PROJECTS

On July 7th 2016, eight (08) core committee members of the Critical Thinking forum (CTF) started their journey for an exchange visit to Los Angeles, California, USA. This exchange visit was part of CTF’s two-year grant project “Consciousness Raising of Pakistani Women on Contemporary Academic and Social Issues (2015 – 2017)” being carried out in collaboration with the Department of State, US Embassy, Islamabad. The purpose of the program was to provide an opportunity to CTF members to exchange ideas and learn from the expertise of American scholars and interact with the American people (predominantly women) in academic as well as socio-cultural settings. It was aimed to develop a better understanding of American culture and society in general and the status and role of women in America in particular. Besides, the program also aimed to dismantle the misconceptions and stereotypes on both sides through inter-cultural dialogue. Thus, this exchange program proved to be an effective means to improve the relationship between the peoples of the two countries.
Dr. Munazza Yaqoob (Founder& Director, CTF and Project Director, IIUI), Ms. Farhat Meher (Lecturer, IIUI), Ms. Sofia Hussain (Assistant Professor and Project Assistant , IIUI), Ms. Sonia Irum (Lecturer and Coordinator, CTF), Ms. Summaira Batool (Lecturer, Govt. Viqar-un-Nisa College for Women), Ms. Mehwish Haider (CTF Core Committee Member), Ms. Sara Rashed (Teaching/Research Associate, IIUI) and Ms. Khushboo Ali (Core Committee Member) were the participants of the Exchange Visits
The exchange program included five panel discussions and apart from the academic activities planned for the tour, visiting different cultural sites of USA was also an important part of the exchange program to have an insight into American history and culture.
The topics for the panel discussion were:

“Women in USA + Pakistan: Seeing Each Other and Expanding Our Vision”
“Visual Portrayals of Women: An Analysis of Pakistani and American Media”
“Pakistani Women: Religion and Peace”
"Observing Fashion in the Post-Feminist Era: Global Trends from Pakistan to the US”
"Creating Urban Green Spaces, From California to Islamabad”

“Critical Thinking Forum’s Academic and Cultural Exchange Program”
London, UK, August 2017

The Critical Thinking Forum’s “Academic and Cultural Exchange Program” London, UK, was part of CTF’s two-year grant project “Consciousness Raising of Pakistani Women on Contemporary Academic and Social Issues (2015 – 2017)” which is being carried out in collaboration with the Department of State, US Embassy, Islamabad. The purpose of the program was to provide an opportunity to CTF members to exchange ideas and learn from the expertise of South Asian scholars and interact with the South Asian community (predominantly women) in academic as well as socio-cultural settings. Due to unstable political and diplomatic relationships between Pakistan and India, it was not possible to materialize the exchange visit to India. Therefore, it was proposed to arrange an exchange visit to the UK to meet with the Indian students, academics, and members of the civil society, as Indians make the single largest visible ethnic minority population in the British Capital, London. Besides, the program also aimed at dismantling the misconceptions and stereotypes on both sides through inter-cultural dialogue. Through such interaction, the aim was to develop a better understanding of the multicultural British society at large, and the status and role of women in South Asian communities in particular. Thus, this exchange program was envisioned to be an effective means to break stereotypes and misconceptions of foreign cultures through people to people interaction and strengthen the ties between these two countries. Hence, on August 9, 2017, four (04) core committee members of the Critical Thinking Forum (CTF) started their journey for an academic and cultural exchange visit to London, UK. They were joined by the fifth member, Sonia Irum who is already studying in London, and worked as a UK coordinator for the exchange program. The Critical Thinking Forum arranged some scholarly sessions in the UK with Indian civil society, activists, academics, and students for mutual sharing of ideas and personal narratives. This also provided CTF members an opportunity to widen their exposure and learn from the expertise of the Indian as well as British intellectuals and scholars in UK.
Dr. Munazza Yaqoob (CTF Project Director, Associate Professor, IIUI), Ms. Sofia Hussain (Project Assistant & Asst. Prof., IIUI), Ms. Sonia Irum (Coordinator, CTF), Ms. Summaira Batool (Lecturer, Govt. Viqar-un-Nisa College for Women), Ms. Sadaf Mehmood (Teaching/Research Associate, IIUI) were the participants of the Exchange Visit.

Four academic panels were arranged apart from other social and cultural activities during the Exchange Visit.
The topics for the panel discussion were:

• Contemporary South Asian Women Narratives: Subversion, Resilience and Shifting Responses
• India-Pakistan-UK: Political Versus Personal
• Violence against Women in Media and Literature from India, Pakistan and UK
• What it Means to be a Feminist in 21st Century India, Pakistan, and UK

A two year project (2015-2017) of CTF entitled “Consciousness Raising of Pakistani Women on Contemporary Academic and Social Issues” has been approved under the U.S. grant aid ‘Women Empowerment’. It will be carried out by the Incharge and members of the Critical Thinking Forum (CTF) of the International Islamic University, Islamabad in collaboration with Department of State, US Embassy, Islamabad and Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD), International Islamic University, Islamabad. The project aims to empower young women researchers and scholars by equipping them with critical awareness and effective communication and professional skills by engaging them in dialogue on significant contemporary academic, social as well as political debates such as social harmony and peace, social justice, effective citizenship and environmental wellbeing. The project also aims to carry forward the agenda of the CTF at a broader scale and empower a wider community of young women scholars of varied educational and ethnic backgrounds, in order to make them effective individuals and active citizens so that they can carry out the task of raising critical awareness in their regional communities as well as the society at large effectively. The project will also develop collaboration and academic linkages among universities in the capital and the Punjab and establish “consciousness raising groups” of young women researchers and scholars in these universities through workshops, seminars, conferences and discussion sessions. The project thus, for the first time in Pakistan will make an attempt to establish effective connections between academic research and larger public.

In the phase –I of this project, three (03) universities from the capital and Punjab will be taken on board for this project. These universities are: International Islamic University, Islamabad, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, and Lahore College for Women University, Lahore. The project aims to conduct a series of workshops in these universities along with discussion sessions, seminars and roundtables etc. Prominent academicians, scholars, intellectuals and members of civil society will be invited as resource persons and guest speakers from within the country as well as abroad in these events. Through such sessions, along with the most significant aim of awareness and empowerment of women, academic linkages with various academic as well other social institutions at national and international level will also be developed which will help to carry out the agenda of the project at a much broader level.
In the phase –II of this project, it is aimed that an organized “Exchange Program” will be initiated for the young female students, faculty members, academics and members of civil society of Pakistan, USA, and South Asia. Along with the exchange of academic and scholarly expertise, the program will help to break stereotypes and misconceptions of foreign cultures through people to people interaction and strengthen the ties among these countries.
Finally as its future vision, the CTF team aims to extend the objectives of the project at a wider national level and further develop Critical Thinking Forum into a centre of critical thinking at the International Islamic University which will work in collaboration with different private and public sector universities of Pakistan in order to initiate awareness programs at a larger academic as well as social level. The project will be centered on the following themes.

1. Indigenous Roots of Women Issues
2. Social Harmony and Tolerance
3. Inter-disciplinarity and Critical Social Sciences
4. Ecological Issues and Environmental Concerns

A series of workshops, roundtables, discussion sessions, conferences and seminars will be conducted during the course of the project. These events will be organized in IIUI and some other universities of the Capital and Lahore. The core committee members of the project are as follows.
Project Information

Project Director
Dr. Munazza Yaqoob
Assistant Professor, Department of English (FLL), IIUI
Founder &Incharge (Critical Thinking Forum, IIUI)
Faculty Advisor (Human Rights Forum, IIUI)

Research /Project Assistant
Ms. Sofia Hussain
Lecturer, Department of English (FLL), IIUI

Budget Official
Mr. Muhammad Jamil
Dy. Director (Finance)

 Administrative Assistance Team

1. Dr. Munawar Iqbal Gondal (Dean, FLL)
2. Mr. Muhammad Ismail (Dy.Dir, IRD)
3. Mr. M. Adnan Khan (Additional Director, ORIC)

Committee Members

1. Ms. Farhat Meher
2. Ms. Sonia Irum
3. Ms. FarhanaShamim
4. Ms. Sara Rashed
5. Ms. MehwishHaider

Assistant Member

• Ms. Lubna Iqbal