Khajistan is a New York-based archive and press preserving censored, banned, and overlooked print and audiovisual culture from the Middle World.

  • Office of War Information O.W.I

    Public Exhibitions

    Office of War Information (O.W.I.) at Pioneer Works, New York City (May 08 - August 08, 2026)

    Office of War Information O.W.I
  • Khajistan Salon

    Public Exhibitions

    Khajistan Salon at Pioneer Works, New York City (December, 2025)

    Khajistan Salon
  • Spasial Program

    Public Exhibitions

    Spasial Program by Khajistan at SculptureCenter, New York City (June, 2025)

    Spasial Program

    Toshakhana

    Khajistan Special Collections

    Announcements + Archive Insights

    1. Read more: Office Hours: The Khajistan Portal at Recess, Saturday October 17
      The Portal collage wall filling a CRT screen

      Office Hours: The Khajistan Portal at Recess, Saturday October 17

      by Khajistan

      The Khajistan Portal is open for Office Hours at Recess on Saturday, October 17, from 2 to 5 PM.Come and use the Portal with the Khajistan team in ...
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    2. Read more: Closing Day: The Khajistan Portal at Recess, Saturday October 24
      The Born-Digital Archive on a workstation at Recess. Photo by Manuel Molina Martagon.

      Closing Day: The Khajistan Portal at Recess, Saturday October 24

      by Khajistan

      Saturday, October 24, 2026, 1 to 5 PMRecess, 46 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205Free and open to the public. Saturday is the last day of The K...
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    3. Read more: Screening: Showgirls of Pakistan at UNDO, UnionDocs, Ridgewood, Sunday October 18
      A dancer in magenta performs on stage in Showgirls of Pakistan

      Screening: Showgirls of Pakistan at UNDO, UnionDocs, Ridgewood, Sunday October 18

      by Khajistan

      Sunday, October 18, 2026, 7:30 PMUNDO at UnionDocs, 352 Onderdonk Avenue, Ridgewood, QueensTickets $10 via UnionDocs: uniondocs.org/events/list Kha...
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    4. Read more: Screening: Javaid Shampoo (2004) at Recess, Brooklyn, Saturday October 10
      Khajistan Releasing poster for Javaid Shampoo (2004), four stills from the film under the title

      Screening: Javaid Shampoo (2004) at Recess, Brooklyn, Saturday October 10

      by Khajistan

      Khajistan screens Javaid Shampoo (2004), by Faisal Rehman and Bilal Hasan Minto, in its Directors’ Cut at Recess, Brooklyn, on Saturday, October 10. Office Hours with the Portal from 1 to 4 PM, screening from 4 to 6 PM. Free.
      Read more

    Preservation Projects

    1. Read more: Khajistan Seeking Preservation and Digitization Partners for Historic Erotic Film Posters
      Collage of Turkish vintage film posters with bold yellow text about archiving and digitizing cinema history.

      Khajistan Seeking Preservation and Digitization Partners for Historic Erotic Film Posters

      Preservation Projects: Part of an Ongoing Series New York, NY — Khajistan is launching a preservation and digitization initiative for its collectio...
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    2. Read more: Khajistan Seeks Preservation Partner for 202 U.S. Propaganda Leaflets Dropped on Japan
      Collage of preserved U.S. WWII propaganda leaflets over Japan with bold yellow title text, Khajistan archival theme.

      Khajistan Seeks Preservation Partner for 202 U.S. Propaganda Leaflets Dropped on Japan

      Preservation Projects: Part of an Ongoing Series New York, NY — Khajistan has completed the full digitization of 202 American war propaganda leafle...
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    3. Read more: Khajistan Completes Digitization of 1,000+ Urdu Children’s Books
      Digitizing 1,000+ Urdu children's books, illustration of children reading Quran, Khajistan archive

      Khajistan Completes Digitization of 1,000+ Urdu Children’s Books

      Preservation Projects: Part of an Ongoing Series New York, NY — Khajistan has completed the digitization and preservation of a large, vulnerable co...
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    4. Read more: Emergency Preservation of Pakistan’s Early 2000s Sexploitation Cinema
      Archival film reels in labeled bags, preserving early 2000s Pakistani cinema, Khajistan project

      Emergency Preservation of Pakistan’s Early 2000s Sexploitation Cinema

      Preservation Projects: Part of an Ongoing Series Khajistan has acquired a vulnerable set of original 35mm reels containing five films from Pakistan...
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    FAQs

    • Khajistan is a New York-based archive, press, and shop preserving 150 years of censored, disavowed, and overlooked vernacular materials from the Middle World across print, film, politics, religion, erotica, and popular culture.

    • Middle World refers to the transregional civilizational sphere stretching from the Indus through Central Asia and Persia to the Middle East and North Africa, where interconnected Islamicate societies shared languages, literatures, scholarly networks, trade routes, and intellectual life for over a millennium. They saw their world as the center of history.

    • For insight into our philosophy and work, read our manifesto and the press sheet.

    • Founder & Director: Saad Khan
      Creative Director: Joey Chriqui
      Operations: Shira Grife
      Technologist: Amad Ansari

      Khajistan partners with collectors from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco, with archives housed and digitized in Quetta, Islamabad, Istanbul, and New York.

      Contact:

      For all communication:
      📧 info@khajistan.com

      To contact a specific team member, write to:
      [first name]@khajistan.com

    • Penn Libraries (University of Pennsylvania), SculptureCenter, Princeton University Library, New York University (NYU), Stanford Libraries, Lafayette College, University of Washington – Bothell, University of Texas, Queens Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Bodleian Libraries (University of Oxford), New York Public Library, and Library of Congress.

    • Toshakhana: Historical periodicals and manuscripts from the Islamicate world. Explore Toshakhana

      Bookshop: Early-midcentury books in Urdu, Pashto, Farsi, Sindhi, Turkish, Arabic, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi Punjabi, Seraiki and Hindi. Most books are published in local presses and themes include propaganda, local conspiracy theories, politics, religion, sex, poetry, art and society. Visit the Bookshop

      Merchandise/Bazaar: Custom-made products that reflect the cultural and historical themes of our archives. Check out Merchandise

      Digital Products: Digitized versions of our archived materials, including e-books, digital magazines, and other multimedia content, allowing you to access our collections from anywhere in the world. Explore Digital Products

    • TOSHAKHANA is Khajistan’s Special Collections. The current Toshakhana includes rare Persian and Urdu magazines from Iran and South Asia, Ottoman and Turkish erotica from Anatolia, propaganda ephemera from Iraq, Pakistan, and the United States, Judaica from across the Islamicate world, and historical film documents from Pakistan.

    • For merchandise, shipping times are typically 5–8 business days, depending on your location and the items ordered. Toshakhana and Bookshop orders are delivered within 1–2 weeks.

      Our Bazaar products are made to order rather than produced in bulk. This approach reduces overproduction, minimizes waste, and helps keep unused items out of landfills.

    • You can support Khajistan by purchasing our collections, books, and merchandise, by investing, donating, or becoming a stockist for our published books. Your contribution directly funds our work in preserving and promoting overlooked media from the Islamicate world.

    • Email us at info@khajistan.com.

    • Please email us directly with your area of interest and any relevant experience. We are looking for the following support:

      Interns: Assist in cataloging our extensive collection of physical materials in Islamabad, New York City, Istanbul and remotely.

      Programmers: We are seeking skilled back-end and front-end developers to enhance our digital infrastructure.

      Public Relations and Marketing: Help us spread awareness of our mission and work.

      Writers and Editors: Write and edit for our Madrassa.

      Film Archiving: Join us in scanning and archiving our selection of acquired "B" films from Pakistan.

      Digitization Partners: Support us with digitization processes of our vast collections of physical materials:

      Speaking Engagements: Invite us for guest lectures. You can request a call with with the founder here.

    Where Our Materials Are Held