I, Nazly, My Father’s Son

Nazly Pourshirmohamad

I, Nazli, My Father's Son is an artistic research project in which the artist explores her relationship with her father. Her inquiry gradually led her to gender studies and the in time her work aquires autoethnographic and collective traits. This text is the product of a coauthorship process in which Nazli's narrative becomes interwoven into the stories of her colleagues.

Autoethnography, Narration and Emancipation

Shiva Alinaqian

Shiva Alinaqian has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology. When writing her thesis on the construction of maternal identity, she realized that she is not to set aside her personal experience of mothering and, thus, she opted for an autoethnographical approach.

Somewhere in Between: Retracing Footsteps to My Forgotten Identity

Hira Munir

In this photo-essay, Pakistani photographer, Hira Munir, ties the history of her family to the history of the Sind region in the aftermath of the Indian partition and the arrival of the Urdu-speaking migrants. She tries to revisit the forgotten layers of her hybrid identity.

Midway: Dhofar War and the Reluctance of Memory

Amir Alikhani

When Amir Alikhani stumbled upon a collection of photographs and letters from his father, revealing his involvement in the Iranian army's operation during the Dhofar War, it ignited his determination to gain a deeper understanding of that historical event and his father's reluctance to discuss it.

Against Ready-Made Narratives

Asim Rafiqui

Asim Rafiqui was born and raised in Karachi. He is an independent photographer, writer, and researcher who provides a critical examination of his previous profession as a mainstream media reporter. His work can be perceived as a critique of politics of representation in news photography and what is often termed humanitarian journalism. Sarazad sat for an interview with Asim to learn more about his critical views on the ready-made narratives of the media.

Aşît, an Act of Mourning

Pinar Öğrenci

Aşît (2022) is a movie by artist Pinar Öğrenci which was ordered and first screened in documenta fifteen. Öğrenci lives in Berlin and usually focuses on issues of forced displacement. In this movie, she returns to her father’s hometown to take a critical look at the history of the city. Sarazad interviewed the artist to talk about this movie as well as the path that has shaped her artistic practice.

About Autoethnography: Hunting for Hope

ُShahram Khosravi

Shahram Khosravi is a professor of anthropology at Stockholm University. He mainly focuses on issues of migration, forced displacement and border studies. In this piece, Khosravi writes about autoethnography as a research method and a writing style. He explores the possibilities this method offers to confront the division between North/theory and South/field.