The Field Between

Professor of Arabic Studies Suja Sawafta joins us for a broad-ranging conversation about her work which includes editing the 47th volume of the International Poetry Review (focused on the Arab Spring), her incredible piece in The Baffler titled 'Two Shores, One Sea' , and an upcoming project about Abdulrahman Munif, an exiled Saudi-Iraqi novelist.  Here is a link to the IRP's 47 volume: UNC Press...

We cover a lot on this one. We just got back from Portland, so we talk about how nice and definitely not racist it is. We discuss a few random things from Ahmed's feed, including the humiliation ritual Kamala Harris endured in Pittsburgh. Then we talk about the Palestine protests and look to Brett Stephens of the NYT for his sage advice.

UPDATE: something went wrong with the original file. Should be fixed now.   We take a break from house chores to answer some JUICY questions on some relationship subreddits.  

We discuss Algerian boxer Imane Khelif's (amazing) olympic performance, and subsequent debates prompted by her skill over the sex binary.  We then debate the merits of a potential Muslim planned community in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Better than the NC Disney planned community? Worse? Should the two concepts combine? Tune in to find out.

We talk about how the trip is going so far. We recorded this one using the laptop mic, so the audio is not the premium quality you've come to expect from TFB.

We planned on a very different episode, but it takes a turn halfway through because He is the best of all planners. We start off discussing NYT's The Daily podcast and how blind the media has been to Biden's sundowning tendencies, but then we end up reacting to the Biden news as it happened. We finish up with our predictions for what might happen with the presidential race, and the recent ICJ ruli...

Did you miss us? Thankfully nothing crazy happened while we were gone.   Getting back into the swing of things. You'll have to excuse the covid-induced lethargy. 

We made it to 50! 

We talk about Shaun King, who recently converted to Islam. Should Muslims entrust hundreds of thousands of dollars to a man who has a Saul Goodman-style approach to charity? Our answer may shock you.   Also in this episode is our second installment of what is sure to be a regular segment: Fatwa Frenzy! We discuss a 10th-Century legal case in which a Christian living in Muslim Spain tries to use th...

We give our review of Dune 2, then we go on to discuss our Ramadan goals. We debut our new segment FATWA FRENZY! Lastly, we update on the investigative reporting by The Intercept on the NYT's propagandistic piece titled 'Screams Without Words."   We are trying to bring more guests on the show, so if you have suggestions, please DM us on Instagram (the_field_between_pod), but also review us whereve...

Bunch of items at the top. We briefly go through some Gaza news, including the horrific self-immolation that happened in DC earlier today. Yasmine then discusses the legacy of Malcolm X.

Yasmine does a quick roundup of Palestine media, then we have a brief, unplanned discussion about despair.

Just the two of us again. Catching up on almost a month of Israel's war crimes and propaganda efforts.

We were thrilled to talk to author Abdul Rahman Latif about his newly published book 'Vultures In The House of Silence,' which combines elements of Islamic history and traditional story telling into a new and fun dark fantasy set at the end of times. In addition to being a published author, Abdul Rahman Latif is the Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College and a PhD candidate at Columbia University. Y...

Friend and lawyer, Zainab, joins us for broad conversation about Muslim marriage in a legal context. We focused mostly on where things might break down, and Zainab gives a really comprehensive review of some of the things that could go awry. This is a good listen for anyone, especially young Muslims, who is thinking of getting married. I think hearing Zainab will give you some crucial things to co...

We talk about the crucial New York Times piece about the brave young women who are shattering glass ceilings in the IDF. Really inspirational stuff. Almost makes you forget that in the background of it all is a horrific genocide being metted out by these girl-bosses.

Rate and subscribe! We're going to do our best to do more guest episodes and other fun stuff as we grow this baby.   Follow us on Instagram @the_field_between_pod 

Our friend Mehran joins for a conversation about Bangladesh's fight for indepence from Pakistan. We thought this was an important topic to cover for its own sake, but also to give us a better understanding of genocide and imperialism in Palestine. This ended up being a broad conversation, and Mehran did a fantastic job weaving between the main history we covered and present day Palestine.  We hope...

Enjoy! Don't forget to rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Content warning: Mentions of sexual violence   We give some general updates. Yasmine finished her first semester as a professor. Ahmed talks about a kinetic commerce situation. Then we talk about the latest attempt to characterize Palestinians and those sympathetic with Palestinian resistance as supporters of sexual violence. We also hit on the UPenn, MIT, and Harvard universities' presidents inab...

We talk about a couple of events we hosted recently, ask whether or not there is poop on every NYC sidewalk (the answer is yes). Very unstructured episode, but a fun one.   Stay tuned! We plan on watching/revieweing Joyland (been meaning to do this one for a long time now).   Please, for the love of God, rate/review and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Batata counts on your su...

We can hardly believe it either. POTUS takes time out of his busy schedule for a brief interview to talk to us about Arab-Americans' apprehension with voting for him in 2024.   If you haven't already, please check out our last episode with Samuel Hazo, an amazing Arab-American poet who helps us reflect on Gaza.   Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcas...

We sit down with LEGENDARY Arab-American poet Samuel Hazo, who invited us to his house to talk about his poetry (good and bad), war, and many other things. He recites a few of his poems toward the end. 

We were supposed to talk about our positions regarding whether or not to vote for Democrats in the upcoming presidential election, but we ended up talking at length about all of the half-assed propaganda floated by Israel over the last few days, as well as an incredible senate committee moment, and an update about the March for Israel in DC, which happened yesterday.   We'll save the original topi...

We cover some updates regarding the attacks on free speech of pro-Palestine activists, and then get into a discussion about the longstanding effort of the US and Israel to position themselves, in opposition to Arab/Muslim-majority countries, as bastions of freedom for queer people. This has long been a tool for the dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims and a cover for further violence, we also find...