American Institute of Pakistan Studies DH Program

From May 6 to 9, 2019, Matthew A. Cook (Duke-NCCU DH Fellows Program Faculty Co-coordinator and Vice President of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, AIPS) traveled to Lahore, Pakistan, along with NCCU DH fellows Collie Fulford and Russell Robinson, to lead a DH workshop at the Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS). They utilized the skills they developed as fellows to work with junior Pakistani faculty to build their digital humanities skills. The workshop focus revolved around learning new skills and how to integrate them into teaching and classroom activities. Twelve Pakistani scholars participated in the workshop, which included one-on-one mentoring by the NCCU faculty as well as instruction by Victoria Szabo and Hannah Jacobs from Duke University. The Pakistani scholars participating were: M. Ibrahim Khokhar (Shah Abu Latif University), Marvi Sheikh (University of Sindh), Shumaila Umer (Sardar Bahadur Khan University), Ayesha Akram (University of Education, Lahore), Sania Munir (University of Lahore), Ihsanullah Jan (Hazara University), Fatima Bilquis (Lahore University of Management Sciences), Furrukh Khan (Lahore University of Management Sciences), Nadhra Shahbhaz Naeem Khan (Lahore University of Management Sciences), Antonio Marasco (Lahore University of Management Sciences), and Ali Usman Qasmi (Lahore University of Management Sciences).

The workshop in Lahore was the first of a two-part program. The second part was in North Carolina between May 20 and June 24, 2019. The Carolina Asia Center sponsored it, and U.S. Embassy in Islamabad funded it. Five Pakistani scholars from the Lahore workshop – Khokhar, Sheikh, Umer, Akram, and Munir – travelled to the U.S. for five weeks. They attended weekly workshops in North Carolina, including a multi-day institute organized by the Triangle Digital Humanities Network. They also participated in weekly one-on-one mentoring sessions with faculty from NCCU and in a variety of cultural, historical, and educational excursions in Triangle Area. In addition to Cook, Fulford, and Robinson, 2018-19 Fellows Brett Chambers and Michele Ware also served as faculty hosts and mentors.