Bosnia & Herzegovina Lecture Tour of Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi

Indo-Judaic Studies Researcher and Muslim-Jewish Relations Activist, Dr. Navras Jaat Aafreedi, Assistant Professor in the Department of History & Civilization at the Gautam Buddha University in Greater NOIDA (a satellite town of New Delhi), India, would be available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 30th June to 5th July 2013 for lectures on the topics listed below:

1. The Indian Jewish Communities, viz., the Bene Israel, the Cochini and the Baghdadi
2. Traditions of Israelite Descent Among Certain Muslim Groups in South Asia
3. The Judaizing Movements in India
4. Jewish Contributions to Indian Cinema
5. Jewish Contributions to Indian Literature
6. A Cultural Profile of Indian Jews
7. Jewish-Muslim Relations in South Asia
8. Sarmad: The Jewish Sufi of India
9. The Marginalisation of Indian Jews
10. Indian Jews in Israel
11. The Tradition of Israelite Origin among Pathans/Pashtuns
12. Malihabad: A Pathan/Pashtun Settlement in India
13. The Paradox of the Absence of Anti-Semitism and the Popularity of Hitler in India
14. India's Response to the Holocaust
15. South Asian Muslim Attitudes towards Jews, Israel and Zionism
16. Efforts for the Promotion of Jewish Studies in India
17. The Use of Films for Creating Holocaust Awareness in India
18. India's Varied Jewish Connections
19. Efforts for the Promotion of Jewish Studies in India

No honorarium is expected, but he would greatly appreciate home hospitality and local travel allowance, if not anything else. Dr. Aafreedi has completed successful lecture tours of Israel, the US, the UK and Australia in the past. 
 

He wishes to make the most of his time in Bosnia & Herzegovina by speaking at as many forums as possible and by networking with as many people as possible for eliciting support and help for his following objectives:

• Creation of Awareness about the Holocaust among Indians and checking of alarmingly rising popularity of Hitler and the Nazis among them
• Combating of Holocaust denial and minimisation by Muslims in India
• Positively Changing the Muslim attitudes towards Jews, Israel and Zionism
• Introduction of Jewish Studies as an academic discipline at Indian universities
• Establishment of a centre devoted to Jewish Studies and to bringing about a reconciliation between Jews and Muslims and for the promotion of Indo-Judaic Studies
• Organising of conferences, seminars, symposia and film screenings at Indian institutions with the aim of educating the Indians about Jews, Israel and Zionism

Author of the e-book (CD-Rom), The Indian Jewry and the Self-Professed ‘Lost Tribes of Israel’ in India (Mumbai, India, 2006), which embodies his doctoral thesis, Dr. Aafreedi is a member of the following bodies:

• ·    the Editorial Board of the Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies (International refereed journal published by Florida International University, USA and the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, ISSN 1206-9330),
• ·         International Advisory Board of Asian Jewish Life (published from Hong Kong),
• ·      the Advisory Team of "The Ten Lost Tribes Challenge: Expeditions of Discovery" (A series of research expeditions to various groups around the world, who consider themselves, or considered by others, to be descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.), and
• ·         the four-member-Cultural-Council of Gautam Buddha University, under the auspices of which he has regularly screened films on various Jewish themes, particularly the Holocaust, invited Jewish artists, academics and writers and poets to speak at the university

He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Medieval & Modern Indian History, University of Lucknow in 2005, followed by post-doctorate from the Graduate School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University in 2007, supported by a scholarship from the Israeli Government and a supplementary grant from the Tel Aviv University. His lectures have been well appreciated in the US, the UK, Israel and India. He is the first person to make any worthwhile contributions to Jewish Studies in the Urdu language, the lingua franca of almost all South Asian Muslims, though he primarily writes in English and Hindi. 

From May 2008 to March 2010 he worked for the betterment of inter-faith relations, primarily to bring about a positive change in Muslim attitudes towards Jews, Israel and Zionism, in Lucknow, for the Centre for Communication and Development Studies, Pune, a social change resource centre focusing on the research and communication of information for change, under the auspices of its civil society and youth outreach initiative called Open Space, about which one can read on the webpage:

http://sites.google.com/site/aafreedi/dr.navrasjaataafreedi%27seffortsforthebett2

 During this period he succeeded in organizing the first ever Holocaust Films Retrospective in South Asia, among many other events on Jewish themes, about which one can read in the Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies, Vol. XII, 2000 and on the following websites:

·         http://sites.google.com/site/aafreedi/thefirsteverholocaustfilmsretrospectivei

·         http://openspacelucknow.blogspot.in/2009/09/first-ever-holocaust-films.html

In May-June 2010, he studied the "Muslim-Jewish Relations in South Asia" as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations (CMJR), Woolf Institute, Cambridge, UK.

He continues to educate the Indians about the Shoah and has been unceasingly trying to promote Jewish Studies in India through various means to combat elements of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial or minimisation. One can read about his efforts in the following articles:

"The Advent of Hitler in India", Available on the following sites:

http://www.yourjewishnews.com/Pages/21844.aspx

http://5tjt.com/the-advent-of-hitler-in-india-dr-aafreedi-the-cure-for-this-paradoxical-phenomenon-is-knowledge/

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/30/the-advent-of-hitler-in-india/

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/jewish-news/the-advent-of-hitler-in-india/2012/07/30/

http://legalnews.findlaw.com/article/0cLZail8BlbRT

http://weeklypresspakistan.com/2012/07/4197

    "Absence of Jewish Studies in India":

http://asianjewishlife.org/pages/articles/autumn2010/AJL_Feature_Absence_of.html

While studying the history of medieval and modern India, he was increasingly attracted towards the history of Jews; the vicissitudes of their struggle for survival; and their singular achievements despite seemingly insuperable difficulties. He realised that the history of Jews in India needed to be researched; and he applied himself to the task with great enthusiasm. His interest in Jewish History was also triggered by the fact that the Afridi tribe he comes from, has been identified by many Jewish and Muslim scholars, from the medieval to the modern times, with Ephraim, one of the ten lost tribes of Israel. There is also a centuries-old tradition of Israelite origin that has lived on in his people, the Pathans/Pashtuns/Pakhtuns.

He hopes to continue his study of Indian Jews and the World as a life-long vocation.  He also seeks to establish a centre dedicated to Indo-Judaic Studies in India, a country where Jewish Studies are not recognized as an academic discipline.

His updated CV is available online: http://sites.google.com/site/aafreedi/cv

Press reports on his research can be read in sixteen languages, viz., English, French, Hebrew, German, Russian, Slovak, Dutch, Spanish, Finnish, Turkish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Italian, Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu and Hindi, on his blog http://navrasaafreedi.blogspot.com

One can read about his hometown, the Afridi settlement of Malihabad, on his blog dedicated to the place – http://malihabad.blogspot.com

Dr. Aafreedi can be contacted at aafreedi@gmail.com