Media/Press
For media inquiries, please email aolomi(at)psu(dot)edu
Top of the Mind BYU Radio: “Afghanistan’s New Leaders”
“Akhund’s appointment is a clear indication that they’re going to follow through with similar policies to the 90’s…Akhund’s appointment is also an indication that there are factions within the Taliban. His appointment is likely a compromise.”
Le Devoir: “Qui est vraiment le chef supreme des talibans?
“Unlike previous supreme leaders, Hibatullah Akhundzada is not a warrior associated with the Mujahedin and did not fight against the Soviets,” explains historian Ali Olomi, of Penn State University, joined by Le Devoir in Abington, Pa. . Rather, he is a religious ideologue known for issuing fatwas [religious advice]. His leadership, however, is likely to be as austere as in the past and to be reminiscent of the Taliban regime of the 1990s, despite some cosmetic changes. “
The Conversation: “The Origins of the Taliban and what their history tells us about takeover of Afghanistan-Podcast”
“The United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and China will set up training camps and start to fund and support the mujahideen. Most of this is going to the more organized groups. So we should note ordinary Afghans aren’t getting money from the U.S., they aren’t getting weapons. That more reactionary organized element under the likes of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar will get the funds.”
Vox: “The History of Afghanistan and US ties, from the Cold War to 9/11”
“The mujahedeen are not a single group. We often talk about the mujahedeen as one group, but [they were] actually four different kinds of groups that roughly align as resisting this new oppressive, repressive government.”
The Times Radio: “The Situation in Afghanistan” [1 hr and 52 mark]
Al Jazeera: “Afghans chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ in defiant protests against the Taliban”
“Ali A Olomi, an Afghan-American professor of the History of the Middle East and Islam, said the fact that the people chose “Allahu Akbar” as their cry of defiance to the Taliban is especially profound… In victory, it is a reminder of humility and a cry of thanks. In defeat, it is a proclamation of hope and defiance,”
The Atlantic: “Jupiter and Saturn are Just Showing off Now”
“From time immemorial, people have looked to the stars to help them explain the chaos of their present and the uncertainty of their future,” Ali A. Olomi, a history professor at Penn State who has studied how early observers thought about planetary conjunctions, told me.”
The Guardian: “I’ve Seen Grown Men Cry – Why Avatar the Last Airbender Still Touches Millions”
Ali A Olomi, an assistant professor of Middle East, Islamic and global south history at Penn State University in Pennsylvania, uses the series to demonstrate to students the impact of genocide, colonialism, imperialism, intergenerational trauma, radicalisation, surveillance and parental abuse…
ABC Australia News: “Jinn, Golems, and Petras: What Supernatural Beings in Religion Can Teach Us About Ourselves”
For Dr Olomi, jinn represent an understanding that “there’s something bigger than you out there. Not just transcendent in the form of God, but present in nature.”
That’s why jinn are tied to historical ruins, forest, highlands, valleys, rivers and embodied as dust devils in the desert.
“It’s a way of understanding the world as alive — not just mechanistic, but full of life,” he says, “psychically, in the form of these creatures.”
See Something Say Something Podcast: http://seesomethingsaysomething.libsyn.com/the-tribes-of-the-jinn
Voice of Islam UK Radio: https://soundcloud.com/voislam/breakfast-show-podcast-05-11-2019
NBC News: “Orlando Shooting: Afghan-American Grapple with Homophobia, Shock”
NBC Bay Area: “Queer Afghans Just like Everyone Else
Muslimgirl.net: “Afghan American Weigh in on Orlando, Homophobia, and Solidary
The Arab Weekly: “Orlando Attack Sparks Debate Among Muslim Americans”
NBC News: “Orlando Highlights Islam’s Complicated Relationship with Homosexuality”