|
|
 |
AFGHANISTAN DAILY DIGEST
|
|
| Home > Daily News > Afghanistan |
|
From: Abe Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Apr 01 2003 - 15:51:22 EST
AFGHAN HISTORY RECEIVES A HELPING HAND
In order to save Afghanistan's historic literature, New York University
has began a program to digitize all books and pamphlets printed in that
country from 1871 to 1930 in what is called the Afghanistan Digital
Library project, "The New York Times" reported on 29 March. An Afghan
anthropologist and former professor at Northern Illinois University, M.
Jamil Hanafi, said that "symbolically," the digital library is the best
thing that can be offered to "Afghanistan at this stage of
reconstruction." The project's temporary editor, Robert McChesney made
an analogy to the United States, saying the situation in Afghanistan is
similar to Americans not knowing that "there was a Constitution," the
New York daily reported. Most of Afghanistan's surviving historic
documents are scattered in private hands or in various libraries around
the globe; thus, most Afghans have no access to their own country's
history. The project should allow Afghans access to their past and help
them plan their future with due respect to their achievements and
failures as an emerging nation state. AT
|
|
|
|
|
