FOUZIA SAEED, Phd
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CURRICULUM VITAE FOUZIA SAEED, PhD Summary of Professional Experience Fouzia Saeed is among one of the known folklorists in Pakistan. She has always taken pride in her folk culture and has propagated throughout her work and living. This has been an important dimension of her life. She has been actively engaged in pursuit of traditional culture. Among her writings on culture the most prominent is a book Forgotten Faces: the daring women of Punjabi theatre, tracing lives of women who acted in the folk theatre in 60 and 70s. This came about after research over several years. This to date has remained Lok Virsa’s only contribution in women in folklore that they proudly show off. Her other research and publications include both material and non-material culture. Her book on the lacquered work of Dera Ismail Khan remains to be a reference for that kind of intricate woodwork. Her interest in folk theatre, folk music and dancing spans over 4 decades where she not only herself is an excellent folk dancer but has written about it in many places including a piece for an encyclopedia. Her other prominent successful contribution to the folklore of Pakistan was leading a movement for Manganhaar music for over ten years, committed to make their music popular in the country. Young boys and girls from their community were encouraged systematically to join the profession, learn from their elders in their baithaks and then the best among them took part in a competition. This took the shape of a very successful annual mela in Karachi witnessed by media and the elite. Restoring dignity of these artists was also a significant objective. In her work with media she hosted a series of shows on PTV “Bhuli hui hun dastan’, on ethnomusicology interviewing artists who have left the field of performing arts. She also hosted several live shows of folk music. A series is available at radio city that was done for Manganhaar and Bhil artists. She herself has been totally engaged with folk music and other performing arts traditions like theatre. She was a founding member of Sanjh Theatre and has had excellent connections with all the traditional singers, theatre groups and musicians. Her formalized engagement with the field of folklore started in 1988 when she joined Lok Virsa as a Deputy Director, Research, where she looked after the research program and Virsa library. It was in her time that the Library was totally digitized and re organized into an open, usable resource for outside scholars. She added a special section to the library on women related studies. The research program saw its height as she had a record number of publications in the program that year. She herself conducted several studies for the institute and commissioned work which was published in the form of research booklets and books. She also edited and presented in a new way, the magazine Heritage. Leaving Lok Virsa after four years, she has always been a close friend, and headed the Institution as the Executive director from Feb 2015- 2018. She has totally transformed the institution in terms of its programing, strategic impact on community involvement and its governance which had derailed in the last ten years. In 1989 she with other friends, some of whom were linked to Lok Virsa started an organization called The Folklore Society. She is now the chairperson. The objective of the society was to protect the rights of folk artists, promote their art, conduct research and revive folk arts. The society has done very well over the years and filled in the gaps or to compliment the Government work. Due to our work now our folk artists get many invitations from abroad. The society also networks or provides guidance to other cultural organizations and maintains links with international organizations. Free Muse that works on the right of playing music and for the protection of artists is also a strong friend. During her time with Action Aid when she was the country director of about 100 staff for five-years she started a program called Cultural Action Program. Through this social action was targeted through folk arts. She extensively worked with folk story tellers from all the provinces and inspired them to include current scenarios into their poetry to keep the folk art relevant like it used to be. She also worked with traditional theatre groups and the more contemporary ones for cross pollination resulting in amazing traditional styles adopted by young artists of more contemporary street theatre groups. Again restoration of dignity of these traditional artists was a significant outcome. Fouzia Saeed started a program to promote local cultures to high school students. Through the platform of The Folklore society she wrote and published two booklets one on Bhill community and its folk traditions arts and music and the other on Manganhaar. These booklets were very significant in documenting the basic culture in the form easily understandable for our younger generation. Mehergarh a Human Rights institute she and others set up in 2005.The name was to pay tribute to Mehergarh, a historic site in what is not called Balochistan. Each program of Mehergarh has a predominant theme of traditional culture and participants of Mehergarh leadership courses are transformed to own and promote our own traditional culture and find solutions from our own rich heritage. Sufi Music is another area where she, through Mehergarh, has promoted messages of peace. Her organization has an online resource center on sufi music and knowledge where young Pakistanis are encouraged to learn about the sufi saints. In addition they do courses on spirituality based on a book produced by Mehergarh called Tareeqat, a simplified and non-dogmatic version of sufi practice. She conducts an annual sufi music context for youth to keep the rich poetry and singing alive in contemporary tastes. In addition she has a PhD in Education with most of her training in Anthropology. Her first book Taboo exploring the stigma on performing arts and the rich tradition of musical instrument making and playing was an ethnography and is being used as a text book at Anthropology Departments in London and USA. She has ample management experience starting from Lok Virsa in 1988 and later heading the Gender Unit for 4 years at the United Nations Development Program as a senior manager. She was the Country Director of an international development organization called Action Aid for five years in Pakistan with a staff of 100 and three regional offices. She lead social movements like AASHA on women’s rights where she closely engaged with media, Government, private sector and many stake holders. She has the experience of working in the Government, Development sector, United Nations, INGOs and running local organizations. Her name can ensure visibility nationally and internationally. CURRENT CONTACTS #26, St 55 F 7/4 Islamabad, Pakistan [email protected] Cell: 03008541929 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouzia_Saeed EDUCATION Ph.D. (Education), University of Minnesota, USA, 1987 Minor in Cultural Anthropology MS (Design/Material Culture) University of Minnesota, USA, 1985 Graduate research on Lacquer furniture of D I Khan BS (General Home Economics, specialization in design) University of Minnesota, USA, 1983. BS (Home Economics), University of Peshawar, Pakistan, 1979 LANGUAGES English, Urdu (university proficient), Punjabi (fluent), Pashto (basic) AWARDS AND HONOURS Pakistan Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, 1st September, 2014 Keynote Speaker World Affairs Council, San Francisco, 8 March 2013 Battle of Crete Award, Oxi Day Foundation, Washington DC, October 2012 National Endowment for Democracy Fellow, Washington DC, October 2012 –February 2013 Asian Leadership Fellow Award, Government of Japan, 2010 International Leadership Award, University of Minnesota, May 2008 Distinguished International Alumni Award University of Minnesota, 1998 Ethel L. Parker Fellow Award American Home Economics Association, 1986. President of Pakistan's Educational Award International Scholarship, 1979 - 1987. Gold Medal of Academic Excellence (Top Graduate) University of Peshawar, Pakistan, 1979. FOCUS AREAS Folklore and Culture, Sufism, Democracy, Women’s Issues, Pro- Women Legislation, Human Rights, Management, Peace and Pluralism, Organizational Capacity Building. MAJOR SKILLS Organizational visioning and strategy development Research and Publication Developing courses and transformational training programs Strategic use of media for advocacy and knowledge sharing Leadership and Advocacy PUBLICATIONS Contributions in the form of books, research studies and articles in magazines on culture, women’s issues, democracy and government policy. Some of them are listed below. A list of selected op-eds is given at the end of the CV. Books & Other Publications The Furniture of Dera Ismail Khan. Institution of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa), Pakistan 1989. Documentation of the traditional lacquer work of D I Khan, its process of woodwork, designs and other aspects of material culture of the area. Taboo! The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area. Oxford University Press, 2001. An ethnography of the traditional performing arts rooted in the red light area in Lahore. It reflects upon the culture of creativity, musical instrument making and sigma on performing arts. It documents the world of performances, lives of musicians dancers, composers and classical singers. The original English version opened a national dialog on women’s issues and performing arts. Urdu, Hindi, Marathi and Japanese translations have been also published. Forgotten Faces: The daring women of folk theatre in Pakistan. Institution of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa), Pakistan 2011. An account of the lives of women in the folk theatre, their creativity, yearning to perform and difficulties they faced dealing with their fans. Despite their popularity they faced abuse in their homes. Stories of struggles, stigma and achieving high levels of popularity and artistic expression are narrated.