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Understanding Conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan
UW faculty members Joseph Elder and Cindy Haq will share their expert and personal knowledge. Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society Meeting House 2010 Whenona Dr Madison WI 53711 between Verona Rd and Seminole Hwy | On Sunday, November 18, the program at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society will be "Understanding Conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan." Prairie is pleased to welcome Joseph Elder and Cindy Haq, who will share their knowledge and views about the conflicts. Elder is Professor of Sociology and Director of the UW's Center for South Asia. He was a young person in South Asia and has done fieldwork there, taught about Islam and about South Asia, and worked in peace-making activities with the AFSC. Prairie's Cindy Haq has roots in Pakistan and has undertaken humanitarian and medical service activities there and elsewhere. Questions and discussion will follow their presentations. |
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Joe Elder is Professor of Sociology and Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was born and grew up in Iran, where his parents were Presbyterian missionaries. He returned to the United States to earn his Sociology BA ('51) and MA ('54) from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. ('59) from Harvard University. He has lived in India for eight years and has periodically visited Pakistan and Afghanistan. From 1973 to 1982 he served on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, and from 1986 to 1994 he was President of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He was the executive producer of a documentary film, Being Muslim in India, released in 1984. He is currently Director of the University of Wisconsin's Center for South Asia, and the courses he teaches at the University of Wisconsin include "Social Structures of Muslim Societies" and "Thought of Gandhi". While a student at Oberlin during the Korean War, Joe sought and obtained conscientious objector status from the Draft Board and soon thereafter consolidated his association with the Quaker faith. He and his wife Jo Ann have been members of the Madison Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends since they move to Madison in 1961, and Joe is currently a member of the Committee on Peace and Social Concerns there. Joe has served as a volunteer for both the American Friends Service Committee and its British equivalent, British Peace and Social Concerns. In that role he carried messages between opposing leaders in areas of conflict, including North Korea and the U.S., Viet Nam and the U.S., the Tamil Tigers and the government of Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, and Pakistan and Afghanistan. The languages he speaks include Hindi, Nepali, Persian, Tamil and Urdu. He has appeared twice in recent weeks as a South Asian expert on the "Getting Smarter" segment of WHA TV's Friday WeekEnd program, and he spoke on Afghanistan as a panelist at the Oct. 20, 2001 annual meeting of the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice. Cynthia Lawrence Haq Cindy Haq is a Professor of Family Medicine at the UW Medical School. She was born in Germany to an American mother from Indiana and an Asian Indian father. Her father's family moved to Pakistan from India after partition. Cindy was raised in Pakistan and Indiana, and is familiar with both cultures and religions. Besides living for several years in Pakistan she has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America. She earned her BA ('79) and MD ('83) from Indiana University and was a Fulbright Scholar to Pakistan in 1990-1991. Her languages include Urdu (the language of Pakistan) and Arabic (basic reading and writing). She maintains close contact with Pakistani friends and family. From 1989 to 1991 Cindy served as a consultant to the International Rescue Committee and the Women's Comisssion on Refugee Women and Children. In this capacity she assessed the needs of Afghan women and children refugees, testified before the US Congress, and obtained grants to establish a network of schools for Afghan women. In 1991 she established a family medicine residency training program in Karachi, Pakistan. More recently she has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization and spoken on medical topics to groups in Switzerland, South Africa and Pakistan. One of several videotapes she has developed is Child Health in Developing Countries, University of Wisconsin, 1994, 1996, 1999. The most recent of her many awards are: American Academy of Family Physicians, President's Award, 2002 Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, Educator of the Year, 2001 |