Da Qrratugai Qrrate

Funeral Rituals in the Pashtun Society

2012-01-31T13:40:00.006-05:00

A friend/classmate of mine is doing her Master's thesis on death/funeral rituals in the Pashtun society (really, societiessss). If you have any experiences or observations on this topic, please share them here. Alternatively, please free to suggest sources on the topic. I'll share whatever I find in a bit. In the meantime, whatever Twitter buddies share, I'll go ahead and paste it in this post. (

Intersections: Woman, Artist, Muslim - an anthology

2012-01-30T22:13:00.001-05:00

Intersections: Woman, Artist, Muslim Ruminations on Being, Creating, and BelievingBismillah al Rahman al Raheem This is a call for submissions for a new project, the anthology Artist Intersections: Woman, Artist, Muslim. As you well know art and all its various forms, such as poetry, performance, film, illustration, fashion, are often misunderstood

South Asia by the Bay Conference 2012 - Call for Papers

2012-01-30T22:01:00.002-05:00

*Call for Papers: South Asia by the Bay* /Graduate Student Conference at Stanford University on May 9-11, 2012 / As South Asia experiences rapid and unprecedented transformation, both scholarly and public interest in the region has grown dramatically in recent years. A large new generation of graduate students working on South Asia in the humanities and social sciences is in the process of

Social Justice Feminism Conference - 2012: Call for Papers

2012-01-30T21:33:00.001-05:00

Call for Papers"Social Justice Feminism" University of Cincinnati College of Law October 26-27, 2012 Keynote Speakers: Patricia Hill Collins, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland; Charles Phelps Taft Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Cincinnati Anika Rahman, President and CEO, Ms. Foundation The University of Cincinnati College of Law’s

Happppinnessss!!!

2012-01-27T01:00:00.005-05:00

It always feels beautiful to be happy!! :) I have no specific reason to be happy right now, but I've been looking through my files and seeing Kashmala's videos and laughing so hard my body still hurts! God I LOVE her!!! She is THE most beautiful thing ever created. Take a look, y'all: Too much adorableness, man!! Too much!! I can't take it anymore!!! MashaAllah, tf, tffff!!! Nazara na shi.

On Maya Khan (Samaa TV)'s Moral Policing

2012-01-25T21:27:00.006-05:00

Some of you might be aware of the recent Maya Khan incident, the self-righteous TV hostess who has been harassing young (unmarried) couples in a public Pakistani park in Karachi known to be a hot meeting spot for young couples in love. Here, take a look: This lady, along with her crew (most of whom are also females), takes a mic and a camera to the park and stalks young couples sitting on

Pashtun Women Problems (and solutions)

2012-01-25T00:12:00.003-05:00

When this blog went private for a couple of weeks, I wrote some things that I wish I could share in public but since I can't share all of it, I'm gonna go ahead and share the ones I can share with everyone. I was always talkative, I've always used this blog as a "venting" machine, and I've rarely needed the inspiration -- since there's enough injustice around me to inspire me. But recently, or at

Gender and Identity: Women Changing their Surname after Marrige

2012-01-21T14:11:00.007-05:00

I firmly believe in choice. So when I encounter women who have chosen to change their last names because they simply wanted to (there can be many reasons, although perhaps not as compelling to me or you as to them), I don’t pity them for falling into the trap of patriarchy, which pushes them to give up their identity and be identified solely by their husbands. When I watch a marriage ceremony

An Intro to Islamic Feminism

2011-12-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of FormSpring questions waiting to be answered on feminism and Islamic feminism -- and then at least 8 other questions, and I promise to answer them soon (many of them will require very short answers, so not to worry, k?), but in the meantime, I would like to share this. It's from a presentation I had to give on Islamic feminism in a women's studies course a few weeks ago. I hope

Ghani Baba's "Mula Jaan Wayi Azal Ke" - English Translation

2011-12-20T01:30:00.002-05:00

One of my most favoritest songs of all time is called "Mula Jaan Wayi Azal Ke" (The Mullah [preacher] tells me that from the very beginning ...), written by the ever-incredible Ghani Baba and sung by the ever-amazing Sardar Ali Takkar (P.S. Did I ever tell you about that email that I received from Takkar in response to my poem "Weeping at Ghani's Grave"? :D Yeah!!! A couple of years ago. It was

Killing Us Softly - Women's Images in the Media

2011-12-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

This kind of information never gets old. I won't stop writing about and/or posting such documentaries, lectures, videos, etc. on my blog and elsewhere until I feel like enough women and men and others have received the message properly enough. And, per the video below, Kate Winslet officially has won ALL the respect I can give to a woman. Bless your heart, Kate! I think more female celebrities

Interesting Blog Statistics

2011-12-07T04:50:00.001-05:00

So, I think some of y'all might find this of interest. It's 3:16am and, clearly, I'd rather be doing nothing better with my time than blogging this late -- or early, depending on how you see it, lawlz. Now... as of Wednesday, December 7, 2011: ~ The 5 most-visited countries to the blog are: The U.S. with 13,778 visitors The UK, 3,724 Pakistan, 3,565 Canada, 1,693 India, 1,409 [The next

The Roshni Centre for Women

2011-12-06T00:29:00.005-05:00

Dear everyone! If you're on Twitter, I strongly urge you to start "following" the Roshni Centre (@RoshniCentre) account because apparently, an anonymous supporter has promised to donate $1 for every 5 people who follow @RoshniCentre. Of course, I'm sure the idea is that people won't just follow but also try to look into it to see what exactly Roshni Centre is about. In that case, let me give you

My Dabkeh (Arabic Dance) Performance

2011-12-05T16:38:00.005-05:00

So, remember when I was in Jordan in the summer and I'd sometimes talk about the Culture Clubs we had as a study-abroad group? Yeah, well, here's the final result of the Dabka/Dabkeh practice we'd have for 2 hours every Monday for 5 weeks. We messed up biiiig time, but oh well. It was the most funnest night I had at CLS, and everyone else enjoyed it as well. Oh, and in the beginning, few people

Grad School Blues

2011-12-03T01:58:00.004-05:00

All right, so I am happy to know that I'm not the only undisciplined graduate student in the whole wide world. Apparently, ALL other graduate students are like this :D (Oh, will you look at that - I'm relishing in the delight that others, too, aren't being the best they can be! Tsk, tsk.) Yesterday, a Gender Studies teacher of ours treated us (classmates and me) to dinner at this really cool

Reaching Out

2011-12-02T19:32:00.000-05:00

Hello, all, A good friend of mine is desperately in need of prayers, and I'd appreciate all your support, especially through prayers (if you believe in them). Her mother's really ill, and ... well, you can imagine how painful that must be, so. Thank you in advance :) Here's her post. A proper prayer right from the heart with full-on faith and trust in Allah, is powerful. I am therefore

The Women of Swat Finally Speak!

2011-12-02T03:21:00.001-05:00

This makes me too, TOO happy! I hope they inspire other women to speak up as well.

Begum Nawazish Ali: The Drag Queen of Pakistan?

2011-11-30T16:33:00.007-05:00

In the Music/Gender class, we were discussing masculinity this week, and I was able to introduce Begum Nawazish Ali, apparently the most popular Pakistani talk show host who hosts this show called Late Night Show with Begum Nawazish Ali. Begum Nawazish's real name is Ali Saleem, is a male (and man), but enjoys performing femininity by playing the role of Begum Nawazish Ali, a Pakistani

Debating Well

2011-11-29T22:28:00.005-05:00

(I'm posting this here because it turns out that there's no need for it to be in the top Pages section. If you commented, don't worry - I'm going to copy/paste your comments below in the Comments section. Thanks for understanding!) Pre-pre-post: I'm not sorry for the length. I believe it was necessary. Pre-post: This should be helpful most for Pashtuns and Muslims. Why? Because, apparently, one

I Miss My Mother.

2011-11-28T00:36:00.001-05:00

I terribly miss my mother (no, alhamdulillah, she is alive, but it's just that I'm living about a thousand miles away from her right now). I want to go home right now and hug her tightly and just serve her for the rest of my life. You know how when you're away from your mom or dad or someone else you love too much, you think about all the bad things you've done to them? Yeah, well that's what I'm

Swati Malala Yusufzai, Child Nominee for an International Peace Award

2011-11-27T01:48:00.001-05:00

This girl makes me so proud! I can't wait to meet her one day, ka khairee. Keep it up, guley! Qurban de shama! She has been nominated for International Peace Award, one of the five children worldwide, and it gives me such pleasure and brings such happiness to me and I'm sure all other Pukhtuns that this girl is from Swat. God preserve her boldness, strength, intelligence, and passion for peace!

How I Define the Educated

2011-11-26T16:51:00.007-05:00

I've been wanting to write on this ever since the third or fourth week of my Music/gender class, taught by an amazing, generous, and open-minded ethnomusicologist. If you asked me, I still don't know what "open-minded" would be defined as, since I think it can be very relevant at times, but I know what "educated" means now. I know what an educated crowd looks like. I know what what the impact of

Pamela Geller and the Halal Turkey Issue

2011-11-25T00:10:00.003-05:00

Pamela Geller is one of the most ignorant influential speakers out there. It is truly depressing that she's popular and widely-read. It makes me fear the future of America more than the thought that Herman Caine is running for presidency (seriously, who convinced him to run?! What's wrong with you, folks?) But I'm sure as heck grateful for people like the Keith Olbermann to respond to her

Research Methods: Gender, Sexuality in Ethnographic Fieldwork

2011-11-22T01:58:00.003-05:00

So! I'd like to share here some questions that I compiled for my Music, Gender, and Sexuality class for tomorrow's discussion. I wish I had the time to share all the other discussions we have in class, but that'll have to wait for another lifetime or something. The texts we're using for this week are cited below (albeit the citation is inconsistent. That's okay - you'll live with it.) Oh, and

List of Words Pakistan Will Ban in Texting

2011-11-19T18:10:00.001-05:00

I'm sure by now a lot of people know that Pakistan's efforts to humiliate itself and its people over and over again won't come to an end any time soon. We kill people who speak the truth, we harass and slaughter non-Sunni people (whether Muslims or non-Muslims) on a daily basis (yes, yes, I know Pakistan is not alone in doing this, but our focus today is on Pakistan, so), we ban music bands that