Resat Amin
Ph.D. student at UMass Amherst
Department of Communication · Amherst, MA
M.A. Sociology, Florida Atlantic University · From Dhaka, Bangladesh
Background
I grew up in Dhaka as social media reshaped political life—amplification for marginalized voices and movements, but also surveillance and risk. Histories of colonization and feminist struggle grounded my commitment to justice. I started in law, then turned to sociology to study how institutions, technology, and gendered inequality intersect.
As an activist I saw peers charged under Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act for ordinary posts. I learned both limits and possibilities of online organizing through Project Nirbhik and a Bengali “Feminism 101” TikTok series.
Research & scholarship
I study how platforms and AI mediate power, visibility, and identity—who gets heard, who gets punished, and how people push back. My current work examines how AI image generators reproduce colonial hierarchies in their depictions of Global South activists, and how feminist movements in Bangladesh navigate algorithmic amplification, online harassment, and state surveillance simultaneously. I draw on qualitative content analysis, legal case study methods, and close reading of platform affordances—working at the intersection of feminist media studies, postcolonial critique, and critical algorithm studies.
Education & experience
Education
- Ph.D. in Communication, UMass Amherst (in progress) 2025–present
- One year, Sociology graduate program, Concordia University 2024–2025
- M.A. in Sociology, Florida Atlantic University 2022–2024
- LLB (Hons) with Anthropology minor, BRAC University 2017–2021
Experience
- Graduate Teaching Assistant — Global Society, Human Sexuality — Florida Atlantic University 2023–2025
- Co-president, Graduate Sociology Student Association — Florida Atlantic University 2023–2025
- Academic and Project Mentor, Kendrobimukhi (Dhaka) 2025–present
- Peer educator, Kotha —