Afaf Nash is an Iraqi American born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. Her educational background includes a B.A in English Literature from the University of Baghdad and an M.A in Linguistics from California State University, Fullerton. She currently is a PhD student in the department of Applied Linguistics at UCLA.
Susan Slyomovics is Professor of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, as well as the Director of the G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA. Her research interests include gender, human rights, folklore and material culture, and visual anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa. Her publications include The Performance of Human Rights in Morocco, Waging War and Making Peace: Reperations and Human Rights (editor), and The Object of Memory: Arab and Jew Narrate the Palestinain Village.
Speaker 1 0:02
I think Beau first asked me to talk a little bit about what and within straits means for me, and it's really hard to talk about it because it's memories of a long time. But I think it's all started with with when I was a child, as a punishment, my parents will send me to accompany my grandpa when I am hard to handle, and was quite often. And it was soon moved to be a reward, actually, and they found out that's every birthday, that's what I want, every passing grade, that's what I get from them. So I would just remember two books that I brought with me from Baghdad. Actually, one of them was the last book that I read for my father by my grandfather. I was reading for him the night, the night before he passed away, and another book that I brought with me as well. I was reading this book that handed for me to me from a friend, and my teacher saw me, and he's like, What are you reading? And I said, Oh, this is Jonathan Livingston, this eagle. And he's like, you can't read that in translation. You had to read it in English, in the original. So I looked and looked and couldn't find it, and and then, nevertheless, a friend knew that I was looking for that book, and it was a birthday present a couple of months later. So I have these two books. And so it was just endless days and memories of staying on the ground and looking for the perfect book. So I'll read this is by a sector Awali, I mean, filming with her Krishna vendor, and in future, Lady waka fuchsia, all within MP name had either hole in tihari had a regular no I yet to Who yet to cut that to Terry, who help theater. UCLA had the muhajim. Can I put a moment my only had a shadow, the shadow up a meter. Who is the Catholic area? Less a be very attending was a conominous hobby. Mataji will make them be home. Jim, young fellow to Jean. Mia, Oh, how about a village? Huna talent are banana, the bull. Banner, the bull higher will add. Well, is a robot. Her mother, do columa. Who am I? Done? I'll hide how the Lisa mujari mechanic, well, Akina Homa can better just add a Sufi El halach, a lady different all over the hot water. Min, Hona, Allah, for me. Muhammad, women el Muhammad, a card in a woman album, can husband us. This
Speaker 2 3:35
is by Abdul Sattar Abu Ali, and it's from the documentary candle for the shabandar Cafe, and it's there's a section of it over there on film, the explosion in Al mutanabi street didn't just target people, but also Language and Thought itself. Iraqi culture really this street which the suicide bomber blew up this unknown man, but we all know what sort of person he was, his identity, his culture, history, background, his origins. This bomber knew exactly what the street means to Iraqi people and how important it is to Iraqi culture. Neither development nor civilization is possible in Iraq if we don't preserve this street. Shopping, its shopkeepers, booksellers, its porters and poor people, if we don't care for all of them, I don't think there is a future for Iraq, because without culture, there is no development and no civilization. This place is the stream which feeds Iraqi culture, and we belong to it, body and soul. Here I learnt the meanings of legends and language of God, a God of good and justice, not the God of the extremists. They are against everything which is life. This is not just a place to buy books. It is. Redolent to history, the body of halaj, the Sufi was buried only steps from here. Throughout Baghdad's history, 1000s of Iraqis have been killed in the street. It reminds us of the Ottoman state and of its cruelty. Here we remember the Tigris River flooding and the diseases which decimated Baghdad. But life goes on. It is an illusion to think that people can be completely defeated. The Earth keeps turning. Life continues. There is still a sun that rises and there is hope despite all destruction. You
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