Film Screening & Dialogue with Dr. Zareen Taj
For My People: A Hazara Woman's Journey
Join us on Wed, May 6 for a film screening of Dr. Zareen Taj's براي قوما | For my people: A Hazara Woman's Journey.
We'll kick off the event with some delicious Afghan appetizers. We'll then engage in a participatory dialogue about hope & culture building rooted in UMBC's 2025-2026 Culture Builders Program and the themes of the film. We'll then screen the film and have a conversation with Dr. Taj.
About the Film
"This film brings together my life story, my academic work, and my years of activism into a single narrative that moves between memory and analysis. Beginning in a rural village in Afghanistan and shaped by war, displacement, and life as a refugee, the film traces how I came to question the expectations placed on girls and, over time, found my voice in resisting them. It also documents my return to Afghanistan to record the stories of Hazara communities living through violence and loss, and the difficult process of making sense of those experiences through both filmmaking and scholarship. At its core, the film reflects on what it means to live at the intersection of gender and ethnic oppression, while also showing how storytelling can create connection, visibility, and a sense of belonging—for myself and for the communities whose stories I carry.
The film’s title, “براي قوما | For my people,” speaks to my work advocating for my people and the message I share to Hazaras across the world: to tell their stories." - Dr. Zareen Taj '26, LLC; Adjunct Faculty, AMST & ASIA
About Culture Builders at UMBC
This event is co-organized by Priya Bhayana, Global Asias Project Manager, who is a 2025-2026 UMBC Culture Builder. Culture Builders is a cohort-based initiative launched by the Division of Institutional Equity. Culture building is the intentional practice of developing shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how we live, learn, and lead together. In a time marked by polarization and a loss of shared humanity, creating an inclusive culture requires all of us. Each of us has a role to play. Read more here.