User:Khilari&historian/sandbox

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Laila Omar (born c.1980) is an academic and oral historian based in Dunedin, New Zealand. She is originally from Pakistan. Her primary area of interest is the history and sociology of women sports in Pakistan, on which she has written and presented extensively. She is known for her interviews with some of Pakistan's top sportswomen including Hajra Khan, Palwasha Bashir, the Shakoor sisters, Asmat Atta and Carla Khan. Her book, "Playing Pakistan's national sport: the first thirty years (1970 - 2000)" was awarded the Karachi Literature Festival - Pepsi Prize in 2019.

Family
She has two brothers.

Parents
Her father was also a sportsman for Pakistan.

Background
Omar was born and raised in Karachi. She graduated with a BA in Political Science from Hollins University,USA and then earned her Masters in History from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. In 2016, she received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Pakistan
She played field hockey for Pakistan. between 1995 and 1997.

Sports
Omar has played, managed and coached a number of sports at various levels including at the provincial, national and international. These sports include field hockey, football, cricket, archery, softball, swimming and basketball.

Athlete
She started her playing career while she was still in school, joining Karachi's hockey team as a right half. Over the next few years, she participated in a number of National Championships and the Sindh Games winning one medal of each colour. She retired from hockey as the captain of her team. While still playing hockey she participated in the archery championships held in Karachi winning a silver medal. In mid-1990s, during the early days of cricket, she was part of the team raised by the Khan sisters with the aim of representing Pakistan. However, her playing career was cut short due to it interfering with her studies. She has now restarted her career in masters sports competing in athletics and fencing at the annual New Zealand Master Games.

Manager
Omar has managed Diya W.F.C. at the football National Championships (open age and under-16).

Coach
Having learnt fencing in her college days, Omar became the coach of Sindh's team. Under her, the students learnt sabre and foil fencing. She accompanied Sindh teams to the national and inter-provincial championships. She also accompanied the national fencing team to the South Asian Games in Kathmandu.

Other
Omar organised the football event of the Karachi Games in 2010. She also officiated at the fencing event of the recently concluded Karachi Games. She has coached and managed a boys' football academy in Sharafi Goth, Malir.

Development Sector
Omar worked for a short period in the development sector with Najma Sadeque on various issues including women's empowerment, economics, GMOs. While employed she was involved in the translations and editing of various publications. She later headed a project related to providing employment skills to women.

Academic
While in Pakistan, Omar was an adjunct faculty member at Jinnah University for Women where she taught Pakistan Studies to undergraduate studies.

She is currently (2020) a lecturer at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand in the School of Physical Education. Within her primary interests, she is currently compiling a complete history of Pakistani women's involvement in sports within the country which will be published as a book by Routledge London. This includes athletes, managers, coaches, official and journalists. She is also looking into the sociological factors which influence their involvement or a lack of it. In 2018, she published her first book,"Playing Pakistan's national sport: the first thirty years (1970 - 2000)" which was based on her PhD thesis and won the non-fiction prize at the Karachi literature Festival in 2019. Her interviews with some of Pakistan's top sportswomen including Hajra Khan, Palwasha Bashir, the Shakoor sisters, Asmat Atta and Carla Khan have been published as podcasts. Omar hopes to one day have a museum dedicated to Pakistani sportwomen so that they may be a source of inspiration for others.

Her other areas of research include Karachi (1947-1971), postal system of Pakistan (1947-1971), public history, oral history, digital history and cultural heritage. Her article on Karachi's air transport links when it was the capital of Pakistan (1947-1961) was published in the Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan (2018).

Interests
Amongst Omar's other interests include travelling, photography and philately. She has competed at the National Stamp Exhibitions held annually in Karachi. Her travels have taken her across a large part of Pakistan as well as to six continents. An amateur photographer, her work has been published in magazines and brochures as well as being exhibited.

Awards

 * Karachi Literature Festival - Pepsi Prize (2019) for her book, "Playing Pakistan's national sport: the first thirty years (1970 - 2000)"
 * Pride of Performance (2020)

Articles

 * "Karachi: On the trunk route of East West air travel (1947 to 1961)," Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, 4,no 2 (2018): 25-45
 * "East Pakistan: Remembering the Days that were (1950s-1971)," Journal of Asian Society and Culture, 5 no 3 (2017): 40-62

Books

 * Playing Pakistan's national sport: the first thirty years (1970 - 2000) (2018)
 * A brief history of Pakistani women in Sports (forthcoming)

Presentations

 * Designing Pakistan (1950s - 2015). Presented at the IOHA Conference held in India (2012)