Scholar studies women in conflict

Ather Zia, a scholar from Kashmir and guest in the College of Communications, is here conducting doctoral research for her dissertation titled “Media Projections of Women in conflict Situations in Select Areas of the World,” with special attention to women in Kashmir. She also is willing to lecture in communications classes and to speak at university and community functions.

Zia brings with her an array of experience in journalism, poetry and fiction writing, filmmaking, playwriting, administration – and activism. She said she is “cognizant of the (negative) coverage of women in Kashmir” and wants to dispel that image. She points to herself as a product of the turmoil in the country and the toll it takes on women.

Her bottom line message is that the women of Kashmir are misunderstood by most of the world, and she wants to turn that around by encouraging positive stories. While here, Zia has worked with Associate Dean Fred Zandpour on a grant proposal titled “Empowering Muslim Women to Make Their Voices Heard: Nurturing Civil Society and Democracy in Muslim Societies.”

And another “accomplishment” while here was the birth of her first son, Ali. She plans to be in the States through 2005 to complete her doctoral research and other special projects.