Rustin Zarkar, Author at Ajam Media Collective

Long Form

Afghans in Iran: Contradictory State Policies and a Grassroots Anti-Racist Movement

Part III of a series on Afghan refugees in Iran. Earlier this year, I begun a series highlighting the experiences of Afghan refugees in Iran. By focusing on cultural production,…

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Persian Gulf Cosmopolitans & Emirati Fences: The Life and Times of the Iranian Souk

As the standoff between Iran and the United States enters into a new, more aggressive phase of crippling sanctions punctuated by threats of war, the Arab oil sheikhdoms to Iran’s…

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Long Form

Far From Home: Portrayals of the Afghan Refugee in Iranian Cinema

Posted on February 29, 2012April 3, 2018
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byRustin Zarkar

Part II of a series on Afghan Refugees in Iran. Earlier this month, I completed a post discussing how works of literature from prominent Afghan writers voiced the conditions of…

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Afghan Diasporic Literature: A Refugee Narrative from the Heart of Urban Tehran

Posted on February 14, 2012January 16, 2017
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byRustin Zarkar

Part I of a series on Afghan refugees in Iran. Iran is a culturally heterogeneous society that has been shaped by waves of migration over many centuries. While much of…

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Post-Revolutionary Persian Fiction: Counter Discourses and Individualized Perspectives

Posted on January 5, 2012January 16, 2017
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byRustin Zarkar

Growing up in the diaspora, I have often attended obligatory dinner parties where family friends prove their “Iranianness” through poetry recitation, outdated political debate, and recollections of the good old…

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The Little Black Fish – Realism, Oppression, Revolution in Children’s Literature

Posted on December 14, 2011March 26, 2018
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byRustin Zarkar

What is the purpose of children’s literature? Looking back to my childhood, I often think of what was read to me before dozing off in bed. Some stories integrated morality…

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Lifting the Pardeh on Revolutionary Poster Art

Posted on December 7, 2011January 16, 2017
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byRustin Zarkar

Indiana University will be showcasing “Graphics of the Revolution and War: Iranian Poster Arts” until December 18. On loan from the University of Chicago Library, the exhibit features dozens of…

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The Met's Islamic Collection is back

Posted on December 1, 2011January 16, 2017
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byRustin Zarkar

After 8 years of waiting, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City finally opened its newly renovated Islamic Art Galleries on November 1, 2011. With a clunky and…

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