Professor Zaidi and Shriver Center's Zareen Taj on Panel

This panel will provide a brief overview of the recent history of Afghanistan, including the 1979 invasion of the Soviet Union, the 1989 withdrawal and consequent civil war, the 1995 takeover of the Taliban, their defeat in 2001 by the U.S. and coalition forces, and the following 20 years of ongoing war in Afghanistan from which the U.S. withdrew in late August.  Afterwards, the panel will begin an open discussion about current issues facing Afghanistan today.

Panelist Information:

Zareen Taj is a doctoral student in language, literacy, and culture.  She is an Afghan women's rights/human rights activist, who came to the U.S. during the first reign of the Taliban.  She has shared research in conferences, given speeches, and has written numerous op-eds about Afghanistan.  Taj has made frequent personal and professional trips back to Afghanistan since 2004.  She was the first Afghan woman who visited five massacre sites.  Taj interviewed the survivors of the Taliban Massacre, produced a video documentary about her journey, and wrote the book Journey to Empowerment: Women After Taliban.

Noor Zaidi, assistant professor of history, has done extensive field work in Pakistan and with Shia clerics and activists in Iraq after the collapse of the Saddam regime.  She is a scholar of Middle Eastern History with a specialization in Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan.  Her current research focuses on the construction of sacred space in Shia Islam.  After the collapse of the Saddam regime, Iraq worked to create a new identity, positioning itself as the center of the Shia world.  Dr. Zaidi's research covers this transformation, working to understand the effects of these changes on faith and culture.

Anne Brodsky, professor psychology, has spent extended periods of time in Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout the 2000s.  Her work centers around the risk and resilience of Afghan women with a focus on Afghan women's communities and activist organizations.  Brodsky studies individual and community level resilience and the role of communities, psychological community, and cultures in creating and resisting societal risks, including community violence, poverty, racism, sexism and other oppressions.

Moderator: Christine Mallinson, director of UMBC's Center for Social Science Scholarship and professor of language, literacy, and culture and affiliate profesor of gender, women's, and sexuality studies.