October 28, 2023
The Bringers of Violence
Again, Fanon’s words come to mind: “The town belonging to the colonized people . . . the native town, the Negro village, the medina, the reservation, is a place of ill fame, peopled by men of evil repute. They are born there, it matters little where or how; they die there, it matters not where, nor how.”
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August 21, 2026
Mizna Announces Palestinian Embroidery Expert Wafa Ghnaim as Inaugural Mizna Distinguished Lecturer
Mizna launches the Mizna Distinguished Lecture Series, recognizing cultural workers from Southwest Asia/North Africa and the diaspora who contribute critical and deeply considered research and practice to the contemporary scene. The inaugural lecture takes place on Sunday, October 18, at 1:30 pm at the Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall, located on the second floor. For our first lecturer, Mizna welcomes Wafa Ghnaim, art and dress historian, fashion researcher, embroiderer,...
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August 20, 2026
Two Poems from Nima Hasan
I gather a bouquet of flowers
to cradle this grief,
or give it color, at least.
August 14, 2026
A Diasporic Requiem: Watching Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s Funeral in America
In the summer of 1989, my mother and I drove to participate in Ayatollah Khomeini’s public funeral. His body was displayed in a refrigerated glass case sitting atop an elevated platform in what was then a vast empty lot, which later became the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Mosque. The heat of that summer day was intense, and the sheer size of the crowd was astonishing.
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