(AINA) – A new French-language book titled „Pour L’amour d’une Mére – Itinéraires d’un
Assyro-Chaldéen“ (For the Love of a Mother – Travel Paths of an Assyro-Chaldean) is
published by Editions du Cerf (Paris) and authored by Joseph Jacoub and Pascal Maguesyan. It is
an autobiographical book with interviews, conducted by Pascal Maguesyan.
This book tells the story of a life. At the same time it is
the story of the Assyrian-Chaldeans as Christian people
in the Middle East. A people striving to cultivate the
memory of the centuries and build a possible future,
against the backdrop of oppression and oblivion in its
homeland; continuing a struggle for truth between
martyrdom and splendor.
Diving into the depths of his mother tongue, Aramaic,
the language of Christ, and into his religious heritage,
which dates back to the dawn of Christianity in the East,
Joseph Yacoub takes us to the sources of his native land
of Mesopotamia and tells the story of his people,
marked by the genocide from which his parents were
survivors.
Joseph Yacoub shares with us his human, intellectual and
spiritual journey. He tells us about his family and
community life, marked by wandering and tragedy, from
Iran to the Caucasus, from Georgia to Syria (Hassaké) and
from Lebanon to France, which led him to ask: Who am
I? Who are we? What is our place in diaspora, that is, in the countries of dispersion?
A moving story that delivers the most universal of messages, illuminating today’s burning issues
in the light of the terrible past.
Honorary professor at the Catholic University of Lyon and first holder of the UNESCO Chair in
Memory, Cultures and Interculturality, Joseph Yacoub is the author of numerous books, including
„Oubliés de tous: les Assyro-Chaldéens du Caucase“ (Forgotten by all: the Assyro-Chaldeans of the
Caucasus), co-written with Claire Yacoub, and „Qui s’en souviendra“ (Who will remember)?
Pascal Maguesyan is a travel writer and photographer, and co-founder of the Mesopotamia
association. He is the author of several books, including Chrétiens d’Orient : ombres et lumières and
Mesopotamia, une aventure patrimoniale en Irak.
By Abdulmesih BarAbraham
