The afikra Podcast

What does it mean to decolonize our thinking? In this episode of the afikra podcast, we chat with Idriss Jebari, assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin, and discuss language, colonialism and 20th century North Africa. Tracking the transformation of North African countries through colonialism and independence, we learn about the ways that thinkers through the decades have approached decoloni...

Venetia Porter is an Honorary Research Fellow at the British Museum. Formerly Curator of Islamic and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art at the British Museum, her published titles include "Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa", "The Islamic World: A History in Objects", "Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam" and "Word Into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East".  Her moth...

This episode of the afikra podcast was recorded on April 10th at 1pm Palestine Time Lorenzo Kamel teaches Global History and History of the Middle East and North Africa at the University of Turin. He has held teaching and research positions at Harvard University, the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, ‘Ain Shams University in Cairo, and a number of other universities in Europe and the Middle Eas...

A masterclass in philanthropy in the MENA region. Maysa Jalbout has founded many private and corporate foundations along with starting the Queen Rania Foundation and being the founding CEO of the Al Ghurair Foundation. With over 25 years of experience in philanthropy in the Arab world, she offers a clear introduction to philanthropy in the region, points out its limits, and how it's changing. Refl...

The history of North Africa is infinitely complex and barbed with post-colonial tensions. In this conversation, Professor Brahim El Guabli helps to shed light on this region's history through an Amazigh lens. He tells us about the violence of the word "Berber", Morocco's Years of Lead, and qualifying French as a colonial language or not. The episode touches on the Jewish population of Morocco, sea...

Life as a human rights attorney in Egypt. Tahrir Square in 2011. How protests transforms into revolutions. It's all in this episode of the afikra podcast with professor Atif Said from the University of Illinois Chicago. He talks about rule of Law, liberalism, and what revolutions really mean in the Arab world, challenging its common definitions in reference to (de)coloniality, and offering an unde...

Architect, researcher, and associate professor at Zayed University, Roberto Fabbri, joined us on the afikra podcast to talk about Kuwait’s architectural transformation between 1949 and 1989 which he co-wrote a book about (with Sara Saragoça Soares and Ricardo Camacho) titled “Modern Architecture Kuwait 1949 - 1989”. In this deep dive into Kuwait’s architecture, Roberto contrasts “old Kuwait” and “...

In this episode of the afikra podcast, Professor Michael Christoper Low – director of the Middle East Center at The University of Utah – explains how Mecca and its burgeoning influx of pilgrims from around the world — transported by the recently invented steamships — became ground zero for cholera. He maps out how this situated the Hejaz within broader colonial interests. We reflect on perceptions...

In this Ehkili episode with Zahra Hankir we discuss her book "Eyeliner: A Cultural History", the cultural significance of eyeliner, and the process of putting together an intersectional and cross-cultural study of its history. Zahra highlights eyeliner’s role as a cultural artifact, its use for protective, aesthetic and religious purposes, and how her book tries to decolonize the misunderstandings...

M'hamed Oualdi – professor of history at Paris' Sciences Po University – joins us on the afikra podcast to delve into the often obscured and forgotten history of slavery in North Africa. Starting with his book "A Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa", he talks about why there's a pointed absence of awareness around the Arab world's own history of slavery, and details the...

In this episode of the afikra podcast, we tackle the alternative histories of Beirut, planning cities that put communities first, and rethinking public spaces. Mona Fawaz — co-founder of Beirut Urban Lab and professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the American University of Beirut (AUB) — tells us about her research into Lebanon's temporary settlements, unearthing alternative histories of Beiru...

Read about Bahrain's Dilmun Mounds 👉 https://www.afikra.com/daftarjournal/dilmun-mounds Civil Architecture is a cultural practice pre-occupied with the making of buildings and books about them. Civil's work asks what it means to produce architecture in a decidedly un-civil time, presenting a new civic character for a global condition. Since its founding by Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Ismail Karimi,...

Rajat Malhotra — partner at Sole DXB: Dubai's annual footwear, music, art and lifestyle festival — comes on the afikra podcast to talk about bringing street culture to his home city. He shares what it was like starting the festival alongside his co-founders, reflects on his favorite acts from over the years, and what it's really like to curate an event of this scale. Rajat also reflects on Dubai's...

Renowned professor of ethics, law and political thought and leading scholar of Islamic Legal Studies, Dr Wael Hallaq, joins us on this episode of the afikra podcast to discuss Sharia law, the modern state, Legal Orientalism, and the idea of a "stateless" yet still orderly world. Dr Hallaq deals with reductionist understandings of Sharia law, critiques modernism and the modern state, and breaks dow...

Maysoon Zayid , Palestinian comedian, actress, graphic novel author and co-creator of the NY Arab-American Comedy Festival, joins us on the afikra podcast to talk all things comedy, Palestine, Arab-America, and advocating for the disabled community. Maysoon talks about how she grew up to be the confident, unapologetic, publicly Palestinian comedian we know and love today. She gives us an insight i...

The first of three live Design Doha podcast recordings features an interview with the Biennial's deputy director Fahad Al Obaidly. He takes us behind the scenes of Design Doha, breaks down what "Celebrating Regional Design Excellence" means in practice, and how the Biennial roots itself in locality. Fahad tells us about the strength of the design industry in the Arab World as well as his personal...

Marwan Kraidy , CEO and Dean of Northwestern Qatar and leading scholar of global communication and media, joins us on the afikra podcast to discuss media, truth, and journalism in the Arab world. This episode dives into the impact of mobile phones, reflects on whether social media is a force for good or not, and explores the notion of “socio-political maturity”. We discuss how the center of gravit...

Art historian, educator and author Jonathan Bloom joins us on the afikra podcast to talk about paper, print and the Islamic world. He talks us through changing understandings of "Islamic" art and architecture through the decades, explains the premise of his book "Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World" and whether it's worth using the term "Islamic Art" in the fir...

Wael Al Awar is an architect and founder of waiwai alongside Kazuma Yamao — an architectural, landscape, urban, interior and graphic design studio with offices in Dubai and Tokyo. Waiwai takes a highly contextual approach to address social, environmental and technological questions through design. Wael was the chief Curator of the National Pavilion of the UAE for the Bienalle di Venezia 2020 and 2...

Waleed Ziad is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus" which won the Albert Hourani Prize. His research concerns the historical and philosophical foundations of Muslim revivalism and revivalist responses to internal political fragmentation and colonialism in the "Persiante" world.   Theme m...

John Esposito is a Professor of Religion and International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is the Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and The Bridge Initiative: Protecting Pluralism - Ending Islamophobia in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. He has written over 55 books including "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam", "The Futu...

Wendy Shaw is an art historian and professor of the Art History of Islamic Cultures at the Freie Universität berlin. Her book "What is 'Islamic' Art?: Between Religion and Perception" explores the perceptions of arts, including painting, music and geometry through the discursive sphere of historical Islam including the Qur'an, Hadith, Sufism, ancient philosophy, and poetry. By emphasizing the expe...

Laila Soliman is an independent Egyptian theater director and playwright who lives and works in Cairo. Born in Cairo, she gained a degree in theater and Arabic literature from the American University in Cairo and a MA at Dasarts in Amsterdam.  Her performances have been shown across the Arab world, India, South Africa and Europe. Her first opera production – Woman at Point 0 – based on Nawal el Sa...

We reflect on why it's difficult to put an exact date on when al-Andalus actually "ended", the brotherhood it has created between Spain and Morocco and the importance of these interconnected histories. Finally, Eric shares how music and dance led him to study al-Andalus and why he chose to explore this topic from five different perspectives including from Pan-Arab, Feminist and Palestinian viewpoi...

We sat down with Mehdi Benchaabane, director of Qatar Academy Doha, to discuss the current advantages and shortfalls of AI in the classroom. We discuss the significant questions AI has raised around educational honesty and integrity, key concerns at all levels from students, educators and policymakers to parents, and whether the educational system as a whole is broken. Mehdi highlights the unique...