Helena Zeweri, Zelikha Shoja, and Hawa Amin-Arsala: Emergent Archives of Afghan Diasporic Memory

Helena Zeweri, Zelikha Shoja, and Hawa Amin-Arsala: Emergent Archives of Afghan Diasporic Memory
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Recording of presentation
Artist Zelikha Shoja and writer Hawa Arsala discuss the power of storytelling in transforming and reimagining community identity. The panelists will examine how visual art and writing serve as unique mediums to engage with themes of ancestral identity, diasporic memory, and oral traditions of storytelling. In doing so, the discussion will explore how written and visual stories can create counter-archives to dominant representations of Afghan life. In situating these narratives as emergent, this discussion will also reference recent events in Afghanistan and their resonance for visual artists and writers in the diaspora, including the new forms of political consciousness they inspire. First, each panelist will give a brief presentation on their creative practices, followed by a panel discussion led by cultural anthropologist Helena Zeweri. Students will have an opportunity to engage with these themes by reviewing the work of the panelists prior to the class as well as asking questions at the end of the discussion.
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Arts + Design Thursdays: Creativity in Practice
Berkeley Arts + Design partners with BAMPFA to offer public lectures in conjunction with courses at UC Berkeley. Join us every Thursday afternoon to hear cutting-edge thinkers and makers share about their creative practice. This fall series is about 'Creativity and Practice' as a vital resource in times of change. Together we focus on a central question: How do we create?
Arts + Design Thursdays is made possible thanks to support from the Big Ideas Courses Program in the College of Letters & Science at UC Berkeley. In-kind technical support and presentation offered by BAMPFA and the UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science, Division of Arts & Humanities. For more information, visit artsdesign.berkeley.edu/thursdays