In middle-class Pakistan, marriage is the prescribed future for all women, but premarital contact between sexes discouraged. To find right partner, then, without visibly flouting social norms, requires a skillful balancing act private interests and aspirations, public representations collective concerns. Young women often navigate these conflicting demands by developing what they call an unders...

Ubiquitous mobile phones have transformed not just our modes of communication but self-perception. In facilitating a direct personal connection, be it via call, text message, or social media, they present the unprecedented challenge synchronicity, in which users must simultaneously navigate different contexts and plural identities. area Gilgit, northern Pakistan, young women particular struggle...