Jamie is an undergraduate student at Tulane University studying Linguistics, Computer Science, and World Music. She has composed instrumental pieces in partnership with the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, and enjoys learning about the experiences, languages, and music of world Jewry throughout history. She has also worked to amplify Mizrahi cultural awareness within Jewish social and educational frameworks in Los Angeles.Before my mother and her family fled Iran, she spent her years in Tehran as a competitive female gymnast. Her team was the first Iranian gymnastics group to qualify for the Pan-Asian games and they performed for the Shah’s White Revolutionary Ceremony. This collection of photos and recently-collected testimonies explores her experiences as a Jewish competitive athlete tasked with balancing her passion and her identity.
In the most elementary aspects of traditional music hailing from across Asia, the system of just 12 equally tempered (the same distance from each other) tones is rare. From Tuvan throat songs to classical Persian music to Gamelan music of Southeast Asia, semitones, notes lying in-between the core tenants of the 12-note scale, are widely applied.
For many Mizrahim, navigating our place in discussions about the Holocaust is a complicated task. How does my position relative to it as a Persian Jew guide my presence in conversations with other Jewish people? How do the obligations attached to my identity shift when I leave those spaces? And what has a new understanding of my family history taught me about Jewishness?