Danyal Abdullah presents: From Representation to Reality: Influence of Media Culture on Workplace Experiences of White-Collar Khwaja Sira in Pakistan

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This research explores the complex interplay between media culture and the workplace experiences of the white-collar Khwaja Sira community in Pakistan. Utilizing Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework, I examine how media culture operates as a form of meta-capital in this context. The research seeks to discern whether this media meta-capital facilitates the accrual of symbolic capital for the white-collar Khwaja Sira, enabling them to negotiate and challenge prevailing societal perceptions, or whether it reinforces existing heteronormative gender biases. Employing a qualitative methodology that includes textual analysis of the films ‘Joyland’ (Saim Sadiq, 2022) and ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ (Sarmad Khoosat, 2019), content analysis of social media posts that has power to rapidly propagate the ensuing discourse surrounding such media content, and interviews with Khwaja Sira working professionals, the study aims to understand the impact of media representations on the workplace lives of the white-collar Khwaja Sira community in Pakistan.