Long Form Archives - Ajam Media Collective

Who “wrote” Aladdin? The Forgotten Syrian Storyteller

September 14, 2017
by Ajam Media Collective
One comment

From ancient roots to its codification in medieval Arabic, the 1001 Nights was reinvented many times over the course of a millennium. One particular figure played a crucial role but has been largely overlooked: a little-known man from Aleppo named Ḥannā Diyāb who gave the modern world some of its most influential and popular stories ever.

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How Armenian-Americans Became White: A Brief History

August 29, 2017
by Ajam Media Collective
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The first quarter of the twentieth century saw Armenians go from “Asiatics,” at least in the eyes of the state, to legal white persons. As whiteness itself is continually being defined and redefined by ever-shifting frontiers, so too is the racial position of the hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in contemporary America.

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Who was the “real” Aladdin? From Chinese to Arab in 300 Years

10 minute read

Poetry, or the Power of Existence: Shahin Parhami’s “Shahrzaad’s Tale”

11 minute read

Long Form

Scholarship in the Service of Empire: The Legacy of Ann K.S. Lambton in 20th Century Iran

9 minute read

Hate Knows No Mistaken Identities: He Came to Kill an Iranian and Settled for an Indian

5 minute read

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs in Istanbul: The Politics of Voice in the New Turkey

7 minute read

#MuslimBan Resource Guide

January 30, 2017
by Ajam Media Collective
One comment

On Monday, June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States of America decided that the 90-day travel ban against visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen,…

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A Review of Tarabnameh, or, Why Are Iranian-Americans Laughing at Blackface in 2016?

9 minute read

Ajam’s Mehelle: Recording Everyday Life in Endangered Neighborhoods

October 10, 2016
by Rustin Zarkar
2 comments

Ajam Media Collective has created Mehelle— a new project dedicated to preserving the sights, sounds, and memories of rapidly-changing neighborhoods from Eastern Anatolia to Central Asia. It will serve as a multimedia resource for local inhabitants, community organizers, and urban researchers long after such neighborhoods have been demolished, gentrified, or transformed by private and state-led construction projects.

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