By Ratanjot Rekhi

After being heralded as the Most Distinguished Scholar of 2009-2010 by Montclair State University, Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan has done nothing short, but live up to her title.

Recently, Afzal-Khan has launched her latest work, Lahore with Love: Growing up with Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style, a memoir that echoes past friendships and a dual identity that the English professor and director of women and gender studies feels that she has struggled with.

Afzal-Kahn explained that this particular book had been in the works for almost a decade.

This work was a difficult task for the scholar to write as she took a different nonfiction novelistic, memoir approach that targets a wider audiences.

“It was a new style that I was exploring, and in doing that, I was also telling my own story and the story of my birth country and my relationships over there. Particularly with the girlfriends I grew up with.”

“Some of them died early on, unfortunately and of unnatural circumstances. And that all was something that I had to work through,” said Afzal-Kahn with a reflective look in her eyes.

As an immigrant who has spent more of her life in the U.S. than in Pakistan, but has stayed connected through her involvement in the performing arts and as a cultural activist, Azfal-Khan felt a strong obligation to write this work.

Disappointed in what she explained as the regression of Pakistan, Afzal- Khan felt as though it was her duty as a representative of both the American and Pakistani world to bridge the gap.

Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan will soon launch Lahore with Love in the U.S. The first launch will be held at the Rubin Museum in New York.

“I see myself as a cultural ambassador between both worlds. You don’t want people hardening into these positions on both sides thinking, ‘Oh, you’re the other,’ and have these outlandish ideas about one another. Because people at the end of the day, we’re all human beings. At the end of the day, we all want the same things for ourselves, for our kids; we want peaceful, bright futures and economic security, freedom,” said Afzal-Khan.

Starting this change is going to be a challenge, however, it has to start somewhere.

With her work as a writer, activist and performer, she feels that she is bringing people together and making people question.

“Once people stop questioning, they’re dead. So that’s what I try to do, that’s why I’m provocative,” said Afzal-Khan.

While many Pakistani elders were originally shocked at her launch in Lahore, Afzal-Khan feels as though the shock was necessary.

She explained, “Shock is important, because once the shock wears off, then you’re forced to look more honestly beneath the surface and acknowledge certain things.”

“That’s particularly important for Pakistanis to do, because I feel that Pakistanis are a society in which people hide and are dishonest, and I think that, that’s a lot of the problem in that part of the world,” said Afzal-Khan.

“If we could only learn to be more honest with ourselves, then the country would actually progress in a better direction, instead of remaining trapped in all of the hypocrisy that I see over there all of the time.”

Afzal-Khan also performed some dramatic pieces at the launch. Some of these scenes caused quite an uproar through shock from the elders and what Azfal-Khan describes as a “hunger for more” from the younger progressive generation.

She explained, “Really, the key always lies with the youth, doesn’t it? I mean, these are the people who can hopefully change the country and put it on a better path.”

The professor hopes that her work has inspired these progressive thinkers and will open the door for them.

She explained, “There are these people who are looking for material and people like me, and what I have to say, because they do want to grow and they’re tired of this regressive cycle that Pakistan has become trapped in these last couple of decades.”

“They’re looking to break out, and they’re doing amazing things themselves. I think that my presence there was helpful to them. It will, hopefully, open doors for other people who want to take what I’m doing further,” Afzal-Kahn said.

“I wanted to encourage other people who have other stories to tell them, but maybe they’re still a little bit afraid.”

Despite coming from a conservative background, Azfal-Khan feels as though it is her duty to challenge conventional pieties.

“I think I was just made that way. I was always questioning, always saying, why, why, why, why?” said Azfal-Khan.

The professor explained, “I really believe in a just, fair world. I think it’s wrong that we should be carved up into these classes [...] or a patriarchal world where women should be at the bottom of the heap and men should rule the roust. These are all instances of injustice, whether its rich, poor, male, female or one kind of race versus another.”

After premiering her story overseas to Pakistan and Cairo, Afzal- Khan is well on her way to spreading her message to the states. Her book launches will continue in New York City next week.

The first one will be held at the Rubin Museum of Art at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, and there will be another one on April 23 at 7 p.m. at the Alwan for the Arts.

Afzal-Khan will be performing some scenes from the book and has many exciting musical pieces in store as well.

Lahore With Love can be found on Amazon.com and will be hitting book stores shortly.