ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH TARIQ LUTHUN
Tariq Luthun is a Kundiman Fellow and Fellows Council member. He was interviewed by Gina Chung on June 25, 2025.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT 1
Tariq Luthun shares how meeting someone at the Kundiman Retreat can be a spark for many amazing conversations and experiences in the future.
TRANSCRIPT
LUTHUN: There are so many times where I'll meet somebody at the Retreat and then don't think much of it. Then, before you know it, you run into them again at a conference; or, they share your work, you share their work; and before you know it, you're having a conversation and so many amazing experiences can come out of that singular striking of a match, and then watching that kind of kindle over time.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT 2
Tariq Luthun recalls how he became involved with the AAPI literary community and how he first heard about Kundiman. He shares his experience of feeling kinship within these communities, including by connecting with writers who have been similarly affected by occupation and imperialism.
TRANSCRIPT
LUTHUN: It was a natural extension of the kinship I already had with folks to find Kundiman. I think that kinship was bred by the fact that I, myself, shared similar histories with folks like this, for example, with Will [William Nuʻutupu Giles]: despite him being from Hawaiʻi and me being from Palestine, we have similar experiences when it comes to the ways in which occupation and imperialism have ravaged our homes. So, it's things like this that I felt like really created a tight-knit network for folks in the AAPI community and just made things very organic when it comes to joining a space like Kundiman.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT 3
Tariq Luthun reflects on the impact of “An Open Letter from Concerned Kundiman Fellows and Community Members” and the subsequent discussions. He believes that it prompted community members to consider what kind of writers they want to be and whether they’re advocating for the kind of world that will make that possible.
TRANSCRIPT
LUTHUN: I think a lot of us look at ourselves as these stenographers for life, where we just kind of watch things unfold and we don't really get too involved, or our politics are tied to a politics of witness as opposed to a politics of action. So, I think the impact it [“An Open Letter from Concerned Kundiman Fellows and Community Members” and subsequent discussions] had is it really forced people to consider who do they want to be; what kind of writer do they want to be; what kind of person do they want to be. Are they capable of being the kind of writer in this world that they seek to be, and produce the kind of work that they'd like to produce, if they are not also advocating for or taking action towards a kind of life — and a kind of world — that is conducive to us existing long enough to be able to produce the things we want to produce?
INTERVIEW EXCERPT 4
Tariq Luthun considers how his identity as a Gazan person affects his ideas of inclusivity and solidarity. He observes how different communities within the AAPI umbrella navigate “different shades of the same violence.”
TRANSCRIPT
LUTHUN: I hope that when we think of inclusivity, when we think of solidarity — for me, it's always been, "Yes, I'm Palestinian. Yes, I'm from Gaza,” but I don't use that to be exclusionary or exceptional; I don't say, "Oh, I'm Gazan and so I care only about Gaza," it's, "Hey, I'm Gazan, I've experienced these things as a Gazan person, and I know for a fact that I cannot be alone," [Interviewee’s note: — the mantra is] "I'm not the only person who has dealt with these things." We know that, for example, in South Asian communities, there's been the caste system; we know that there [are] tremendous issues to have navigated with things like partition. We think about being a Pacific Islander and watching the United States create military bases across the islands. These are things that are different shades of the same kinds of violence, and I would hope that we become more aggressive towards those power structures instead of just writing about them; thinking about the ways we can work around them to make it so that way people who are writing — who are doing that propaganda work, that illuminating work — can do so safely.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT 5
Tariq Luthun posits that, while there has been a “diminishing” of gatekeeping within the literary landscape, there is still a lot of work to be done. He states that, through the just transition process and a continuing orientation toward liberation, Kundiman has an opportunity to serve as a pilot for changes that could ripple across the industry.
TRANSCRIPT:
LUTHUN: I feel like there is still a lot to be done; there's still a lot of gates that still exist, and just because there's more of us inside the gate doesn't mean that this is necessarily a good or fully liberated space. So, I'm very curious to see how places like Kundiman continue to change because Kundiman I think is an organization — like many other organizations — that has seen itself shift to reflect this kind of diminishing of the gates; the lowering of the walls, lowering of the fences – but, maybe, has not fully realized its potential. And that's by no fault of anybody specifically — I think a lot of us are really learning and experiencing new modes of being, and I think Kundiman has a really great opportunity to serve as a pilot for a lot of changes that I think could manifest and ripple across the industry, across the space.
CITATION
Luthun, Tariq, Oral history interview conducted by Gina Chung, June 25, 2025, Kundiman Oral History Project.