In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristi sits down with Max Saakyan, the creator of Uncovering Roots. Max’s work focuses on the intersection of audio documentary and historical preservation, specifically centering on narratives that have been sidelined by mainstream discourse.

The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of memory, the ethics of handling trauma in storytelling, and the specific challenges of reconstructing history when official archives are sparse.

Inside the Episode

Max shares the origin story of Uncovering Roots, which began as a personal exploration of Armenian history and evolved into a global project. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on his series regarding Palestinians in Paraguay—a 1969 covert relocation plan that left many families stranded under false pretenses.

Key discussion points include:

* The Power of Oral Testimony: How to shape a narrative when official records are incomplete or intentionally obscured.

* The 1969 Relocation Plan: A look into the specific case of Palestinian migration to South America and the “false promises” of labor that drove it.

* Ethical Storytelling: Navigating the delicate balance between historical accountability and the sensitive nature of personal trauma.

* Archives as Tools for Justice: Why timing and accessibility matter when bringing these echoes of the past into current global contexts.

Key Topics

* Reconstructing the Past: The role of local newspapers and community memory in filling archival gaps.

* Community-Centered Narrative: The importance of elevating voices from within affected communities rather than observing from the outside.

* Storytelling & Accountability: How preserving history serves as a form of education and a check on power.

* Memory Reconstruction: The psychological and political significance of what a society chooses to remember—and what it forgets.

Resources and Links

* Uncovering Roots Podcast: uncoveringrootspod.com

* The Refugee Archive: therefugeearchive.org

About the Podcast

Across Archives is a production of The Refugee Archive, a research initiative dedicated to the lived experiences of displaced people worldwide. Alongside our companion series, The Archive Speaks, we explore how community storytelling can reshape history, amplify marginalized voices, and build global solidarity.

In this new episode of Across Archives, host Kristi speaks with Noor Azizah, Co-Executive Director of the Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, as she shares how Rohingya women are reclaiming their voices, resist ongoing violence, and lead a global movement for survival and solidarity.Noor is one of the most visible Rohingya advocates of her generation. She has served as a UNHCR Refugee Expert in 2019 and 2023, was named NSW Young Woman of the Year in 2024, and was a finalist for NSW Young Australian of the Year in 2025. Her leadership comes from persistence, memory, and a refusal to stay silent.In this conversation, Noor talks about how she and a small group of Rohingya women built RMCN into a transnational network spanning Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and the United States. She explains how women are stepping up to lead their communities even in the face of decades of violence and displacement.Noor also discusses RMCN’s documentary Hate Speech as a Weapon, which explores how disinformation has fueled real world violence against Rohingya communities in Southeast Asia. She reflects on the power of storytelling, showing that sharing the Rohingya story is not about sympathy, it is about survival, resistance, and solidarity. Every story told, every conversation started, and every classroom discussion becomes an act of resistance.Key Topics• Building a global network of Rohingya women leaders• How decades of violence and displacement have shaped Rohingya society• Using storytelling and digital advocacy to confront hate and raise awareness• The importance of breaking the silence and amplifying refugee voicesResources and LinksRMCN: https://tinyurl.com/RMCN-RohingyaGlobal Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime: [https://tinyurl.com/GIATOC-GlobalAmnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/About Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive, a storytelling and research initiative highlighting how archives, oral histories, and community storytelling preserve the lived experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people, and refugees worldwide.Together with our companion series, The Archive Speaks, we explore how archives can amplify refugee voices, build solidarity, and reshape how displacement is remembered.🎧 Continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, featuring the real voices of displaced women and single mothers around the world.

In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristin from The Refugee Archive speaks with Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director of TSOS, and Brandi Kilmer, Community Programs Coordinator and co founder of the Refugee Physicians Advocacy Coalition.

Kristen and Brandi walk us through the real experiences of refugee and internationally trained doctors who arrive in the United States ready to care for patients but find themselves stuck in long and expensive pathways to re enter medicine. They share what they see on the ground every day and how TSOS uses careful storytelling to help communities and decision makers understand what these doctors are truly facing.

Kristen talks about how her background in law shapes the way she protects storytellers and how consent is never a one time thing. Brandi explains what she has learned from walking with doctors who are trying to get back into the workforce and why a coalition can move change faster than any single group working alone.

Key Topics

• How Kristen began working with refugees and why consent guides her leadership

• What Brandi sees when supporting refugee physicians through the licensing maze

• Why storytelling influences policy and community programs

• How real stories from doctors help shape practical solutions like supervised practice and provisional licensing

• What ethical storytelling looks like in a world where online safety and privacy matter

• How local partners in Washington DC support refugee and immigrant professionals

Resources and Links

TSOS website: https://tsosrefugees.org/Refugee Physicians Advocacy Coalition project pageGeorgetown University School of Medicine partnership

About Across Archives

Across Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive, a storytelling and research initiative highlighting how archives, oral histories, and community storytelling preserve the lived experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees worldwide.

Together with our companion series, The Archive Speaks, we explore how archives can amplify refugee voices, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.

🎧 Continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, featuring the real voices of displaced women and single mothers around the world.

In this episode of Across Archives, host Pia from The Refugee Archive speaks with Dr. Benjamin Thomas White, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Glasgow and co-editor of RefugeeHistory.org.Benjamin takes us through the global history of refugees — from early humanitarian camps of the First World War to today’s refugee crises — and reveals what these histories can teach us about forced displacement, nationhood, and how the world responds to people on the move.As a Middle East historian, Benjamin shares how his research in Syria, Iraq, France, and the UK led him toward refugee history. He reflects on why refugee voices are often missing from official archives, how the modern refugee camp emerged, and why public debates often misunderstand the structural causes of displacement.This conversation offers a powerful reminder that refugee histories are global, connected, and essential for understanding the world we live in today.Key Topics• How Benjamin shifted from Middle East history to global refugee history• The origins of modern refugee camps and what they reveal about humanitarianism• Why refugee voices are often missing from archives — and why that matters• What refugee history teaches us about today’s refugee policies and narrativesResources & LinksRefugee History: https://refugeehistory.orgDr. Benjamin’s blog: https://singularthings.wordpress.comJournal of Global History article: “UNHCR and the Algerian War of Independence” (2022)University of Glasgow: School of HumanitiesAbout Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive, a storytelling and research initiative highlighting how archives, oral histories, and community storytelling preserve the lived experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees worldwide.Together with our companion series, The Archive Speaks, we explore how archives can amplify refugee voices, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.🎧 Continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, featuring the real voices of displaced women and single mothers around the world.

In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristi speaks with Dr. Rumana Hashem — political sociologist, feminist criminologist, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London.Dr. Hashem shares her powerful journey from Bangladesh to the UK, exploring how gender, conflict, and displacement shaped her path into migration research and refugee archiving. Her work brings together activism, feminism, and decolonial research to challenge the barriers that prevent refugees and migrants from accessing the very archives meant to hold their stories.Together, Kristi and Rumana discuss what “ethical archiving” really means — who gets to belong, who is left out, and how projects like the Living Refugee Archive are changing access for displaced and undocumented communities.Dr. Hashem also opens up about her experience with restrictive academic systems, the politics of belonging in research, and the ongoing fight for equity and inclusion in migration studies.Key Topics• Rumana’s journey from Bangladesh to the UK and her PhD on gender and conflict• The ethics of archiving forced displacement and migration stories• Access and exclusion in academic and archival institutions• The meaning of “belonging” and “unbelonging” in refugee research• Challenges faced by displaced and undocumented researchers• The Living Refugee Archive and its role in democratizing access• Ethical storytelling and compensation for research participants• How activism, academia, and archiving intersect in migration work• Decolonial and intersectional approaches to archiving and belongingResources & LinksLiving Refugee Archive: http://www.livingrefugeearchive.orgCentre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging (University of East London): https://www.uel.ac.uk/researchJournal: Displaced Voices: A Journal of Migration Archives and Cultural HeritageAbout Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive — a space that highlights storytelling projects, archives, and oral histories that share the experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees around the world. Special attention is given to the voices of female-headed households and single mothers in displacement.Together, Across Archives and our companion series The Archive Speaks preserve lived experience, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.🎧 Continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, our oral history audio archive featuring the voices of women and mothers living through displacement.

In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristi speaks with Heather Oman, Associate Director at Their Story Is Our Story (TSOS) — a storytelling organization dedicated to amplifying refugee and displaced voices around the world. Heather shares her journey from writer to refugee advocate, joining TSOS in its early days during the Syrian refugee crisis. She explains how storytelling can bridge divides, change hearts, and create empathy by allowing refugees to represent themselves in their own words. Together, we explore what it means to tell stories ethically and with consent, how TSOS collects narratives from around the world — from Germany to Bangladesh to the United States — and why every story, no matter how small, helps connect us as one global family. Heather also reflects on the challenges of data privacy, AI, and consent in storytelling, and how TSOS continues to train others in trauma-informed interviewing to ensure that every story is treated with respect and care.

Key Topics

• Heather’s journey from writer to Associate Director at TSOS

• The founding and growth of Their Story Is Our Story

• Storytelling trips to Germany, Greece, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and the U.S.

• How refugee stories build empathy and challenge stereotypes • Ethical storytelling and robust consent processes

• The impact of AI and digital security on refugee archives

• Trauma-informed interviewing and training initiatives

• Why storytelling changes hearts more effectively than statistics

• Building global connection through refugee narratives

Resources & Links

Their Story Is Our Story: https://tsosrefugees.orgScholars Archive (BYU): https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu

About Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive. It’s a space that highlights storytelling projects, archives, and oral histories that share the experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees around the world. Special attention is given to female-headed households and single mothers in displacement. Together, these efforts bridge divides, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.

🎧 At the end of every episode, we invite listeners to continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, our oral history audio archive featuring the real voices of women and mothers experiencing displacement.

In this episode of Across Archives, host Kristi speaks with Robin Peterson, Director of Archives at Their Story Is Our Story (TSOS) — an organization dedicated to amplifying refugee and immigrant voices through storytelling, oral history, and archival preservation.

Robin shares her journey from genealogist and historian to refugee advocate, and how she helped build the TSOS archive in partnership with Brigham Young University. Together, they discuss the power of sitting eye to eye with refugees, the ethics of consent in storytelling, and how to safely preserve personal narratives of displacement.

This conversation explores what it means to document humanity during times of crisis, how stories create empathy beyond headlines, and why data security and ethical storytelling are vital for refugee archives in the digital age.

Key Topics

• Robin’s path from genealogy and Holocaust studies to refugee storytelling• The origins and mission of Their Story Is Our Story• The process of collecting, editing, and archiving oral histories• How storytelling humanizes conflict and builds empathy• Shifting from global interview trips to digital storytelling during COVID-19• Safeguarding personal stories and protecting vulnerable voices• The resilience and generosity found within refugee communities• Collaboration with Brigham Young University and the Scholars Archive• The importance of ethical storytelling and consent in archival work

Resources & Links

Their Story Is Our Story: https://tsosrefugees.orgScholars Archive (BYU): https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu

About Across ArchivesAcross Archives is produced by The Refugee Archive. It’s a space that highlights storytelling projects, archives, and oral histories that share the experiences of migrants, immigrants, internally displaced people (IDPs), and refugees around the world. Special attention is given to female-headed households and single mothers in displacement. Together, these efforts bridge divides, build solidarity, and reshape how the record of displacement is remembered.

🎧 At the end of every episode, we invite listeners to continue the journey on The Archive Speaks, our oral history audio archive featuring the real voices of women and mothers experiencing displacement.

Across Archives is a storytelling space created by The Refugee Archive. Our mission is to highlight the voices, memories, and lived experiences of migrants, immigrants, refugees, and internally displaced people (IDPs) from around the world. Through conversations with archivists, scholars, advocates, and community storytellers, we explore how displacement is recorded, remembered, and reshaped.

Each episode dives into the archivists behind oral history projects, archival collections, and community-driven initiatives that safeguard the stories of people on the move. The voices, artifacts, memories, and lived experiences that connect generations and build solidarity.

We believe that through this project, we can identify underrepresented perspectives, including the experiences of female-headed households and single mothers in displacement. By amplifying these stories, Across Archives seeks to bridge divides, challenge dominant narratives, and create a richer record of migration and resilience.

Join us as we uncover how archives can preserve human rights, inspire collective memory, and reshape the history of displacement for the future.

The Refugee Archive: Global Center for Displaced FHH is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.