Little Baghdad

A Memoir About an Endangered People in an American City

Little Baghdad is a loving, historical, and personal account of an indigenous group of people who were forced out of their ancestral home, Mesopotamia. They found refuge in the United States, specifically Sterling Heights where according to archaeologists Native Americans lived more than 11,000 years ago.

Through her dreamlike poetic travels into homes, museums, and neighborhoods, Weam Namou, author, filmmaker, and journalist tells the story of how this ancient and unique group known as Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians who still speak a modern form of Aramaic) have survived decades of oppression and genocide to find a sacred home in a city nicknamed “Little Baghdad.”

She moves from place to place with the knowledge, wisdom, and innocence that makes her dive deep from her own cultural lineage to our shared human lineage. Along the way the reader experiences the wonders of this group, the Chaldeans, who though mentioned in history books and even the Old Testament, are not seen and heard in our modern society, despite their contributions to their surrounding communities.