Afghanistan: Touch Down in Flight + Dancing American Soldiers
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/screen-shot-2011-12-10-at-11-30-29-pm.png?fit=20%2C13&ssl=1)
Some years ago a cousin of mine went to Afghanistan for work. His company (a shoe manufacturer) was expanding its operations into a new mall being set up in Kabul…
The Treacherous Territory of Ta’arof
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/shahnameh-davis11.jpg?fit=20%2C10&ssl=1)
As a student (and sometimes teacher) of foreign languages, I can attest to the difficulties that learners face in pursuit of that most elusive of second (third, fourth, fifth) language…
Memory and Public Space in Tehran
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/tehran1.jpg?fit=20%2C10&ssl=1)
Tehran is a city infused with politics. Every other street is named after a martyr of the Iran-Iraq war, and the most recent street signs include the word “martyr” in…
An Evening with Mohsen Namjoo at MIT
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/mohsen-namjoo.jpg?fit=20%2C13&ssl=1)
On Saturday, November 19, Iranian musician Mohsen Namjoo (dubbed “the Bob Dylan of Iran” by the New York Times) played to a packed house at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. Known for…
Chicago’s Siskel Film Center holds 22nd Annual Festival of Films from Iran
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/f_gholipour201110091125183102.jpg?fit=20%2C13&ssl=1)
October in Chicago was a good time for fans of Iranian cinema. The Siskel Film Center hosted the 22nd Annual Festival of Films from Iran, a month-long event dedicated to…
Arash, Melody, & Transnational Youth Identity
![](https://i0.wp.com/ajammc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/arashvideo.jpg?fit=20%2C12&ssl=1)
Transnational Iranian youth identity today has rather tenuous bonds, a fact lamented by elders who point to language, religion, or various other arbitrary markers of communitarian affiliation to re-affirm their…