THEMES – CONVERSATIONS – REFLECTIONS
The Central Asia symposium is the culmination of our Spring 2026 course.
Photos by Fernando Tepalzingo
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Blog
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Details: Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium Spring 2026
Central Asia & Diaspora Spring 2026 Event Central Asia Symposium – Food (1), courtesy of Daniel Nudelman Central Asia Symposium – Makez Rikweda joined us from Cannes Film Festival -
Symposium 2026
This year’s symposium featured an engaging panel of speakers from Central Asia who came together to share their personal experiences, career paths, and cultural perspectives with students. Through thoughtful conversations, our speakers reflected on how their identities, communities, and lived experiences have shaped both their professional and personal journeys. Students had the opportunity to hear firsthand stories that highlighted important social, cultural, and professional themes while gaining a deeper understanding of Central Asian communities and experiences.
Featured speakers included Dralla Aierken, Ali Baluch, Omid Jahan, and Makez Rikweda, each bringing their own unique voice, background, and perspective to the discussion.
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Midterms 2026
This year, MHC Central Asian Culture, Literature, and Film students stepped outside their comfort zones and into the world of Central Asian cuisine. Students were challenged to either try new Central Asian flavors they had never experienced before or recreate a traditional Central Asian dish themselves. Here is how it went!
Youtube Link Here!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL44rDVp_sBlgcyiesTiMj8hn7oP_4ERB0&si=7OOMenFWypQ7Zdd2: Midterms 2026Little Samarqand in South Brooklyn: Foteh’s Tandoori Cafe/Chaihana
Uyghur Lagman House in Rego Park, Queens
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Speaker Presenter Bios: Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium Spring 2026
The Spring 2026 Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium featured four speakers on Zoom. The symposium was led by students in the class.
The speakers who came were: Afghan-American music archivist Omid Jahan; London-based filmmaker Makez Rikweda; Ughur actor and screenwriter Dralla Aierken; and LA-based filmmaker Ali Baluch.
Omid Jahan
Omid Jahan answering questions and discussing his work Bio from Killah’s introduction: Omid Jahan is an Afghan-American archivist, collector, DJ based in the Bay Area. Is work preserves and shares the sounds and stories of Afghanistan’s music and culture in the country and diaspora. He founded the Afghan Cassette Archive which digitizes and documents rare radio and television recordings. These archival sounds have been spread globally, from LA, to NY to Munich. He also runs Analog Afghan, a label that focuses on cassettes and vinyls, reissuing historic recordings and supporting contemporary sounds.
Omid Jahan was introduced by Killah St. Fort
Makez Rikweda
Makez Rikweda answering questions and discussing her work Bio from Kitty’s introduction: Makez Rikweda is a London-based writer, director and producer. Her films explore identity, memory, displacement, and the human experience. Her documentary Young Afghans follows university students navigating life. Her work allows audiences to see the resilience of Afghan communities. Along with her award-winning filmmaking, she has produced documentaries for organizations and broadcasters such as Al Jazeera English, the BBC and Sky News. Her film Sound of Birds played in the symposium room as she answered questions.
Makez Rikweda was introduced by Shiela Bakhtari, Kitty Chan and Alyson Daos
Dralla Aierken
Dralla Aierken answering questions and discussing her work Bio from Mia’s introduction: Dralla Aierken is an Uyghur-born-Chinese actress and writer based in LA. She began acting in Beijing at 19 after realizing performance was a thing she needed to do to “not not be happy.” She found that she was most alive when she was on stage portraying characters. She moved to LA for film and television after acting in New York and Boston. Her film credits include “My Mother Thinks I Suck” and “Mrs. Gu and Her Armchair.”
Dralla Aierken was introduced by Daniel Nudelman, Mia Chang and Eiden Cooper
Ali Baluch
Ali Baluch answering questions and discussing his work Bio from his introduction: Ali Baluch is a filmmaker based in LA, and has been in the industry for fourteen years. He has worked at Nickelodeon, HBO and MTV. His current project is with a group of Gen-Z who does not know about MTV; he worked there for ten years and was a producer. He got his start in slapstick humor Youtube pranks with FouseyTube. These were staged pranks with hired actors who were given a few directional notes. The first videos got hundreds of views; the next videos got a million views, then five million, twenty million, one hundred million views and so on. In this process he learned the power of thumbnails, titles and audience retention.
Ali Baluch was introduced by Fernando Tepalzingo-Lopez, Tabassum Farhana, Lizbeth Ramirez and Chris Moreno -
Student Presenter Bios: Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium Spring 2026
The Spring 2026 Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium was led by the students in the class. In this post are participant bios including their symposium roles and favorite Central Asian food.
Darla Aquino
- Main Symposium Moderator
- Class of 2026
- Queens College
- Favorite Central Asian food: Ughur Special Tea
Zoe Davis
- Main Symposium Moderator
- Class of 2026
- Brooklyn College
- Favorite Central Asian food: Oven Baked Samsa
Kilhah St Fort
- Moderator for Speaker One, Omid Jahan
- Class of 2026
- Lehman College
- Favorite Central Asian food: Manti
“Kilhah St Fort is a graduating Lehman Macaulay student. Although she studies Data, Technology, & Society, she took this class because she loves learning about different cultures. As a Haitian-Jamaican American, Kilhah is used to people knowing little to nothing about her own culture. So learning about various cultures and histories throughout Central Asia ended up resonating with her more than she initially thought it would. When she’s not in school, Kilhah loves crocheting, jewelry making, playing with her cats, binge watching Bob’s Burgers, and doom-scrolling on Twitter.”
Brenda Flores
- Panel member for Speaker Omid Jahab
- Class of 2026
- Name: Brenda Flores
- Major: Biology with a Concentration in Biomedical Sciences.
- Favorite Central Asian food: Uyghur Polo and Uyghur Special Tea
Shiela Bakhtari
- Panel member for Speaker Two, Makez Rikweda
- Class of 2026
- Favorite Central Asian food: Mantu
Kitty Chan
- Moderator for panel featuring Makez Rikweda
- Hunter College
- Kitty will be studying abroad in Taipei next term with the Chinese Flagship program
- Fav Central Asian Food: Pumpkin and Potato Samsa from Farida’s in the Financial District
Daniel Nudelman
- Moderator for Speaker Three, Dralla Aierken
- Class of 2026
- Hunter College
- Favorite Central Asian food: Plov/Palau/Pilaf
“Daniel Nudelman is a recent graduate of the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, where he studied Biological Sciences. He is currently pursuing a career in medicine while wrapping up his time as a competitive ballroom and latin dancer. Daniel has always taken a multidisciplinary approach to his scientific studies, complementing them with courses in the humanities, to which Central Asian Film and Literature is no exception. As an immigrant himself, with parents who hail from the former Soviet Union, Daniel was drawn to this course as a way to connect with and learn more deeply about a region that shaped his family’s history. Growing up eating plov/palau/pilaf at special family dinners, it’s no surprise that it remains his favorite Central Asian dish.”
Mia Chang
- Moderator for Speaker Three, Dralla Aierken
- Class of 2026
- Hunter College
- Favorite Central Asian food
“Mia Chang is a senior at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, pursuing a B.A. in Computer Science with a focus in bioinformatics and computational biology. She is also a member of the Hunter College Women’s Swim and Dive Team, where she has earned recognition as MVP and a CUNY All-Star Student Athlete. Over the past winter, Mia used her Goldsmith Opportunities Fund Scholarship to study Australian Studies in Australia, while also taking the opportunity to explore the country and travel “down under!”Mia took the MHC Seminar Course: Central Asian Literature, Film, and Diaspora because she was interested in learning more about the region’s cultures, and contemporary identities, especially through personal narratives, art, and performance. After graduation, Mia hopes to pursue a career in biotech, with a particular interest in work related to immunology.”
Fernando Tepalzingo-Lopez
- Panel Member for Speaker Four, Ali Baluch
- Class of 2026
- Queens College
- Favorite Central Asian food: Ughur Special Tea
“My name is Fernando Tepalzingo-Lopez, a senior graduating from Macaulay Honors at Queens and a First Ten College Student. I’m majoring in Media Studies and minoring in Studio Art. I submitted my artwork for the final litho-project at QC’s Klapper Hall and displayed my photos in the Photo Show at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, 6th Floor, in the last Fall semester. “
Wilson Wu
- Symposium panel member
- Class of 2028
- College of Staten Island
- Favorite Central Asian food: Plov
“My name is Wilson, and I am a sophomore health student at the College of Staten Island. As someone whose favorite hobby is photography and who has a strong passion for traveling around the world, the MHC 387 course has provided an invaluable opportunity to explore Central Asian culture before visiting those places. It has also made me realize that my favorite cenasian food is plov.”
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Food: Central Asia & Diaspora Futures Symposium Spring 2026
Food for the symposium, ordered from Chaykhana Foteh’s Tandoori, a traditional Central Asian restaurant in Sheepshead Bay. The vegetarian options included pumpkin, potatoes and spinach.
Central Asia Symposium – Food Menu, ordered from Chaykhana Tandoori
Central Asia Symposium – Food (1), courtesy of Daniel Nudelman
Central Asia Symposium – Food (2), courtesy of Daniel Nudelman
