Culture Making in a Digital Native World

From September 14 - 27, 2020, Words in Urdu and American Pakistan Foundation partnered to increase voter participation in our community by highlighting the diaspora experience. In an exclusive first interview, APF speaks with Wafaa Muhammad and Wajiha Ibrahim, the creative voices behind this 108,000+ strong Urdu-focused culture and language community. They share how Words In Urdu was concepted and how their own relationships with language, heritage and diaspora identity grow and unfold. 

Interview conducted by Zehra Ansari, American Pakistan Foundation.

Zehra Ansari, American Pakistan Foundation: Words in Urdu has become this cultural reference point as well as a hub for conversation and engagement that, especially because of COVID, doesn't really exist in the real world. It kind of takes the place of a social club, where people are able to have this microcosm of a cultural movement together. For people reading, people curious about Words in Urdu, let’s start with where you both come from — whatever that "come from" means to you.

Wafaa Muhammad, Co-Creator, Words in Urdu: I've spent the majority of my life in Boston but I was actually born in the Middle East, and I have siblings that were born and raised outside of the US. I'd say throughout all of my life, we've always been immigrants in two different waves. Urdu was definitely part of growing up. We had Urdu qaida time every day. Even though at times it was contentious and stressful — and I see that in a lot of my friends, you feel the weight of your parents wanting you to connect. I think for me, yearning for Urdu came at the right time and it was at my pace.

Wajiha and I met in Boston. We were just two normal friends and I think there was one day we were sitting on Wajiha’s porch just talking about how it's really cool that desi culture was making this reemergence a couple of years ago, definitely aided by Instagram. There was a lot of “for the culture” type stuff, apparel and cute products. And we definitely both have some shared themes of our upbringing and our families’ histories. And so we both had this yearning for something a little bit deeper, a little bit more rooted in our heritage — an example being our language and really just how rich it is. 

We were like, yeah, someday we'll make it happen. And then the funny thing is, Wajiha ended up moving away. And I can't remember, Wajiha, we did it after you moved, right? We said, okay, it's now or never.

Words In Urdu’s gaaliyan (swear-word) series, one of the first concepts that came to mind when Wafaa and Wajiha were brainstorming connections to the Urdu language.

Wajiha Ibrahim, Co-Creator, Words in Urdu:

I had just moved to LA, and I had gotten married and saved job hunting for after I got married. And I was like, yep I'll have a job in a month, things will be great, life will continue. So two months into that job hunting, I desperately needed to do something and Wafaa and I had already talked about this — all we needed was the time, the energy and just that drive. The timing just aligned really well. So we started Words in Urdu a few weeks before February of 2019, last year. And it's grown so fast and it's obviously one way that Wafaa and I stay connected. In fact, we complain too often that now we only talk Words In Urdu!

But it's also something that we've discovered connects us to different aspects of our cultural identity. I was born in Pakistan and I moved to the US when I was six. Urdu is in my household — no one speaks English at home: “We need to preserve this language!” 

Starting this page has been a really organic and pleasant way to not just re-familiarize ourselves with Urdu but to rebuild a relationship that has evolved. And connect with other people, especially within the South Asian diaspora experiencing the same thing, where everyone's trying to reclaim some aspect of our roots.

WM: Not only was it something we both wanted to do, but it was a connection we were both trying to make within ourselves. It's no coincidence that our generation is the one yearning for this.

ZA: It must have been such a fruitful, experimental but also foundational year for you to test out this idea and see it take root, see people take or add layers of meaning to it. How do you feel about how Words in Urdu has become this unique centerpiece in the South Asian social media space?

WI: It's been so, so fun. When things grow so quickly, quicker than you expected, along with that comes the sense of responsibility. And there's moments where I do feel pressure to keep up, right? Make sure that everyone is learning something, and thinks the aesthetic is good. Whereas it initially started as something that was primarily for us. It was a way for us to share words that we connected on, share words that reminded us of our households, share words that reminded us of our life in Pakistan, or trips to Pakistan, share art that reminded us of that. And I think it's important for me, especially just to remind myself that that is what this is. 

Even though there are such a large number of people that resonate with this page, it's still almost like our diary, right? It's like a Wajiha and Wafaa collection of words and art that make us feel a certain way. 

But it really did start as something that was such a fun, creative project, from designing the words to thinking about the fonts to learning new softwares. Neither of us have a specific trained background in this kind of design work. And both of us have our own professional lives and careers that we're both passionate about and dedicate a lot of time to. So it was just such a fun thing to start. And seeing that it resonates with so many people, it almost reinforces our own purpose and our own connection with the language.

When insaniyat (humanity) was shared, many people connected to the notion of desi solidarity across nation borders.

WM: A consistent theme that we always, always are reminded of is when we're really excited to post something or even if we spontaneously go with our gut — that’s always where we have the most enthusiastic response from our community. Like they feel it, too.

WI: Wafaa is really good at reminding our Words in Urdu community — but also reminding me — that we're not here to assert our expertise in the Urdu language, nor are we here to prove anything about our identity with this language. We're just here to share something and connect.

Both of us have learned so much from the comments that people on Instagram leave on our page or how people engage with us, many of whom are not Urdu speakers, many of them are native Farsi speakers or Turkish speakers.it's amazing to see connections that people draw on and teach us. And there are so many instances where we'll make a mistake about interpreting a word or interpreting a poem in a specific way. 

It almost equals the playing field.it says that, hey, we all care about the same thing. Let's teach each other. We're curating this page but,we're here for it just like you are.

WM: What we did a good job on from the outset was — when we had zero followers and zero idea what people were going to be interested in - we still went in with a mission statement and some principles that align to that. So, what is this page for?

And we were able to articulate from the beginning that it's about building love and familiarity with the Urdu language. And that's actually still in our bio. 

We, every day, are faced with the question of, well, why is it us two? Are we the right people to do this? And we have to remind ourselves every day that anyone is the right person to do this. We're the right people to do it because we chose to do it.

One thing that has changed over time with our community is the geography, and definitely the level of command people have of Urdu.

It's been really interesting to go back and say, what does it mean to build love and familiarity with the Urdu language? It doesn't always mean building proficiency. It's talking about: what does that word mean to you?

It's been really, really fun to think through these much more faceted ways to put these words on platforms beyond just like, “This is a word in Urdu.”

Shared on @wordsinurdu in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

Seeing those last words in the language of one’s own people was hugely powerful and spurred connection and conversation within the @wordsinurdu online community.

ZA: Something that I think happens a lot — and whether that's a beautiful thing or a problematic thing — as we've become kind of a more activated and socially aware society, is a lot of talking at people on social media. I think that has value, certainly, I think it's important to educate and inform. I think people need to understand different perspectives. I think it's also really important to have a lot of more inward-thinking and more exploratory dialogue. To kind of create a culture together. And I think that's really what draws me personally — and a lot of folks — to a platform like Words In Urdu. 

WM: One really good example of that is, “What does it mean to be desi?” 

A lot of the feedback we get is definitely grounded in the specific experiences people have. People love to be like, this word isn’t Urdu, or this word isn't Hindi. Maybe it's a luxury or maybe it's like amnesia, but we have this perspective that there was a lot of heritage that was shared before the more recent history of partition. 

I totally agree with what you're saying where it's like, we have this ability to create the community we want.

ZA: Yeah, even just thinking about political lines and how they create these very simplified narratives that aren't really accurate to history. For example, you contrast the founder of Pakistan with the founder of India, the founder of Pakistan — he did not speak Urdu as his first language. He spoke Urdu with a heavy accent when he gave addresses to his nation. Whereas Nehru, the founder of India, was from U.P., from an Urdu-speaking household and he wrote in the Urdu alphabet — and that was his language and, for him, his birthright. So it's really fascinating to think about the cultural place of a language. You guys have created this platform that I think just opens up all of these complexities that have existed, that we lose.

Satyanaas (ruin), a Sanskrit-origin word that goes strong in Urdu. Connections to this word were very rooted in the @wordsinurdu community’s childhoods.

What can you say about the upcoming year and a half compared to this first year and a half for Words In Urdu?

WI: I do want to keep exploring this idea of, who is this Urdu speaker that we want to connect? And as we're seeing a growth in Urdu speaking regions, which is amazing, that’s pressing us to ask the question: What is it that’s requiring us to preserve this language? Or to have people keep connecting with the language?

WM: Can you hear the word? How can we help you recognize the word if you can't read the Urdu script? Definitely a lot of work that we have in front of us to just be more inclusive in general. Of course we have lots of ambitions in the world of things beyond the Instagram grid. So we're always talking with folks about products and services that we can offer. I think what we can say is whatever we bring first to our community, it's going to be just as thoughtful. It'll be just as thoughtful and deliberate as our page has been from day one. 

ZA: I think that something that gets lost, and maybe this is a cliche to say, but especially with digital transformation is the pace. I think just the pace. And the kind of instant gratification, which, I think, some people don't realize this — but I think we're all kind of fed up of it. I think the moment we're in right now has forced us to think about time differently, to think about how we socialize differently, to think about how we interact with anything, whether that's a film or someone's story on Instagram or like, how we're spending our time and where it's going. 

You both have been intentional that this platform is not about you as, physical individuals. You're not like typical influencers who, not to sound too cynical, but I think a lot of folks — the formula that makes them successful is, they kind of create a microcosmic reality TV show around their lives. And you guys have done the very opposite and been so successful. So I’d love your thoughts on your voice and how it inflects what you do at Words In Urdu.

WI: Yeah. Wafaa and I were super intentional about not making this page about “Wafaa and Wajiha and Words In Urdu.” We wanted to — ok, how do I say this? It’s almost like we're setting a table.

WM: The nerd in me just thought about a data table, and I had to be like, setting a table.

WI: When we created this page we set this table, and we made sure that there's two seats, one for Wajiha, one for Wafaa, and then plenty of seats for a lot of other people to join us, you know, in this meal.

If we had made this about us, then we would be the meal and we don't necessarily want to be.

I feel like this theme of connection has come up in this conversation a lot. We're all connected, we're a community and the thing that ties us together, at least on this table, is our language. Our love for this particular language. Many people, like I said earlier, are not native speakers. They speak other languages, live in regions that are not Urdu speaking regions. Both Wafaa and I come from the Punjab province. So our families are not necessarily Urdu-speaking, but the language still means something to us. 

WM: To use Urdu as a way to peek into your heritage, it teaches you about yourself. Where you came from and what you want to see in the community around you. And it really should just empower us further and inspire us to go out and do something to make what you want a reality.

WI: And when it comes to voting this year, especially as a first generation, second generation, or just part of the diaspora, I think it's a reminder that we're not just voting as citizens of the US, but we're voting as a community that has lived a varied life in different parts of the world. We come from lots of generational stories, and when we vote, we're voting with all of that in mind. And I think it's a very powerful thing to carry.