- Date: November 8 (Mon), 2010, 1:30-5:30 pm
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
- Admission: Free (reservation required)
- Language: English/Japanese (with simultaneous translation)
- Moderator: Lee Jong Won (Professor, Rikkyo University; ALFP Advisory Committee member)
Challenges define our world; rather than being hurdles that hinder progress, they characterize the nature of progress in today’s world. The issue then is not with challenges, but the seeming inability of the powers that be (not only state but civil society, voluntary associations, and individual actors) in many societies to find reasonable means to address challenges, find solutions, cross borders and explore common ground. Our region offers a complex discourse of sense and contradictions in politics, development and under-development, ways of dealing with the past, religious competition, ethnicity and conflict, environmental protection and degradation, gender dynamics, trade and land rivalries. The plethora of possibilities emerging from this canvas has not, however, been tapped for its greatest potential. It is in this context that rethinking global challenges is of paramount importance in our time. Rethinking means we need to identify sources of wisdom and mechanisms that provide space to visit old and new challenges with vision and creativity, paving the way to transcend difficulties without compromising principle.
This year’s six ALFP Fellows are drawn from different professions representing diverse fields of activism and academia who have one thing in common: they have all shown a singular ability to transgress conventional thought and practice in their own countries and fields of work. They bring to the table this creativity and innovation that must necessarily inform the imagining of the future of the region. It is in this context that the ALFP fellows hope their own individual and collective rethinking would allow them and others to face up to and transform challenges into possibilities of dialogue and action.
Session 1: Human Security and Networking
The United Nations Police and Peacebuilding
Seki Kaoruko (Japan), Humanitarian Policy Officer, United Nations
Economy, Ecology and Equity in a Globalizing World
Ahn Byungok (Korea), Head, Institute of Climate Change Action (ICCA)
Better Links Among Asian Countries
Guo Zhiyuan (China), Attorney / Chief Arbitrator / Professor and Director, Center for Law Application, Anhui University
Session 2: Media and Gender
Media and Myth-making
Kong Rithdee (Thailand), Film Critic / Columnist, Bangkok Post
Taboos of Patriarchy
Fouzia Saeed (Pakistan), Director, Mehergarh
The Construction of Masculinity and Bravery in War: The Case of Sri Lanka
Sasanka Perera (Sri Lanka), Professor of Anthropology and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Colombo
For profiles of the fellows, please see this page.
Those who wish to attend are requested to call or e-mail the ALFP Secretariat for reservations.
Book Launch by Dr. Fouzia Saeed
Japanese Translation of TABOO! The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area
The red light district in any country reveals aspects of a society which people usually are not willing to face. It remains cloaked in mystery, stamped with stereo types and shunned by “highly moral” people. Thus studying it is always difficult and creates a reaction, especially in a Muslim country like Pakistan.
Dr. Fouzia Saeed, who is currently in Tokyo under the Asian Leadership Fellow Program, co-sponsored by the International House of Japan and the Japan Foundation, is the author of the book, TABOO! The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area. Her eight years of anthropological research culminated in the form of stories of people from the red light district of Lahore, Pakistan. These present a nonjudgmental understanding of this phenomenon without the lens of morality or judgment. Through shedding light on one aspect of society this book enables us to look at the larger society. Similarly, by looking at gender issues in one society we can find lessons for other societies. Please join us for a lively talk about hidden aspects of modern Pakistan with the author at the launch of the Japanese translation of the book.
- Date: Nov. 11 (Thu.), 2010, 6:30-8:00 pm
- Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
- Language: English (with consecutive Japanese translation)
- Registration: Program Dept., International House of Japan
- Co-organized by the Asia Leadership Fellow Program and Commons
- http://www.commonsonline.co.jp/
Fouzia Saeed: Director, Mehergarh
Dr. Saeed is well known in activist circles of Pakistan’s social movement, having worked for decades on women’s issues, especially those linked to violence against women, prostitution, women in the entertainment business, women’s mobility and sexual harassment. She founded the first women’s crisis center in Pakistan in 1991. During her career she has headed the UN Gender Program in Pakistan, served as Pakistan Country Director for Action Aid and currently is an international consultant in the field of Gender and Development. In addition to her current activist work as the Director of Mehergarh, an institute committed to transforming the youth of Pakistan, an urgency to work on anti-Talibanization has moved her to be a part of a nationwide movement against this vicious process. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Her earlier work with the Folk and Traditional Heritage Institute (Lok Virsa) led to the book Women in Folk Theater.
ALFP Secretariat
c/o Program Department
International House of Japan
5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0032 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-3470-3211 Fax: +81-3470-3170
E-mail: alfp*i-house.or.jp (Please replace * with @)