Oral History Interview with Wazina Zondon: Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Wazina Zondon discusses her family, growing up in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, and attending the State University of New York at New Paltz for college. She speaks extensively about her identity as a Muslim Afghan queer woman; her work with Terna Tilley-Gyado on their performance series Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love; and their collaboration on the project with musician Alsarah Abunama-Elgadi (interviewed for this collection on August 31, 2018). She also talks about working as a sex educator, especially in New York City public schools; moving to the Crown Heights and Flatbush neighborhoods of Brooklyn; and her concerns about gentrification. Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

Biographical / Historical

Wazina Zondon was born in 1982 in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. She began working as a sexuality educator while attending the State University of New York at New Paltz. She continued her work in the field after graduating, including with the Planned Parenthood in Newburgh, New York; the Empire State Pride Agenda in New York City; and the Urban Assembly Institute for Math and Science for Young Women in the Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn. She also co-wrote and performed the series Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, which was inspired by her experiences as a queer Muslim woman.

Conditions Governing Access

This interview can be accessed onsite at the Center for Brooklyn History's Othmer Library and online at the Oral History Portal.

Subjects

Topics

Afghan Americans -- New York (State); Children of immigrants -- New York (State) -- Queens; Coming out (Sexual orientation); Cultural pluralism -- New York (State); Feminism; Gentrification -- New York (State) -- Kings County; Islam and the performing arts; Muslim educators -- New York (State); Muslim families -- New York (State) -- Queens; Queer culture; Queer identity; Political activists -- New York (State) -- New York; Religion and culture; Religious pluralism -- New York (State); Sex educators -- New York (State); Women in Islam

Places

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.); Flatbush (New York, N.Y.); Flushing (New York, N.Y.); Queens (New York, N.Y.)