Faculty Achievements
Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Grants:
Morgan Liu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and cultural anthropologist, and recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Research Grant, will travel to Kyrgyzstan for three months to conduct research on the theme of "Central Asian Islam and Post-Soviet Societal Transformation." Liu will examine the beliefs of Muslims in Central Asia about how Islam solves systemic societal problems. The fieldwork involves Uzbek language interviews with religious and community leaders, and observation of mosque life. More information on his research will be included in the Autumn 2008 issue of the Middle East Studies Bulletin.
Notes from the Field:
Professor Margaret Mills - Oral History and Other Projects in Afghanistan
Professor Margaret Mills of the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department returned in November 2007 from Afghanistan where she went to follow up with individuals she had worked with on various collaborative projects since 2003. One of her projects is the research she does with women activists in the country. Just over two years ago, she and Professor Sally Kitch, then of the Department of Women’s Studies, convened the conference “Afghan Women Leaders Speak” at Ohio State University (see the publication on line at: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nwsa_journal/v018/18.3mills.html) in which seven activist women from Afghanistan, and still others based in the US, came to share their experiences working to improve conditions for women and the society as a whole. The five she was able to meet again in Kabul remembered the conference with pleasure. Some of them are in their same positions in NGO’s and other organizations, while others had changed to different positions. They all continue to lead remarkable lives, however, some traveling to provincial project sites, others based in Kabul.
She and a colleague now researching oral history in Kabul recently organized a workshop at Kabul University for university students interested in learning oral history collection methodology. The American Institute for Afghanistan Studies supported the event. The purpose of the workshop was to examine the connections and distinctions between oral history and folklore studies, specifically as applied to Afghanistan. They team-taught the workshop, covering different disciplinary approaches to oral history collection; including history, anthropology, folklore, and conflict resolution. Many of the 30 or so who attended the workshop came from the history department, where oral history is not otherwise taught at this time. The students designed research topics and practiced interviewing each other as part of the learning exercises. Their choices of research topics were themselves interesting, reflecting the challenges they feel as young educated Afghans who understand the urgency of rebuilding their country.
The students formed five teams to develop a team research topic for which they devised open-ended interview questions in Dari Persian language, aimed at uncovering the interviewees’ thoughts on a particular topic. This resulted in three different types of data, personal experience narratives, oral histories, and oral traditions. Personal experience narratives focus on one person’s own memories of events from their lives. Oral history is the second degree of narrative collection because it is based on the recollections of other individuals’ experiences – so memories and stories of parents or relatives are often the topic. Oral traditions include stories passed down through many generations, going back further in time. Oral verbal art and oral memory still predominate in Afghan cultural life over written literature, given the current literacy rates (estimated at 40% for men and perhaps 15% for women). The goal was to have the interviewee speak as freely as possible, and shape their responses in their own ways. In each group, they chose roles, one student being the interviewee, one the lead interviewer, one taking notes and others acting as observer/coach. The groups chose topics such as history of education, marriage customs and strategies (a matter of direct interest to these young, mostly unmarried students), and trauma narratives, including women’s suicide. Some students within the groups already had direct experience with their chosen topics, and served as interviewees.
Even though it was a short workshop, students were able to practice interviewing, and begin the process of post-interview write-ups. The students expressed interest in the workshop being turned into a full course on doing oral history research. Professor Mills shares their sense of urgency in documenting Afghanistan’s difficult recent history, though the painful aspects and potential political vulnerability of such work were also not lost on the students. Professor Mills is engaged in her own long-term oral history project, with a family she has known in Herat, in western Afghanistan, since the 1970’s.
Related resources: University of North Carolina web site - http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/oral_history.html
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