Dr Judy Kuriansky in Lesotho and South Africa working with single mothers on AIDS prevention
Davis Peace Project Pt. 1 (Arab-Israeli Conflict)
the video file is below this screenshot:
(This is a password-protected video… contact me to request password for viewing.)
The Davis Peace Project was made possible by a grant from the Davis Projects for Peace Foundation. Two students from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)–one from Oman, the other Israeli–organized a four-day conference, in August of 2008, to foster greater empathy and understanding for people on both sides of the Arab Israeli conflict. Bringing together academic and government experts, the conference organizers, Salim and Liat, created a constructive space for participants to ask tough questions and hear challenging views. The duration and format of the conference allowed for a much greater depth of investigation than a mere lecture; it also made participation and dialogue the cornerstone of the Project’s mission.
This is the product of my first experience of digital video editing. I digitized footage from the life of the Sufi teacher and master, Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan. The footage came from U-matic, 8 millimeter, betamax, vhs, and Hi-8 sources and required digitizing and cleaning. The clips represent some of the most compelling moments captured on video of Pir Vilayat’s life and teaching. This was edited on a G5 using iMovie and then FinalCut Express, using Sound Soap as well as audio imported from old cassette recordings. The video was shot by, and is the property of Mikhail Horowitz, who owns Sacred Spirit Music. I am the video and audio archivist and editor.
The following is an excerpt from the New York Times obituary that ran on June 22, 2004: “PARIS, June 21— Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan, who headed an international order of Sufis, members of a mystical offshoot of Islam, and wrote books about it, died on Thursday at his home in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. He was 87.
His death was announced by Donald Graham, an official of the Sufi Order International.
A teacher and lecturer, Pir Vilayat was the son of Hazrat Inayat Khan, who helped bring Sufism to the West and created the Sufi order. He allowed followers to keep practicing their own religions as they explored Sufi mysticism, though traditional Sufism is a form of Islam.
Pir Vilayat’s books include ”Toward the One” and ”The Call of the Dervish.” His works have been translated into many languages.
Born in 1916 in London to an Indian father and an American mother, Pir Vilayat studied cello and received a degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, Mr. Graham said.
In World War II, he served in the British Royal Navy on a minesweeper. The boat was torpedoed during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and Pir Vilayat was one of the few rescued, Mr. Graham said. Pir Vilayat’s sister, Noor, worked with the French Resistance before she was captured and executed at the Dachau concentration camp.”
