, both from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Past Positions:
Assistant Lecturer, Islamic University College, Ghana. (2014-2017)
Advisor to the President of Women Affairs Committee, Islamic University College, Ghana (2016-2017)
Research and Teaching Assistant, University of Ghana, Legon (2013-2014)

Scholarly papers:
Rabiatu Ammah & Kauthar Khamis. 2017. From the Aluwanka to Garden of Bliss. Ghana Bulletin of Theology. 119-131. This work looks at the role of Muslim women in addressing marital problems in the Zongo communities through traditional and formal premarital counseling systems.

2013, Sustaining Muslim Marriages the Role of Pre-Marital Counseling in the Nima/Mamobi Muslim Communities; A thesis submitted to the Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana, in partial fulfillment for the award of a masters of Philosophy degree in Religions. (Not published). This thesis discusses the different forms of premarital counseling systems in Muslim communities and their roles in dealing with marital problems.

2009, A Case Study of Islamic Charity Center for Women Orientation; A Long Essay Submitted to the Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana, in partial fulfillment for the award of a Bachelor of Arts Degree. (Not Published). This work focuses on a Non-Governmental Organization established by Muslim women in one of the Zongos in Accra, and their role in addressing social problems including girl child education.