Maliha Zulfacar
Afghanistan

Maliha Zulfacar is Afghanistan's Deputy Minister of Higher Education, working to rebuild the country's devastated university system. She contacts institutions of higher education and donor organizations around the world to discuss their involvement in reconstruction and explores the various options for reopening and revitalizing colleges, universities, and community and technical schools. Afghanistan's new Ministry of Education is dedicated to creating an environment of scholarly integrity, academic freedom, research and teaching excellence, and personal and intellectual growth. A professor of sociology in the Department of Ethnic Studies at California Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Zulfacar's own research interests include global ethnic conflicts; gender, globalization, and democratization; and the political economy of global immigration. Among her published works are Afghan Immigrants in the USA and Germany: A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Ethnic Social Capital and several articles on gender politics and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Afghan youth in the Diaspora. She has received numerous awards for her academic work, including the California Faculty Association Distinguished Award in 2002 and the Outstanding Faculty Award for the College of Liberal Arts and the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001.

Dr. Zulfacar's peace-building activities include:

• acting as a liaison between the Ministry of Higher Education and educational institutions around the world, revitalizing past affiliations and initiating new relationships to stabilize Afghan society by improving the educational opportunities-working toward the creation of an independent, inclusive, and democratic civil society;
• developing the Afghan-in-Exile internship in the United States, the Afghan Scholar Association, and the Afghan Education Foundation and organizing and sponsoring book drives and student-outreach programs at US colleges and universities; and
• filming the documentaries Kabul Revisited: 2002, currently in progress, and Guftugo: An Interview with Afghan Villagers, an intimate look at village life in Afghanistan before the war that includes interviews with villagers, refugees and internally displaced people, students struggling to attend school despite the war, captured Taliban prisoners, and Northern Alliance leaders-including the late Ahman Shah Masoud.
  

back to Building the Network

return to top