Running from Kabul: Hopes, Dreams, and Nightmares

Abstract

ABSTRACT I present a portrait of my ongoing work with Zarmina, a female Afghan student who escaped Kabul after the Taliban takeover and is now a refugee and student in New York. I consider the traumatic impact for her of growing up in a combat zone, living under a fundamentalist regime, leaving her family, and becoming a refugee. I also parse ways that culture, race, my unconscious stereotypes, and my family history emerge in our work, and the double consciousness and profound grief and loss that mark her new life in New York. I reflect on who we have become to each other and the enactments and silences that that have emerged as we each try to protect the other from sadness and disappointment. Finally, drawing on work with combat veterans, I consider what the future might hold as we confront the anguish, loss, and terror of all she has experienced.