from NASHVILLE to ERBIL
Two cities, three generations, and 50 years of shared history
Nashville is home to the largest Kurdish community in the United States. And after more than a decade of effort, Nashville became sister cities with Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, in 2023.
WPLN News wanted to learn more about how this community came to be, and about the unique connection between our two regions. So, we’re going to Kurdistan.
WPLN’s temporary foreign correspondent Rose Gilbert is spending five weeks in Erbil. The result will be in-depth and sound-rich stories that travel through time and space.
Louisville, Kentucky native Rose Gilbert is a reporter who covers breaking news, nuanced community stories and everything from arts and culture to the state legislature. Before that, she was one of the founding producers of WPLN’s daily show, This Is Nashville. She’s spending five weeks in Erbil, Kurdistan to visit some of the great landmarks in the shared history of our sister cities, including family homes, government offices and ancient cultural sites.
Dispatches from Erbil
Nashville’s Little Kurdistan
Timeline: the shared history of Nashville and Kurdistan
This project is funded in part by a grant from Humanities Tennessee, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The findings and conclusions of this project do not necessarily represent the views of Humanities Tennessee or of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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