The Queer Arabs

We had a wonderful guest for this episode named Sarah; her musician name is Sharouh.  Sarah grew up in France, and has a Tunisian-Greek Jewish background.  We talked about Sarah’s work as a musician these days in Madrid (where she now lives), as well as musicians who have inspired her.  We also talked about international work Sarah has been able to do, using music as a tool for cultural exch...

الحلقه ٢٢ بالعربي: مقابله مع طارق زيدان المدير التنفيذي في #جمعيه_حلم في #لبنان. تكلمنا مع طارق عن بداياته في النشاط الاجتماعي والحقوقي. نشاطات الجمعيه الحاليه و اوضاع #مجتمع_الميم في #لبنان. Episode 22 in Arabic: An interview with Tarek Zeidan, the executive director of #Helem (a leading LGBT organization in Lebanon). We walked about Tarek’s experience with activism, Helem’s current activit...

  We learned so much from Tarek Zeidan and are so grateful to have connected with him.  Tarek is the Executive Director of the organization Helem, a non-profit working on improving the legal and social status of LGBT folks.  Helem is in Lebanon, and the name translates to “Dream.”  In this episode, we discussed Stonewall and the vitality of remembering what Pride is about.  We als...

We got to talk to the absolutely incredible comedians Eman El-Husseini and Jess Salomon!  As their website says, it’s most likely hummus that brings them together.  Eman (who’s Palestinian) and Jess (who’s Jewish) joined us to talk about how they met, their comedy both in Canada and the U.S., and their lives in New York City.  They also have gorgeous comics that are illustrated b...

الحلقه ٢١ بالعربي: لقاء مع امير عاشور (مؤسس و المدير التنفيذي لمنظمه عراق كوير). تكلمنا عن اوضاع #مجتمع_الميم في #العراق، نشاطات منظمه #عراق_كوير و تجربه امير من دراسه حقوق الانسان في #جامعه_كولومبيا في نيويورك. Arabic Episode 21: An interview with Amir Ashour (IraQueer’s executive director). We talked about the queer movement in #Iraq, IraQueer’s activities, and Amir’s experience studying human r...

It was so good talking with Neda Shaheen, who works for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (https://www.adc.org) in Washington, DC.  We talked about the organization and the role Neda has within it.  We also talked about the asylum process in the United States, the overall justice system, and so much more.  Neda is incredibly brilliant and we are so grateful to her cousin Leila (check...

What’s that? Belly dancers should have long hair and shave their legs and underarms? Well, not this one! A UN award winner and named by the BBC top 100 influential women worldwide, this Egyptian, hairy, bearded, pierced and tattooed Queer Refugee dancer will give you a very authentic performance with a twist! ♥ We will not conform to your gender roles ♥ In this episode, we talked about belly...

الحلقه ٢٠ بالعربي: مقابله من فاطمه. ناشطه في مجال حقوق مجتمع الميم في #كندا. تكلمنا عن #شهر_الفخر و #احتفال_الفخر_العالمي و الجدل المثار حول موضوع #مسيره_الفخر في مقاطعه #البرتا في #كندا Arabic Episode 20: an interview with Fatima. A #queer activist from #canada. We talked about the #pride month, #worldpride, and the controversy surrounding #pride in #Alberta #canada

Louna, co-founder of the space be’kech (a queer, Muslim, women-led community space in Berlin, Germany), joined us for this episode.  Be’kech combines the words “Berlin” and “Marrakech” to reflect the cities of origin of the co-founders (Louna’s roots are in Marrakech, Morocco and Nina’s are in Berlin).  We also talked about Noon Festival, which is ha...

Noon Festival in Berlin has begun!  This is Germany’s first festival centering queer, of colour and Muslim identity.  It started on May 15 and will continue until the 31st!  Erkxn Affan has been organizing this along with be’kech Berlin, and Erkxn curated the festival.  It was wonderful talking to them and hearing about their background, about the importance of having a festival like t...

الحلقه ١٩ بالعربي: لقاء مع ادم داركو. شاب #عابر_جنسيا من #الجزائرى و يوتوبر . تكلمنا عن نشاه ادم في الجزائر. قصه عبوره و رحلته إلى مكان أقامته الجديد في #كندا. Arabic Episode 19: An interview with Adam Darko: Adam is an #Algerian #TransMan and Youtuber. We talked about Adam’s experience growing up in #Algeria, his transition, and the incredible journey to his current home in #Canada.

Ellie and Alia talked about the show Ramy, read and answered a question from a wonderful listener, and talked about the experience of podcasting in the past year and how it has affected us.  It’s been a great year and we look forward to more of them with you all!    

We got to talk with Fatima, living in Edmonton, who witnessed firsthand the issues that led to Edmonton Pride getting canceled.  This is a case of queer POC folks getting shut down and ignored, which is sadly something that happens way too often even within the queer population.  Queer people of color are already marginalized, and to be further marginalized by fellow queer people is incredibly iso...

We are so incredibly grateful and excited that we have writer Saleem Haddad on our podcast!  This was an excellent discussion during which we talked about Saleem’s novel Guapa, some of his essays, and his latest work.  “Marco” is a short film that Saleem wrote and directed; it just premiered recently in Tunisia and the UK.  It’s a 20-minute film that carried the intellectua...

الحلقه ١٨ بالعربي: لقاء مع الكاتب و الناقد الكويري العربي موسى الشديدي. مؤسس و مدير موقع سينمجي و مؤلف كتاب “جنسانيه ام كلثوم” Episode 18 in Arabic: an interview with Musa Shadeedi, a queer Arab author and critic, founder and director of Cinamji, & author of “Um Kalthom’s Sexuality” and other books. Painting credit: Lena Kassicieh الصورهً من عمل الفنانة لينا قساوسة Get the book: ht...

It was such an amazing surprise, while we were in Tampa, to learn from our friend Nadia about the Arab Festival that happened to be going on that weekend.  The organization Art2Action was one of the cosponsors of this amazing event.  Alia attended the festival and knew that contacting Andrea Assaf was a must after that!  We ended up recording an excellent episode not long after the festival, and i...

Reem, otherwise known as MEER off rap duo COOL TAN (p.k.a HEAVY)  is a Lebanese/Palestinian/Iraqi wordsmith, poet and artist. Her raw and unapologetic raps speak about suffering and mental health. Her music journey creates a platform for others who are also living with depression from strict cultural traditions. Reem has been involved in other bands such as COOL TAN (previously known as HEAVY) the...

الحلقه ١٧ بالعربي: حوار مع ميس عن حياتها في #العراق، #الكويت و #سوريا. تكلمنا عن دراسات ميت و تحاربها في مجالات الكومبيوتر، علم الاجتماع و القضايا المتعلقة بمجتمع الميم Arabic Episode 17: A conversation with Mais about life in #Iraq, #Syria, #Kuwait, and #Colorado. Her study of computer science, sociology, and queer issues. Instagram: mais_nema Gmail: mais.alnima@gmail.com

        Meet Adam Darko, an Algerian Youtuber and hip hop artist.  We talked to him about his experience as a trans guy from Algeria, his recent move to Canada, and more.  The conversation was very cathartic and we talked about the challenges that happen and the strength that comes from having that SWANA/queer intersection.  Adam is such a beautiful person and we are so glad we got to connect.  Fo...

We talked to Leila Khoury, a Syrian-American graduate student who is currently working toward a Master of Architecture and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  This was such an incredible conversation about a topic that does not get nearly enough attention: the theft and cultural appropriation of cultural and historic objects from so much of the wo...

During this episode, we got to talk to two of the wonderful people behind the children’s book You Be You! Explaining Gender, Love & Family.   We talked to the author of the book – Jonathan Branfman (pictured below) – and the translator of the Arabic version of the book, Aseel Houmsse.  We are very grateful to have a copy of the Arabic version of this important book, and we hi...

We got to talk to Quinn Fati, a beautifully badass human we met last year at Yallapunk.  They’re a visual artist and a musician; during this episode, we talked about exploring different areas of art throughout life and how important it is to allow oneself to do that.  We also talked about body hair and how everyone should feel free to keep or get rid of their own body hair in the way they go...

Alireza Shojaian is an incredible artist from Iran who is living in Beirut.  One of our recent guests – Munir – was kind enough to get us in touch with him!  We were destined to talk to him, as it turns out that we had seen his work in New York City last year at Mark for Redaction (check out the episode from that event here: https://thequeerarabs.com/podcast/episode-37-in-english-mark-...

Arabic Episode 16: An update from #Lebanon with Hadi Damien (Beirut Pride’s Coordinator). We talked about the media in #Lebanon, legal updates regarding #Grinder, and the pending bill regarding #HIV. الحلقه ١٦ بالعربي: مستجدات من لبنان من هادي داميان (منسق بيروت برايد). تكلمنا عن مستجدات الإعلام في #لبنان و القضايا القانونية المتعلقة ب #غرايندر والقانون المقترح بصدد فيروس نقص المناعة المكتسب.

Raphael Khouri, a playwright who lives in Germany, is in Vienna at the moment for their play, She He Me, to be shown at the Kosmos Theater!  The Jordanian playwright is bringing such important queer (specifically trans) Arab representation to theater.  It was truly an honor to talk to Raphael, and we love the work they’re doing.  Thank you all for listening!  To get in touch with Raphael, yo...