Balghis Badri (Arabic: بلقيس بدرى, born 1948) is a Sudanese feminist activist, particularly in the fields of

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

(FGM) and the development of rural women, since 1979, and professor of social anthropology at

Ahfad University for Women Ahfad University for Women () is a private women's university in Omdurman, Sudan that was founded in 1966, by Yusuf Badri, son of the Mahdist soldier Babiker Badri. The university began with only 23 students and 3 teachers. It was the first S ...

Early life

She comes from a family of educators. She is the daughter of Yusuf Badri, who founded

(AUW) in Khartoum in 1966, and the granddaughter of the Mahdist soldier,

Babiker Badri Babikr Bedri (; 1 June 1856 – 1954; also spelled Babiker Badri) was a Mahdist War, Mahdist Sudanese warrior and social activist who laid the foundations for women's Education in Sudan, education in Sudan. Bedri began with a small school for ...

. Badri earned her PhD in

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

in England in 1978.

Career

Badri was a part-time lecturer at

from 1974 to 1997, and full-time since then, where she is now professor of social anthropology. In 2002 she founded and became the inaugural director of the AUW Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies. Badri is the Director of the Ahfad University for Women's Regional Institute of Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights, in

Omdurman Omdurman () is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. The city acts ...

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

. In 1979, she introduced women and gender-related studies to the university curriculums.

Writing

In February 2017, ''Women's Activism in Africa'' (co-edited by Badri and Aili Mari Tripp) was published by Zed Books. Badri co-edited it, and wrote or co-wrote two of the ten chapters.

Controversy

In January 2018 Badri's brother Gasim Badri, president of the

, was recorded on video grabbing a female student, who was protesting, by her head scarf and slapping her several times on the head. Badri defended his actions, claiming that the video "only shows one side of the truth" and that some of the demonstrators had threatened to harm and vandalize the university.

References

Living people Sudanese feminists Sudanese women Alumni of the University of Hull 1948 births Academic staff of Ahfad University for Women {{Sudan-bio-stub