Asia Center: Haeri Screens Documentary
The Center for the Study of Asia, an affiliated regional studies center of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a conversation and film screening with Shahla Haeri, Professor of Anthropology and documentary filmmaker.
The event was documented by Camille Nguyen in the news post “Prof. Shahla Haeri on Muslim Women’s Paths to Power.” It was published on Nov. 11. Haeri also answered questions in a discussion period with Pardee School Dean Adil Najam.
From the text of the news post:
Shahla Haeri, Associate Professor of Anthropology, shared a unique perspective with attendants to her talk, “Muslim Women’s Paths to Power,” as part of the BUCSA Asian Women in Public Life lecture series. She screened her documentary on the 2001 presidential election in Iran, which saw 49 female candidates register for candidacy. The film screening was followed by a brief statement and a discussion with the Pardee School’s Dean Adil Najam.
Haeri’s documentary, Mrs. President, showed conversations with some of the women who registered to be presidential candidates, spliced with scenes of Iran and its “invisible” women attending political rallies, on the streets of Tehran, and voting on election day. Haeri sat with these women and asked them about the role of women in Iranian society, their aspirations, government, and their motivations for running for office. Many of the women cited historical women in leadership roles and Islam as their defense that women could be president.
You can read the entire article here.
Najam has also served on the Academic Council of the South Asian University (SAU), New Delhi, India and the Syndicate (Board) of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, Pakistan. He continues to serve as a Board’s Visiting Committee member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Learn more about him here.