While all Laidlaw Scholars will be presenting their research at the Columbia Undergraduate Research Symposium in the fall, what are the more immediate expectations that you have for your research? Are you writing a paper? Will your research be part of a larger scientific study? Do you hope to produce an annotated bibliography that you reflect on down the line? Is your research now the first phase of a project you’ll continue to work on throughout the year, and/or next summer? Now that we are nearing the one month mark of the program, please write about your expectations for your research.

Some of my more immediate expectations for my research project include completing a literature review and annotated bibliography centered on works about Afghan history and migration statistics to the United States. I hope to leave this summer with these two crucial parts of a larger research paper. With getting close to getting IRB approval, as it has been a long and obstacle-ridden process, I will start conducting my thirty oral history interviews. These interviews, partially done in NYC and partially done in the Bay Area (CA), will piece together the secondary part of this project. Through another program, I will be conducting my Bay Area interviews for the rest of the summer, which I am quite excited about. I know the Bay Area community of Afghans much better, given that I was born and raised in the area. By next summer, this first phase of research of interviews and sourcing important statistics will be done. Next summer, I hope to work with an organization that directly works with Afghans; however, as I have learned more about the Laidlaw program, I am considering going abroad to another country with a high Afghan migrant population, such as Australia, Canada, or Germany to further develop a comparative study between different Afghan migrant populations. 

Why does your research matter? Explain the significance of the question you are investigating, and why you are interested in it.

Growing up, I seldom saw any representation of Afghan Americans in the media, and what little representation there might have been was almost always limited to the ‘terrorist’ narrative. The reality of the matter, however, is that Afghans were and unfortunately continue to be the terrorized ‘terrorists.’ My entire family has suffered from the consequences of war and violence in the country, causing them to come to the United States for a better chance at life. However, the pains of my community did not end there. It still continues as people misunderstand Afghans and Muslims, especially since the onset of the War on Terror. My research is motivated by reclaiming the narrative of my community by bringing actual Afghan voices to academia and humanizing their stories versus the dehumanizing statistics associated with geopolitics that are often associated with Afghanistan. Furthermore, given the United States’ involvement in the country for decades, I find it even more critical for such a project to be undertaken so that not only those in American academic spaces are informed about this reality but also the general public. Thus, by researching the question of Afghan migration to the US, especially to NYC and the Bay Area (CA), I hope to address this lack of understanding and also bring an accurate and true perspective to the reality of my community’s story.