Meet the Journalist: Zahra Ahmad

Country:

Iraq United states

Author:

Zahra Ahmad
Grantee

With a four-foot, two-pronged, gold sword in her suitcase, Zahra Ahmad walks toward security at Erbil International Airport in Erbil, Iraqi-Kurdistan on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. Ahmad received the sword when she visited her family for the first time in Baghdad. The sword is called Zulfiqar or Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib's sword. The sword made it through the airports of Baghdad, Erbil, Turkey, Amsterdam, Iceland and Detroit. Image by Brontë Wittpenn. Iraq, 2019.

English

The story of an Iraqi-Irani woman’s experience of immigration highlights the importance of cultural...

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In February 2019, Zahra Ahmad traveled back to her homeland, Iraq, to reunite with her father's family after a 20-year separation. In Baghdad, Ahmad rediscovered herself as she was immersed in Middle Eastern culture. Walking Iraq's streets humanized the people she'd grown up watching on TV and dismantled stereotypes reiterated throughout her upbringing.