Afra Jalabi
Afra Jalabi is a Syrian-Canadian writer whose interests revolve around language, religion, and nonviolence. She is currently the vice-president of Tastakel Organization and a Board Member of The Day After. She was a signatory of the Damascus Declaration and member of the Syrian National Council. Her Ph.D. dissertation is on the political dimension of philosophical hermeneutics and power relations, at the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University. She also holds a Master's Degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from Carleton University, and a BA in Anthropology and Political Science from McGill University. She was a weekly columnist in the Arab press for 17 years with a focus on cultural, religious, and political issues, and has lectured frequently on these themes. She was a member of the editorial board of the American academic Journal of Law and Religion at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota (2001-2014), and has more recently helped develop curricula on peacebuilding and conflict resolution at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy & Conflict Resolution at George Mason University for Syrian activists and refugees in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan.