Mr. Hirad Dinavari, a reference librarian for the Afghan, Central Asian and Iranian collections at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. will be traveling to California between September 24 and 29 to meet with Afghan and Iranian Diaspora communities in the South Bay area of San Francisco and Los Angeles. He is interested meeting with individuals and outlets that publish print materials, newspapers, periodicals, posters, books, music, film and broadcast shows for the purposes of building an archive. In addition to materials in English, he is interested in publications and productions in Dari, Pakhtu/Pashto, Uzbek, Turkmen, Hazaragi and all other regional languages.

He plans to make his first stop in Fremont to visit the Afghan Coalition and members of the Afghan American community. Fremont and nearby cities are home to the largest number of Afghans in the United States.

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On June 23, 2007, the Foundation for Self Reliance presented a symposium called “East Meets West: Awakening to the Challenges of Afghans in Fremont” that turned into a monumental event. Over two hundred guests gathered at The Golden Peacock restaurant in Fremont to hear panels in both Farsi and English including a keynote by Dr. Mo Qayoumi, a speech by Rona Popal of the Afghan Coalition and Afghan Women’s Association International, and presentations by Dr. Ronald Takaki on “Multiculturalism in America,” Dr. Hatem Bazian on “Islam in America,” Professor Ghafar Safa on “Violence and Reform in Afghanistan,” Tamim Ansari on “Biculturality: Understanding The Other’” and Fremont Councilmember Anu Natarajan on “Diversity and Public Policy.” Fremont is home to the largest community of Afghan immigrants in the U.S.

The Foundation for Self-Reliance and their community partners, the Afghan Coalition, are already planning a sequel event at the Golden Peacock on Saturday, January 19, 2008.

Press Coverage:

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Since 9/11, generations of individuals and families from Afghan Diaspora communities in the United States have traveled to Afghanistan. Older generations have gone with hopes of rebuilding their war-torn homeland, and American-born Afghans have also made the long journey to explore their cultural heritage and find family members.

Several works from Afghan American writers and artists have emerged, telling the stories of Afghans who straddle two worlds and identities between life in the United States and ties to Afghanistan and the post Taliban reconstruction. Books like Tamim Ansary’s memoir “West of Kabul, East of New York” and Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” have become vastly popular. Based on radio documentaries aired on This American Life, “Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager’s Story” was recently authored by Said Hyder Akbar and Susan Burton. Other intimate stories illustrate the struggles of Afghan women and girls including, “The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky” by Farah Ahmedi and “Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan” by Ann Jones.

Filmmakers have also been active shooting stories in Afghanistan - and in China.

Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” has been adapted for film and should hit theaters later this year. The filming ended in December, and the New York Times published an interesting story about making the film in: “Where to Shoot an Epic About Afghanistan? China, Where Else?”

This month in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Asian American Film Festival and Fremont-based nonprofit Afghan Coalition are presenting two screenings of the recent film “Kabul Transit.” One screening is on March 20, 2007 at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, and the second is on March 21 at 7 PM at the AMC 1000 Van Ness theater in San Francisco.

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