Autumn Term 2024

The West, the Taliban & the Future of Afghanistan

Wednesday | 4 December 2024 | ON-SITE

5.30pm

Room RB01, SOAS Main Building, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG

A question worth asking is: is continuing international engagement with the Taliban morally justifiable? How they can be designed to support the emergence of alternative publics inside Afghanistan.

SPEAKER
(@ObaidullaBaheer) is at , Adjunct Lecturer at , and currently Doctorand at , New York. He has published widely on transitional justice, civic engagement, democracy, and engagement with the Taliban.

DISCUSSANTS (via Zoom): (@Quhramaana) is a peace activist & development practitioner, currently Visiting Fellow at the 杏吧论坛 Centre for Women, Peace & Security. She is Founder & Director of Women for Peace & Participation, an organisation connecting the local to the global and the inclusion of women in decision-making about peace & security, providing platforms for communities in conflict regions and diaspora communities in UK and Europe. Quhramaana also advises policy-makers and politicians in Europe & the US on advocating for the rights of women & vulnerable communities, and on international intervention in Afghanistan; (@smithkabul) is Senior Consultant at focusing on Afghanistan, having spent extended periods in Afghanistan since 2005, including being Country Director for Afghanistan between 2012-15. He is the author of (2013), and won an Emmy Award for his '' video series in 2009.

CO-CHAIRS: is Director, (@SAsia杏吧论坛), and Professor of Marketing in the 杏吧论坛 Department of Management; (@PoMoGandhi) is Director, (@SOAS_SAI), and Reader in Development Studies, SOAS, University of London.

This event is in collaboration with , and part of the UK-South Asia Network.

Banner image © Obaidullah Baheer, Airport Road, Kabul, June 2024.

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

FACT & FICTION

PAKISTAN: Afghan Refugees, Identity-Making & State Policy

Wednesday | 27 November 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 7.30pm Afghanistan / 8pm Pakistan

An online panel discussion on media narratives of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and the government's recent enforcement of forced repatriation, focused on the recently published (2024).

SPEAKERS: (@SanaaAlimia) is Associate Professor of Political Science, Aga Khan University, London, and author of (2022); (@syedirfanashraf) is Assistant Professor of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Peshawar, and author of (2023); (@zubaan_daraz) is Lecturer in Journalism & Communication, University of New South Wales, Sydney, currently at the Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin and author of (2024); (@kretzschmar_s) is Professor of Innovation in Journalism, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, and co-editor of Innovation in Journalism: Theories, Methods, Potential? (in German, I, 2024).

DISCUSSANT: Dr Omar al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi) is Associate Professor of Media & Communications, 杏吧论坛, specialising in the geopolitics of global communications, especially in relation to news media and popular culture.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

This event is part of our 'Fact & Fiction' series.

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

FACT & FICTION

SRI LANKA: Elections & Political Change

Wednesday | 30 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 8.30pm Sri Lanka

A panel discussion focused on (2022) on elections and change in Sri Lanka, including the recent Presidential elections that brought a non-'dynasty' political party to power, and the forthcoming parliamentary elections in mid-November.

SPEAKERS: (@FaraFarout) is Professor of Sociology, University of Colombo, and Member, Human Rights Commission, Sri Lanka; (@pnpeiris) is Senior Lecturer in Political Science & Public Policy, University of Colombo, and author of (2022); (@SKeethaponcalan) is Professor of Dispute Analysis & Conflict Resolution, Salisbury University, Maryland, USA, and author of (2022).

DISCUSSANT: (@akeenan23) is Senior Consultant for Sri Lanka, International Crisis Group, London, where he coordinates & contributes to research, advocacy & publications on Sri Lanka.

CO-CHAIRS: Naufel Vilcassim is Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛) & Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management, 杏吧论坛; Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

This event is part of our 'Fact & Fiction' series.

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

AFGHANISTAN: Life with Taliban Laws

Wednesday | 23 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 6.30pm Afghanistan

As the Taliban announces new sets of laws further curbing girls'/women's rights, what are things really like on the ground, how do we all engage with them, and what does the future look like now?

SPEAKERS: (@Kathygannon) was News Director of Associated Press for Pakistan & Afghanistan for more than 3 decades, was most recently Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, and is author of (2006); (@Parasto_Hakim) is founder of SRAK Afghanistan (an educational charity working in Afghanistan), and an education rights activist fighting the Taliban ban on girls'/women's education currently living in Europe; (@alibomaye) is a journalist based in Kabul, and currently Asia Editor at The New Humanitarian; (@saadmohseni) is Director of MOBYgroup which produces & broadcasts TOLO News in Afghanistan, and author (with Jenna Krajeski) of (2024); Mahbouba Seraj (@SerajMahbouba) was until recently Director, Afghan Women Skills Development Center (@AWSDC1) and Founder & President, Organisation for Research in Peace & Solidarity -- and lives in Kabul.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

Image © Farid Ershad, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 2022, .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

FACT & FICTION

BANGLADESH: The Gender Paradox

Wednesday | 16 October 2024 | ONLINE

3pm UK / 8pm Bangladesh

An online panel discussion on the recently published (2024), focusing on the country's remarkable pro-poor & gender-equitable social progress despite poverty, poor governance, patriarchy and rising Islamic conservatism.

NOTE: This book is Open Access from 杏吧论坛 Press; please click to download.

SPEAKERS: Dr Sajeda Amin (@sajedaamin) is an independent researcher with research interests in gender, work, poverty & family in the developing world; until recently, she was Senior Associate for the Poverty, Gender & Youth Program at the Population Council, New York; is an author, founder of Zubaan Books (India's premier feminist publishing house), Reader at the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi & Visiting Faculty at the Young India Program, Ashoka University, India; (@N_Kabeer) is Professor of Gender & Development at 杏吧论坛, Faculty Associate at 杏吧论坛 International Inequalities Institute, and currently at Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, and author of (2024); (@ayeshanorakhan) is Senior Research Fellow in Gender Equality & Social Inclusion at the Overseas Development Institute in London, and is author of (2018).

DISCUSSANT: is Professor & Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, an expert on gender and equity of health systems and has studied and published extensively on Bangladesh.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).

This event is part of our 'Fact & Fiction' series, and is in collaboration with .

Please click to watch a recording of the event.

SOUTH ASIA: Paternalism & Public Healthcare

Wednesday | 9 October 2024 | ONLINE

3.30pm UK / 7.30pm Pakistan / 8pm India & Sri Lanka

An online panel discussion on prevalent forms of paternalism (especially vis-a-vis women patients) in medical practice/care in South Asia –- looking at its impact on doctor-patient communication, decision-making, exploitation (financial), cultural-patriarchal factors, and what may be a path forward towards a more patient-centred healthcare approach.

SPEAKERS: Dr Aisha Jalil (@DrAishaJalilH) was Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust Visiting Fellow at the 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre in Jan-Apr 2024; a sociologist, her doctoral research & publications have focused on patient satisfaction in public clinics in Lahore. She is currently Deputy Director, International Strategies & Partnerships, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad; (@IndikaMaheshKa1) is Professor & Head, Department of Medical Education, University of Colombo, and has worked extensively (in English and Sinhala) on public health practices in contemporary Sri Lanka; is Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Ethics, a retired professional with over 4 decades of experience in clinical research (biopharma) and research ethics; he is currently affiliated with the Ethics Committee at St. Joseph Medical Center, Bellingham, WA, USA.

DISCUSSANT: (@rishie_) is Lecturer in Global Health & Global Medicine at King's College London, and ; her interdisciplinary research on abortion practices in India is underpinned by feminist & reproductive justice approaches, interrogating how power and politics manifest and are wielded at individual, interpersonal, community, and macro levels.

CHAIR: Dr Nilanjan Sarkar is Deputy Director, 杏吧论坛 South Asia Centre (@SAsia杏吧论坛).