Celebrate Middle Eastern culture with the UNC Persian Cultural Society and other organizations at 1001 Nights with music, food and cultural activities. 1001 Nights provides an opportunity for students to expand their UNC campus and community experience by incorporating more global world views.
1001 Nights is an event where various organizations come together to represent and celebrate the Middle East and Middle Eastern culture, as well as expose students to a culture they may not have experienced before. Senior Sanam Kavari, president of the Persian Cultural Society, said that students can expect to enjoy music, food, a Persian recitation, henna and calligraphy artists and cultural booths.
“We hope to have students come,” said Kavari. “Students who maybe haven’t heard much about the culture, Persian culture, or Arabic culture, or Jewish culture — but if community members want to come as well, that’s great too.”
Many individuals involved with 1001 Nights said that experiencing various cultures is a great reason to come. Senior Harrison Lee, the internal chairperson for UNC Mixed Asian/Pacific Islander Students' Heritage, which is co-hosting the event, said 1001 Nights offers the chance to introduce new perspectives and world views to the UNC community.
“In general — not just PCS — there’s a lot of clubs out there that have a lot to offer in terms of the stories that they can tell and the perspectives that they can offer,” Lee said. “The Persian Cultural Society is a great example of that.”
Beyond the Persian Cultural Society and MASH, other organizations involved include Arab Student's Organization, Hillel, the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, Graduate Student Association of Iranians at Duke and Iranian Cultural Society of North Carolina.
Sophomore Angel Santaloci, external chairperson of UNC MASH, said that all these groups are coming together for 1001 Nights to collaborate and showcase various cultures to the UNC community. She said anyone interested in culture and different types of diversity within Middle Eastern culture, food and music should come out to the event.
“I think one major thing is that we’re trying to bridge the gap between different cultural organizations and just trying to inspire more collaboration and joint efforts with events for the community,” Santaloci said. “We would reach across boundaries that kept our organizations pretty separate by doing this sort of stuff to make more friends and relationships.”
