By Nasria Pashtun

Photo By Abrahim Rasouli

Dr. Dana Holland, an addition to AUAF as an anthropology professor, talks about her life and and experiences in Kabul to date.

A tall slim woman of great charm, Dr. Holland has fair skin and long auburn hair. She likes to dress colorfully with light jewelry. She speaks slowly and clearly states each word, taking pauses before starting each sentence and using hand gestures while talking.

She was born in Kansas and grew up in Tennessee. As a child, she wanted to be an astronaut but changed her mind because she thought that ambition would take too long to achieve. “The sense of adventure and a desire to discover new things about other people and myself lingered. It became transformed into wanting to study anthropology but I didn’t know anything about the subject until I got to university,” she says.

With a bachelor’s degree and an anthropology major from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Mich., she went on to get a master’s degree in applied anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., and a PhD in education and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Her PhD research took her to Malawi in southern Africa from 2003 to 2004, studying “higher education and the connections between the university, social research, and development activities,” she says. During that time she taught in Zomba, one of the towns in Malawi (at the National University of Malawi), teaching the same course there as she is doing at AUAF this semester: Introduction to Anthropology an Introduction to Social Research Methods. She hopes to teach more advanced courses here, such as Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, later on.

After finishing her PhD in May 2006, she joined the Academy of Educational Development (AED) in Washington, D.C., working as a full-time researcher in the field of education. “AED is one of the main nonprofit organizations in the US handling international and domestic projects mostly in the area of health and education,” she explains. “I was doing my project with the Regional Educational Laboratory for the southeast US, an entity funded by the federal government to support state statement and districts that are confronting a lot of issues in education.

Becoming interested in teaching overseas, she answered an advertisement for a job with AUAF. Family and friends were skeptical, she notes. “There are a lot of stereotypes about Afghanistan floating around the media in the U.S., mainly about fundamentalism and violence and danger. Many people back home thought I was crazy for coming here; that there was something inherently violent and dangerous about Afghanistan. I knew that wasn’t the case. I knew things would be much more complicated than what the media portrays.”

She has found Kabul to be “very welcoming and warm. Afghans are very kind and I’m feeling really good here,” she says. “What has impressed me is the graciousness and dignity of people –  the true kindness and patience of people.” But she shows some concern about matters that limit her independence. “Things sometimes take longer or are more complicated than they would be at home. At home I can just pop out to the store, walk a block and have all the shops I need for day to day life. Here the security  and logistical issues mean that these kinds of things take longer and require more planning in advance. Sometimes I get frustrated when I wash my clothes or shoes and then they get muddy again when I go outside. That’s the worst thing I confront so far, but no big deal.”

She is confident about the security system for internationals, saying that “I trust people. I don’t think it’s so limited but you have to take precautions and that’s not just for internationals but for locals, students and staff. We know bad things happen but they keep going.”

Life in Washington, D.C., required precautions as well, she notes.

She speaks positively  about her experiences on campus, finding students enthusiastic about learning –even more so than at home in the US. “It’s great to work with students who are wanting to learn….I truly believe that the students who attend AUAF pursuing an American-style liberal arts education will be the leaders of this society. “

One of her students, Yousufi Hussain, said Dr. Holland “pays individual attention to each student and makes sure that the students learn the lesson before she proceeds to the next one.”

Anthropology is a study of human beings so sometime she and her class confront controversial topics. She appreciates the respect students have shown her in this regard – pleased that disagreement doesn’t affect the environment of the class because of the open-minded approach of her students. Hussain says the class sometimes confronts topics that can contradict their religious beliefs –Darwinism, for example. “We should not mind these kinds of topics because it’s a part of our education and we are educated people and we should understand this,” he says.

Apart from her professional life, she likes being outdoors hiking in the woods or mountains and beaches, skiing, cycling and bicycling. “I don’t know if it’s quite an obsession but I love being outdoors riding. And I want to get a motorcycle eventually.” She likes pets. “I always liked animals and feel badly when I see animals suffer or being abused.”

In conclusion, Dr. Holland is slowly becoming a familiar face around campus, and we should all welcome her into our AUAF community.

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