Thank You — Winter 2022
Note from the Editors — Winter 2021
Discussing such topics as the intersection between Mizrahiut and post-Soviet anthropology, trans experience, cinema, and Latin American migration, the works included in our Winter 2021 release examine facets of Middle-Eastern Jewish life previously undiscussed at ZAMAN. We are grateful to have the engagement of readers and contributors across the world who push our publication toward a place of greater breadth and dimension with each issue.
Iranian Jewry Beyond Meta-Narratives: A Conversation with Lior Sternfeld
Editors Evan Mateen and Sophie Levy met with Dr. Sternfeld over Zoom to discuss the ripple effects of the publication of his book Between Iran and Zion, the implications of studying Iranian Jewry as an Israeli scholar in the US, and the future of Middle-Eastern Jewish history as a discipline.
On Language, Gender, and the Stigma of Mizrahi Sentimentality: An Interview with Ayelet Tsabari
It's rare for English-speaking audiences to find prosaic accounts and imaginations of Mizrahi life written by an Israeli author that were originally composed in English, rather than translated from Hebrew. Ayelet Tsabari's work offers us a glimpse into her life as a Yemeni woman born in Israel not only by way of content- but by way of language; Hebrew makes itself subliminally known in her writing.
Galeet Dardashti on Performance, Anthropology, and the “Revolutionary” Revival of Piyyutim
Our editors talk with Galeet about her family’s ties to Iranian and Jewish music, her multifaceted approach to her work as both a scholar and a performer, and her thoughts on the future of music in American Jewish congregations.
Letter from the Editors — Summer 2020
We are in a global moment of reckoning that is asking us to re-examine how our identities are not static or monolithic traits, but situationally-adaptable variables informed by our positions in larger social, political, economic, and cultural realities. Our understanding of identity today is ever-changing, constantly being shaped and defined by the roles we play across different communities.
Letter from the Editors — One Year
This week marks one year since ZAMAN’s launch in February 2019. In that time, we have published forty articles, essays, poems, paintings, drawings, photographs, videos and other projects that have given a contemporary voice to Mizrahi stories.
Protected Religious Minorities under Iran’s Islamic Regime: an analysis of ideology and policy
In spite of a rhetoric based on freedom and equality, the Islamic Republic of Iran tends to connect the presence of religious minorities to heresy, corruption of Islam, rebellion against the regime, and inhibition of the ever-continuous Revolution.
Q&A with Massoud Hayoun, Author of When We Were Arabs
My Jewishness governs matters of the spirit, for me. I do also stand with Jewish Americans in practical matters, particularly at moments when our lives, dignity, and freedom are under siege. But in this life, I am Arab first and last.