WFU Conference Celebrates Pakistan’s 50th Anniversary

“Pakistan at 50,” held from Thursday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Aug. 31, will feature researchers and a variety of discussions about the country, as well as three events open to the public.

The conference is hosted by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, a consortium of universities and individuals with a research interest in Pakistani history, society and culture. The institute is based at Wake Forest with a field office in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The public is invited to attend the following free events:

• A discussion of the Indus Valley Civilization will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Mews at Graylyn. World-renowned archeologists Mark Kenoyer and Richard Meadow will discuss the Harappa Project, excavations of the ancient Indus Valley civilization. Kenoyer and Meadow co-direct the Harappa Project. The presentation will include slides. Kenoyer is a professor with South Asian Studies Department at University of Wisconsin and Meadow is the director of Harvard University’s Peabody Museum.
• A sitar and tabla performance will be presented at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, in the Ring Theatre of Wake Forest’s Scales Fine Arts Center. Highly accomplished sitarist Brian Silver will be accompanied by Pakistani tabla player Tari Khan. Silver is also the director of the Urdu Language Service for Voice of America.
• The BBC-produced documentary, “Dare to Dream: The Making of the Film ‘Jinnah,'” will be shown from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, in the Annenberg Forum of Wake Forest’s Carswell Hall. The documentary will be previewed and Akbar S. Ahmed, who wrote the screenplay for the film, “Jinnah,” will lead a discussion. Ahmed, a professor at Cambridge University, is an internationally known expert on Islamic society and culture. He is also a biographer of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who helped lead the movement for India’s Muslims to have a separate homeland and is credited as Pakistan’s founder.
  For more information on the public events, please call 910-759-5453 or 910-759 5449.