Date: August 17th and 18th, 2019
Venue: Afghanistan Center at Kabul University
Submission Deadline: June 24th, 2019
The Afghanistan Center at Kabul University (ACKU) and the American Institute of Afghanistan
Studies (AIAS) invite scholars and senior graduate students working on research themes on
Afghanistan, both in humanities and social sciences, to present their works at an interdisciplinary
conference, ‘Afghanistan Studies: Independence, More Independence, and Beyond
Independence,’ which will take place on the campus of Kabul University, on August 17-18, 2019.
ACKU and AIAS invite both panels and individual paper proposals that would examine
differently specific questions, processes, concepts, individuals, groups, and other natural and
analytical categories as they relate to the study of Afghanistan in general, and to theme of this
year conference, which coincides with Afghanistan’s centennial anniversary on August 19, 2019.
Submissions are also welcomed from both global and local, Central and South Asian as well as
Iranian scholars working beyond disciplinary or country-specific studies, particularly inviting
papers that offer comparative perspectives.
This year conference is built upon the previous interdisciplinary symposium on Afghanistan
studies, which Afghanistan Center at Kabul University held for two days on August 11-12, 2018.
Last year, twenty-four younger scholars of Afghanistan, representing several fields, came together
to Kabul for a critical review of academic trends in Afghanistan studies. The scholars based in
Afghanistan and abroad represented an emerging cohort of Afghans, Afghan-Europeans, and
Afghan-Americans studying at various local and global research institutions. They presented their
original research works both in local languages and English in front of an emerging scholarly
audience at Kabul University, the country’s premier center of higher education. The proceedings
and other thematic and informational details are available at www.acku.edu.af/conference
This year, in addition to several disciplinary and interdisciplinary panels and roundtables, a
keynote address from a senior scholar of the country and three more special events are organized.
One is a special GLOBAL CONVERSATION BOOK PANEL in which three global scholars will
discuss their recently scholarly monographs on Afghanistan with an Afghanistan-based specialist
audience. Another is the ‘LOCAL CONVERSATION BOOK PANEL’ in which four local
scholars from ‘Provincial Afghanistan’ will highlight their scholarly contributions to studies of
their localities in particular, and the world in general. Additionally, several well-respected
Afghanistan based publishers will display their publications in Dari and Pashto languages on
Afghanistan’s history, culture, and society, at AFGHANISTAN BOOKS EXHIBITION. They will
also make them available at a discounted rate for the conference participants.
ACKU and AIAS cannot cover your expenses for travels to and from Kabul, and or for your
lodging during your stay for the conference. Beside exempting the conference registration fees,
ACKU and AIAS will pay for all your local food, logistics, and transportation costs during the
two days of the conference. Should it be required, direct assistance would be also provided for
both local and global participants towards securing safe and sound accommodation in Kabul, and
other traveling logistics including official visa invitation letters.
Although we encourage graduate students to secure funding for their travels from their home and
other external institutions, ACKU and AIAS will provide partial funds for both local and global
graduate students to help offset their traveling and accommodation expenses. Please submit a short
half page (single-spaced) paragraph about your eligibility for the support.
Submission Guidelines
Please submit your all materials including individual and panel abstracts, and funding support
paragraph by 11:59pm Kabul time, till June 24th, 2019.
Please direct all your submission materials, and communications via email at:
afghanistanstudies@acku.edu.af or afghanistanstudieskabul@gmail.com.
All abstracts, both individual and panel submissions, should be between 200-300-word limit.
Paper and panel titles, presenters’ institutional affiliations, and email addresses should be
included, accordingly.
You can submit your abstracts in Afghanistan’s local languages or English. The language of the
conference is English, Farsi, and Pashto.
