The influx of so-called Western discourses, collisions of modernity and tradition, and divide of secularism and religion have considerably displaced the worldviews of individual human beings and their societies in the modern world. Divided between the polarities such as tradition/modernity, professional/non-professional, scholarly/commercially, western/oriental, colonial/postcolonial, religious/secular, communist/capitalist, we are lost in our own world. By interrogating and moving away from these polarities, Khaldunia Centre for Historical Research aims to produce knowledge and publish academic works helpful in explaining our past and its contradictions.

The word Khaldunia is derived from Ibn-e-Khaldun (1332-1406), a renowned Arab Muslim scholar, whose works considerably influenced the medieval understanding of History, Sociology and Politics. Famous Pakistani scholar, Eqbal Ahmed (1933-1999), who taught at University of Illinois at Chicago and Cornell University, wished to establish a liberal arts university, Khaldunia, in Islamabad patterned on Hamshire College in Amherst. Eqbal Ahmed’s idea was to make students “creators and producers of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information”. Due to red-tapism in the country, he could not realize his dream.

 

By establishing Khaldunia Centre for Historical Research, we aim to introduce and disseminate new trends in political, social, cultural, art and architectural histories. At our Centre, seasoned scholars assist young historians in research and publications. At the same time, renowned historians disseminate new and innovative ideas through lectures, workshops, conferences along with publishing cutting-edge research under the auspices of the Centre.