Fehmida Qaddus Rabbani is a postdoctoral fellow at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand. Her research explores the intersections of migration, health, and mobility, with a focus on South Asian communities in African urban contexts. Drawing on intersectionality and the concept of the “weight of elsewhere,” she examines how belonging, memory, and resilience shape migrant health outcomes and lived urban experiences.
She completed her PhD in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wits (2025). Her thesis, Recycling the City: Itinerant Informal Recyclers in Johannesburg, advanced the theory of mobile urbanism by reframing itinerancy as a spatial and political practice. Introducing “wasted movement as spatial production,” her work reconceptualises informal recyclers as active producers of urban space.
Previously, Fehmida was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg (PDRF), where she co-supervised Honours students and contributed to collaborative research on small-business waste practices and EoL LIBs. She also holds an MSc in Environmental Sciences (North-West University), an MSc in Geography (PU Pakistan), and an Advanced Diploma in School Leadership and Management (UJ). A qualified educator (PGCE, UNISA) and certified copyeditor (UCT), she brings over six years of leadership experience as a school principal. Her transdisciplinary work bridges migration, health, and urban sustainability, advancing inclusive policy and equitable urban futures.