Kennedy Horton was born in America, but from the ages of 7 to 15, he moved with his family to Sindh, Pakistan. Afterwards he moved across Thailand, China, and he now resides in Ireland. In this episode Kennedy shares a bit about his life in Pakistan, going to school and growing up there, and more.
A fantastic conversation with Dr. Shabana Mir, from Chicago, U.S., who is here to unpack some of her knowledge and thoughts about various issues affecting Muslims and Muslim women today.
Shabana Mir is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the American Islamic College, based in Chicago, IL. She teaches Islamic Studies, Gender Studies, Research Methods, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Muslim American and Muslim World Literature. She is the author of the award-winning book Muslim American Women on Campus: Undergraduate Social Life and Identity, published by the University of North Carolina Press (2014). The book has received the Outstanding Book Award from the National Association for Ethnic Studies and the Critics’ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association (2014).
Follow Shabana on Twitter: @ShabanaMir1
“When I was young, I used to think of feminism as like – ‘ye to kafir log karte hain, hamari cheez nahi hai’ – and I knew feminists (in Pakistan). A lot of people think of feminism as meaning ‘no Islam’, or they are complete opposites. Even in America, you’ll hear much about feminism but also the anti-feminist sentiment and misogyny is quite strong. Every society has a concept of ‘hate against women’ – for example, we often see this in Pakistani dramas – “auratein buraayi ki jarr hain” (women are the root of evil). So feminism just means that women are human beings, and equal (to men). It’s not strange or otherworldly.
The other thing is that there are many different types of feminism. Historically, there are the 3 waves of feminism, there is liberal feminism, radical feminism, leftist feminism, black feminism, etc. There is also Islamic feminism, which is what I identify with more in many ways.
There has always been a strong feminist movement in Pakistan, but a lot of it is often represented by people more on the secular side. What Islamic feminism means is I follow the traditions represented by Hazrat Aisha (ra) and Hazrat Rabia Basri. These are exemplars for me, even on their devotion to God, and not just for women but for all Muslims.
There is a good example of Hazrat Asiya – the wife of Firaun (the Pharaoh). Firaun claimed to be god and asked his wife how she could leave his religion, and he tortured her, but she did not listen to him. Many times we are told of “majazi khuda” – “shohar mujazi khuda hota hai” (a husband is like a god), whatever a husband says you should listen to, even if he tells you to stop praying – but no ! Hazrat Asiya started a rebellion against her husband and made a dua to God, ‘build for me a house in Paradise near you’.”
A really thought provoking discussion about the most common challenges that affect our Pakistani youth today – lack of opportunities, fear of failure, family and parental pressure, anxiety, and more. Our guest, Mehmooda Shah from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, breaks this down with her own story, and shares her experience on dealing with obstacles, failure, and disadvantages in life.
Email Mehmooda: mehmoodashah11@gmail.com
Ayesha Wahidi was born and raised in the midwest, U.S. Earlier in 2020, she moved to Korea for a teaching-abroad program. She shares her experiences in and out of Korea and her perspectives on common life struggles.
Want to get in touch with Ayesha? Email her at wahidi.ayesha@gmail.com
21 year old Noor-ul-Ain from Dubai went viral on TikTok after sharing her personal traumatic story of an ordinary wedding / shaadi visit to Pakistan gone wrong. Essentially , Noor and her family flew to Pakistan from dubai to attend her cousin’s wedding, and unexpectedly, she found that she was getting engaged against her consent, at the age of 12, by her parents. Her TikTok video has over 1.5 million views as of this recording, and now, Noor is here to share her full story in detail with us, as well as her thoughts and learnings from this story of her life.
Forced marriage of children (particularly girls) under the age of 18 is still a major issue in many countries, including Pakistan. Lawmakers and activists have made efforts over the last several years to alleviate this issue, with some (but not nearly complete) success.
Bilal Junejo was born in Pakistan, but grew up living in the southern region of Africa, namely the countries of Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Bilal gives us a glimpse of his life over there, including the people, the food, and the places.
Meet Fareeha, living in Japan. She hasn’t spent a lot of time in Pakistan, grew up in Saudi Arabia, and then moved to Japan for her studies to a city called Sendai, and has been living there for 9 years, currently working at a lab while pursuing her PhD.
Fareeha is an avid listener of the podcast herself, and is here to tell us all about her life in Japan. A very fun discussion with jokes and insights! Feel free to follow Fareeha on Instagram – @farri1002.
Recently TikTok and other social platforms have exploded with viral memes of Pakistani kids taking pledges on stage at a school event. Popular lines include: “To sacrifice my own life for Pakistan!” “I pledge to be a pilot, and help everyone!” These videos have been traced to an event that took place at PISJES (Pakistan International School Jeddah English Section), in 2011. The school has many events that are often meant to promote Pakistani pride. For better or worse, after going viral this particular event has gained international meme spotlight, as well as criticism due to some of the messages.
In this podcast episode we talk to Areej Khalid, who was one of the students at this school and also was present at this event. Areej answers many of the questions on our minds and offers her perspective on the controversy.
Note: this podcast episode exists in video form on our YouTube channel. We strongly recommend watching the video version, as it has more visual context around this topic. Otherwise, you can find the audio podcast links below as well!
Meet Anam Khan, a Pakistani American currently residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, U.S. She has moved back and forth between Pakistan and U.S. and spent a significant time living in both countries. Anam is here to talk about her startup effort, called The NewsRun, which is a free daily newsletter providing short and simple summaries of all the top news in Pakistan.
In the episode, Anam discusses how she came up with idea, her daily work process, managing work-life balance, and working in Pakistan vs. U.S. You can sign up for free emails from The NewsRun via their website !
Satir Ahmed is a 22 year old history buff (fan) currently living in Newfoundland, Canada, for his studies. He has also lived the majority of his life in Qatar.
Newfoundland is an island off the east coast of the North American mainland. The capital of Newfoundland is St. John’s. The island got global coverage earlier in 2020 when a historic blizzard pounded the city with 30+ inches of snow (dubbed “snowmageddon”).
In the episode Satir talks about life in Newfoundland, and shares his perspectives on history and modern issues, challenging some mainstream opinions.
More pictures and details are available in articles such as this one.