About

I’m Suraya Khan, a Ph.D. student at Rice University. This is my blog to discuss some of my research, post book reviews, and various historical musings. I’ve called this “The Pleiades” for numerous reasons, primarily because my not-so-creative-self has used it as a username for years since my name, Suraya (or Thuraya) in Arabic refers to the star cluster known as the Pleiades. But maybe it’s also an allegory for my chosen career, since these stars are not always visible, or often appear merely as 7 bright stars (the seven “wailing sisters” in Greek mythology). Yet, in other cultures’ mythologies, they view the cluster as having six, or sometimes twelve stars. Different people have crafted different stories to explain their creation and their significance. Contested views among different peoples regarding same source – hmm, that’s somewhat related to history.