Zubair Torwali

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Zubair Torwali
Born
Bahrain, Swat, Pakistan
NationalityPakistani
Occupation Social activist

Zubair Torwali is a community activist, linguist and educator based in Bahrain, Pakistan. Torwali has dedicated himself to preserving and promoting Pakistan's Dardic Dardic cultures and languages. He has authored and overseen numerous books about the Torwali people and their culture. [1] In addition to being an author, he is also a researcher and public speaker. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

His book in English, Muffled Voices, provides insight into Pakistan's social, cultural, and political issues. Zubair Torwali is the Editor of "We Mountains" magazine which covers the culture of the Pakistani Himalayas. The author is a prolific writer of research papers and articles written for English dailies and weeklies of Pakistan.

Zubair Torwali also serves as the editor of "We Mountains", a magazine covering the culture of the Pakistani Himalayas. As a writer, he has authored numerous research papers and articles including for Pakistani English dailies and weeklies. [5] He is the founder of Idara Baraye Taleem-o-Taraqi, [6] an organisation promoting the rights of marginalised language communities of northern Pakistan.

Torwali is a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a Fellow of Japan's 2013 Asian Leadership Fellow Program and was shortlisted for the International Bremen Peace Award 2015. [3] Mr. Torwali is also a Public Peace Prize laureate "…for his extraordinary commitment to giving a voice to the unheard by helping increase literacy in the indigenous people of Northern Pakistan". [7] He was awarded the 2012 Hellman-Hammett Grant by Human Rights Watch." [8] In 2021 I.B.T. whose Director is Zubair Torwali was chosen for the Linguapax International Award.

Torwali graduated from Jahanzeb College in Swat, Pakistan, and completed his master's studies at the University of Peshawar. [9]

Works

Books

Academic journals

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Pakistan</span>

Pakistan had a population of 241,492,197 according to the final results of the 2023 Census. This figure includes Pakistan's four provinces e.g. Punjab, Sindh, KPK, Balochistan and Islamabad Capital Territory. AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan's census data is yet to be approved by CCI Council of Pakistan. Pakistan is the world's fifth most populous country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punjabi language</span> Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab

Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world with approximately 113 million native speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Aryan languages</span> Branch of the Indo-Iranian languages

The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. Moreover, apart from the Indian subcontinent, large immigrant and expatriate Indo-Aryan–speaking communities live in Northwestern Europe, Western Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Africa, Polynesia and Australia, along with several million speakers of Romani languages primarily concentrated in Southeastern Europe. There are over 200 known Indo-Aryan languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Pakistan</span>

Pakistan is a multilingual country with over 70 languages spoken as first languages. The majority of Pakistan's languages belong to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindko</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan

Hindko is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Language Association</span> US professional association for language and literature scholars

The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature". The organization includes over 25,000 members in 100 countries, primarily academic scholars, professors, and graduate students who study or teach language and literature, including English, other modern languages, and comparative literature. Although founded in the United States, with offices in New York City, the MLA's membership, concerns, reputation, and influence are international in scope.

Gandhara was an ancient Indo-Aryan civilization centred in present-day north-west Pakistan and north-east Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar and Swat valleys extending as far east as the Pothohar Plateau in Punjab, though the cultural influence of Greater Gandhara extended westwards into the Kabul valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range. The region was a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia with many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visiting the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gandhari language</span> Ancient Indo-Aryan language of Gāndhāra

Gāndhārī was an Indo-Aryan Prakrit language found mainly in texts dated between the 3rd century BCE and 4th century CE in the region of Gandhāra, located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent. The language was heavily used by the former Buddhist cultures of Central Asia and has been found as far away as eastern China, in inscriptions at Luoyang and Anyang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dardic languages</span> Subgroup of Indo-Aryan languages

The Dardic languages, or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been referred to as Dardistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swat District</span> District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Swat District, also known as the Swat Valley, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multilingualism</span> Use of multiple languages

Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Being multilingual is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called polyglots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torwali language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan

Torwali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Torwali people, and concentrated in the Bahrain and Chail areas of the Swat District in Pakistan. The Torwali language is said to have originated from the pre-Muslim communities of Swat. It is the closest modern Indo-Aryan language still spoken today to Niya, a dialect of Gāndhārī, a Middle Indo-Aryan language spoken in the ancient region of Gandhara.

Gawri (ګاوری), also known as Kalami (کالامي), or Bashkarik, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Swat Kohistan region in the upper Swat District and in the upper Panjkora river valley of Upper Dir District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazarewal</span> Hindko and Dardic speaking inhabitants of the Hazara region of Northern Pakistan

Hazarewal refers to the inhabitants of the Hazara region in Northern Pakistan. This region is known for its multi-ethnic population, comprising various ethnic groups with diverse origins. The majority of the inhabitants belong to Dardic tribes, alongside communities of Awans, Tanoli, Punjabis and Pashtun tribes who migrated to the area.

Charles Lindholm was the University Professor of Anthropology at Boston University. He was the author of nine books and over seventy articles and reviews. His writings have been translated into Spanish, Turkish, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iqbal Academy Pakistan</span>

Iqbal Academy Pakistan(Urdu:اقبال اکادمی پاکستان) is an institute whose purpose is to study, promote, and disseminate the teachings of the poet and philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal. It was established by the Government of Pakistan, through the Iqbal Academy Ordinance No. XXVI of 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. M. Ikram</span> Pakistani historian and biographer

Sheikh Muhammad Ikram better known as S. M. Ikram, was a Pakistani historian, biographer, and littérateur. He was member of the Indian Civil Service. In 1947, when Pakistan emerged from British India, Ikram opted for Pakistan and served in the Civil Service of Pakistan. On July 1, 1966, he was appointed as director, Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore, a position he occupied until his death in 1973, at the age of sixty-four.

Mankiyali is an endangered Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic sub branch spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northern Pakistan. It is spoken by a small community sometimes referred to as the Trawara in the secluded village of Danna located in the Bandi Shungli union council of Mansehra District. There are also some speakers scattered in the neighbouring villages of Damaka, Guldar, Arghaniya, Chamrasi and Shoshni. The whole community has been reported to be bilingual in Hindko, the language of wider communication in the area. The language is still being passed on to the next generation, but overall it is losing ground to Hindko. The first study documenting the existence of the language was published only in 2015. The name Mankiyali is of recent origin, having been coined by members of the community to replace the older terms Tarawara and Tarawari, which are now seen as stigmatising.

The Torwali people are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group located in the Swat district of Pakistan. The Torwali people have a culture that values the telling of folktales and music that is played using the sitar. They speak an Indo-Aryan language called Torwali.

Alastair Pennycook is an applied linguist. He is Emeritus Professor of Language, Society and Education at the University of Technology Sydney, and a Research Professor at the Centre for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo. He was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2016.

References

  1. "We Have Words like Everyone: A Roundtable Discussion with Six Poets from Poems from the Edge of Extinction". Modern Poetry in Translation. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  2. "Zubair Torwali | Language, Culture and Justice Hub | Projects | Ethics Center | Brandeis University". Brandeis.edu. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 Stiftung die Schwelle. "Voices of the unheard in Pakistan: Zubair Torwali". Schwelle Foundation. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  4. Aeon:24th June 2022:How Dardistan became one of the most multilingual places on earth.
  5. "The Languages of Northern Pakistan – Criterion Quarterly". Criterion-quarterly.com. 26 December 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  6. "'توروالی' اپنی مادری زبان کیسے بچا رہے ہیں؟". Independent Urdu (in Urdu). 28 January 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  7. "Zubair Torwali | The Public Peace Prize Website". Publicpeaceprize.org. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  8. Acumen on January 20, 2017 (20 January 2017). "Meet Our 2017 Regional Fellows". Acumen. Retrieved 21 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. "Zubair Torwali – Language, Culture and Justice Hub" . Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  10. Torwali, Zubair (January 2006). "Vestiges of Torwali culture". Idara Braye Taleem-o Taraqi. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.2272.1049 . Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  11. Torwali, Zubair (2015). Muffled voices: longing for a pluralist & peaceful Pakistan. Lahore, Pakistan: Multi Line Publications. ISBN   978-9698985066.
  12. Koo, Edwin; Prüst, Marc; Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Agnès de; Torwali, Zubair; Millet, Raphaël; Koo, Edwin; Koo, Edwin (2013). Paradise (First ed.). Makati, Philippines: Produced by ArtPostAsia Pte. Ltd. ISBN   978-9710579235.
  13. Brandeis
  14. Usman, Noah (22 June 2021). "Linguistic Diversity in Pakistan". www.americanpakistan.org. American Pakistan Foundation. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  15. Torwali, Zubair (24 June 2022). "How Dardistan became one of the most multilingual places on Earth". Aeon. Sam Haselby. Retrieved 14 July 2024.