The afikra Podcast

Nargisse Benkabbou talked about her approaches to Moroccan Cuisine and her chosen single ingredient: Tagine. Nargisse Benkabbou was raised in Brussels, where she grew up in a strongly food-oriented family that continually nurtured her connection with her roots and country of origin, Morocco. After living in Brussels and Paris, Nargisse moved to London to pursue her education in Politics only to re...

Andrew Simon talked about his latest book "Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt." Media of the Masses  investigates the social life of an everyday technology—the cassette tape—to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores. Andrew Simon is a historian of media, popular culture, and the...

Nada Shabout talked about her research and teaching that address modern and contemporary visual practices and problems of representation from a global perspective, emphasizing on questions of methodology and in relation to the cultural politics of the Middle East. Nada Shabout is a regent professor of art history and coordinator of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at th...

Farouk El-Baz talked about his career in archaeology, electrical engineering, space, and geology. He was a lead scientist on the NASA Apollo 11 team in 1969. Egyptian born Farouk El Baz has been research professor and director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University since 1986. While working with the Apollo Space Program (1967-72), he applied satellite imagery to moon surfaces and ch...

Omar Berrada talked about his major written works on migration and racial politics. Omar Berrada is a writer and curator, and the director of Dar al-Ma’mûn, a library and artists residency in Marrakech. His work focuses on the politics of translation and intergenerational transmission. He is the author of the poetry collection Clonal Hum (2020), and the editor or co-editor of several books, includ...

Ahmed Al-Refaie talked about his designs inspired by Middle Eastern cultures and traditions and brought in a vibrant and modern style. Ahmed Al-Refaie (OwaikeO) is an illustrator and graphic designer from Kuwait. Throughout his career, Ahmed’s fascination with the past grew year after year and has become focused on the Middle Eastern cultures and traditions brought in a vibrant and modern style. H...

Khaled Beydoun talked his work on race theory, islamophobia, national security policy, civil liberties, and citizenship. Khaled A. Beydoun is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, and Senior Affiliated Faculty at the University of California Berkeley Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project. A Critical Race Theorist, Professor Beydoun’s research exami...

Nadia Bseiso & Farah Foudeh talked about their different approaches to photography. Nadia Bseiso is a Jordanian documentary photographer based in Amman. She completed a degree in photography from Florence, Italy in 2011, returning for a residency in Fondazione Fotografia in Modena, in 2015. She concentrates on long term projects, based on personal research in geopolitics, history, anthropology and...

Christina Riggs talked about ancient Egypt and how the fields of archaeology, art history, and Egyptology developed in tandem with colonial and imperial expansion. Christina is historian of photography and archaeology, with a particular interest in North Africa and the Middle East. Her research has considered how different people, at different times, have imagined, studied, and represented the cul...

Mariam Al-Dhubhani talked about her latest project, "Musalem: Beekeeping in Yemen - A 360 VR Experience Film." Mariam Al-Dhubhani is a Yemeni-Russian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, curator, and educator based in the MENA region. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings and co-founded her first media production. Created & hosted by Mikey Muhanna , afikra  Edited...

Huda Fakhreddine talked about modernist movements or trends in Arabic poetry and their relationship to the Arabic literary tradition. Huda Fakhreddine’s work focuses on modernist movements or trends in Arabic poetry and their relationship to the Arabic literary tradition. She is interested in the role of the Arabic qaṣīda as a space for negotiating the foreign and the indigenous, the modern and th...

Jill Jarvis talked about the aesthetics and politics of North Africa and her book “Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony.”  Jill Jarvis specializes in the aesthetics and politics of North Africa. Her forthcoming book, Decolonizing Memory : Algeria and the Politics of Testimony, brings together close readings of fiction with analyses of juridical, theoretical, and activist text...

Youssef Rakha talked about his writing on post-Muslim perspectives in Arabic and Egyptian literature. Youssef Rakha is a novelist, poet, essayist and journalist who writes in both Arabic and English. His interests include Arab porn and the possibility of a post-Muslim perspective. His first two novels The Book of the Sultan’s Seal and The Crocodiles appeared in English in early 2015. Frequently an...

Zeyn Joukhadar talked about his book ‘The Thirty Names of Night: A Novel’ . Zeyn Joukhadar is the author of the novels The Map of Salt and Stars, 2018, and The Thirty Names of Night, 2020 and a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI). His work has appeared in KINK: Stories(eds. RO Kwon & Garth Greenwell),  Salon, The Paris Review,Shondaland, [PANK], Mizna,  and elsewhere. He has been...

John Karam talked about his work on Arab cultural studies in Brazil at Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies at University of Urbana-Champaign. John Tofik Karam was born and raised in upstate New York, hearing stories that his maternal grandmother recounted of her birthplace, a town she called “trinta e três,” literally thirty-three. He heard fewer stories about his paternal grandparents who departe...

Sheikha Reem Al Thani and Abdullatif Al-Jasmi talked about repurposing heritage buildings in Doha, Qatar. Reem Al Thani is now the Director of Exhibitions at Qatar Museums and is responsible for design and production of all temporary and permanent exhibitions for all affiliated museums and exhibition venues locally and internationally. Andullatif Al-Jasmi is the Director of the Cultural Heritage P...

Basma Hamdy, Diane C. Derr, Maysaa Al-Mumin & Denielle Emans talked about the directing processes of Radical Futures. Tasmeem Doha 2022 is an international, biennial art and design conference hosted and organized by VCUarts Qatar since 2004. Tasmeem Doha 2022: Radical Futures is an inclusive and multi-faceted view of the future, one that not only speculates on technological advancements—but on fut...

Mohamed Elshahed talked about Cairo Modern. The exhibition showcases works by Egyptian modernists from the 1920s to the 1970s, half a century of rich architectural production that complicate our present understanding of global modernism. The exhibition introduces audiences to key architects from the period such as Sayed Karim (pictured) as well as examples of their works commissioned by the state...

Toot Ard performed three musical pieces: Moonlight, Trouble Watan & Wanderlust. TootArd, Arabic for "Strawberry", was formed in 2010 by brothers Hasan and Rami Nakhleh. All band members grew up in Majdal Shams. The band started by performing in the Golan Heights, later travelling to Jerusalem, Palestine and Europe. The band's style is mixed. Their first album, Nuri Andaburi , is heavily inspired b...

Eve Troutt Powell talked her research on modern Middle East and the history of slavery in the Nile Valley and the Ottoman Empire. Eve M. Troutt Powell emphasizes the exploration of literature and film in her courses. She is the author of A Different Shade of Colonialism: Egypt, Great Britain and the Mastery of the Sudan (University of California, 2003) and the co-editor, with John Hunwick, of The...

Lina Mounzer talked about her career as a writer and translator. Lina’s work has appeared in the  New York Times , the  Paris Review ,  1843 ,  Literary Hub , and  Bidoun , as well as in the anthologies  Hikayat: An Anthology of Lebanese Women’s Writing  (Telegram Books: 2007) and  Tales of Two Planets  (Penguin Books: 2020) an anthology of writing on climate change and inequality. Created and hos...

Kareem James Abu-Zeid talked about his translations of ‘Exhausted on the Cross”by Najwan Darwish and “Confessions” by Rabee Jaber. Kareem James Abu-Zeid is a translator, editor, writer, teacher, and scholar who works across multiple languages. As an acclaimed translator of Arabic literature, he works with prominent English-language publishing houses to introduce the writings of Arab poets and nove...

James Barr talked about his book ‘A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that shaped the Middle East’ .  A Line in the Sand vividly tells the story of the short but crucial era when Britain and France ruled the Middle East. James is a leading historian of the modern Middle East and author of the widely-acclaimed A Line In The Sand and Lords of the Desert . He is now working on a hist...

Basel Rajoub performed three musical pieces: Tashkent, duclar improvisation & Devil's Whistle. Basel Rajoub is a worldwide known saxophonist and composer. His music can be described as contemporary tradition-based music inspired by Middle Eastern rhythms, melodic modes and jazz. Created & Hosted by Mikey Muhanna , afikra  Edited by: Ramzi Ramman Theme music by: Tarek Yamani https://www.instagram.c...

Rima Khcheich performed three musical pieces: Al Sama'a wel Rah, Harram El Noum & Washwishni. Rima Khcheich is well renowned for having given its rebirth to the Andalusian form Muwashah, as well as to the traditional Arabic repertoire of the 19th and 20th Century that she both teaches and explores. Created & Hosted by Mikey Muhanna , afikra  Edited by: Ramzi Ramman Theme music by: Tarek Yamani htt...