Thread by @sher_khashimov

Together with @TahminaIn, we spoke to the young people of #Dushanbe, #Tajikistan about how they view the city's rapid urban transformation through the lens of decolonization, nation-building, power of capital, and privilege. 1/6
aljazeera.com/features/2021/…

We find that Dushanbe's youth view the city's transformation - with a chaotic mix of grand new administrative buildings & glassy high-rises replacing old Soviet buildings - in more nuanced terms than their Soviet-raised parents or the city's Tajik often non-native majority. 2/6

Lost between the narratives about Dushanbe's transformation and without proper democratic mechanisms to raise their voice, the city's youth use social media to reimagine the narrative & make sense of what is happening in their city. 3/6
aljazeera.com/features/2021/…

Writing this piece was very personal because both @TahminaIn and I grew up in Dushanbe and we've struggled to make sense of the city of our childhood rapidly disappearing. 4/6
aljazeera.com/features/2021/…

Over 1,000 words of important context were cut during the editing process, including most of the youth's social media efforts to make sense of the city’s transformation. @TahminaIn & I plan to keep writing on this topic to shed more light on what's happening in Dushanbe. 5/6

A big shoutout to 1) my brilliant co-author @TahminaIn who is currently writing a 300-page (!) PhD thesis on Dushanbe's rapid transformation, and 2) @LadyPutz who gave us guidance throughout the drawn-out editing process. 6/6
aljazeera.com/features/2021/…