In the chap­ter titled “By the Riv­er Tigris, 2014”, Nar­in con­vers­es with her Grand­ma about past expe­ri­ences relat­ed to cul­tur­al myths and the feel­ings of iso­la­tion that arise from such beliefs. Her Grand­ma recounts a painful mem­o­ry of her younger broth­er being ostra­cized by peers, reveal­ing the under­ly­ing prej­u­dices about their cul­ture. As they dri­ve towards Iraq, excit­ed and feel­ing grown up, Nar­in reflects on her fam­i­ly’s her­itage and the jour­ney ahead.

Upon reach­ing Cizre, Grand­ma intro­duces Nar­in to a notable fig­ure from their cul­ture, the sci­en­tist Al-Jazari, who lived in Upper Mesopotamia. Through Grand­ma’s sto­ries, Nar­in learns about Al-Jazari’s pas­sion for water and his remark­able inven­tions, includ­ing a mechan­i­cal pea­cock that dis­pens­es water and atten­dants with soap and tow­els. Nar­in is fas­ci­nat­ed, and her father shares that Al-Jazari’s pio­neer­ing designs are kept in muse­ums in Amer­i­ca, which spurs a con­ver­sa­tion about cul­tur­al own­er­ship and the acces­si­bil­i­ty of their his­to­ry. Grand­ma express­es con­cern over West­ern­ers pos­sess­ing and show­cas­ing their her­itage, feel­ing a pro­found dis­con­nect from the arti­facts now housed abroad.

The fam­i­ly dis­cuss­es how Al-Jazari’s iden­ti­ty is viewed dif­fer­ent­ly depend­ing on the per­spec­tive of Arab, Iran­ian, or Kur­dish indi­vid­u­als, high­light­ing issues sur­round­ing cul­tur­al recog­ni­tion and belong­ing. Despite the era­sure of his­tor­i­cal fig­ures like Al-Jazari due to neglect, Narin’s father reas­sures her that their fam­i­ly holds the mem­o­ries alive, describ­ing them as the “mem­o­ry tribe.”

Their jour­ney leads them to the Tigris Riv­er, where Grand­ma rem­i­nisces about the rich wildlife that once thrived in the region, such as oryx­es and lions, now lost due to hunt­ing and the destruc­tion brought forth by dev­as­ta­tion relat­ed to war and polit­i­cal upheaval. The fam­i­ly recalls the beau­ty and fer­til­i­ty of the marsh­lands, recount­ing the adverse effects of past regimes that left their home­land bar­ren. Narin’s father cul­mi­nates the reflec­tions by explain­ing the trag­ic fate of Yazi­di com­mu­ni­ties dis­placed by gov­ern­men­tal actions and the ongo­ing per­il sur­round­ing the Mosul Dam, empha­siz­ing the fragili­ty of their his­to­ry and the hope for preser­va­tion amidst adver­si­ty.