Kerning Cultures | Middle East

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We're thrilled to share another podcast from Kerning Cultures Network with you: al empire.al empire returns for Season 3 with more stories of exceptional Arabs from around the world and their journey to the top, from comedians and entrepreneurs to musicians and media mavericks. This season of al empire, we're also releasing the full uncut video episodes online.In this episode, we sit down with Palestinian-American stand-up comedian and actor Mo Amer.Mo always knew he wanted to be a comedian, and he has turned that life-long passion into an incredible career in stand-up, TV, film, and many other mediums. The star of Mo, Ramy, DC's Black Adam, and many Netflix specials like The Vagabond sits down with Dana Ballout to kick off Season 3 of al empire. They discuss his early years as a Palestinian refugee in Houston, TX, touring comedy clubs in post-9/11 America, and how he hopes to “influence the culture” with his art.This episode is hosted by Dana Ballout. Produced by Finbar Anderson and Alex Atack with additional support from Ahmed Ashour. Edited by Alex Atack and Ahmed Ashour. Research and fact checking by Deena Sabry. Sound design by Monzer El-Hachem. Special thanks to Majd Bani Odeh, and Quincy at Sacred Stone Media in Houston, Texas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since our series about 'Aizen' ended, many of you have been in touch asking for an update on his story. When we left you at the end of the last episode, he had arrived in Europe, three years after leaving his home in Kabul and travelling through a labyrinth of smuggler networks. He claimed asylum in the UK, but his case was in limbo... Now we have an update for you. This episode was produced by Al Shaibani and edited by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout. Fact checking was by Deena Sabry, and sound design was by Paul Alouf. Artwork by Ahmad Salhab. Batoul Khalifeh is our operations manager. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

When Elaine Mokhtefi landed in newly independent Algeria in the early 1960s, she was only planning for a short visit. But she quickly found herself at the centre of a special period in the country's history, as Algiers played host to liberation groups from across the world – earning a reputation as the “Mecca of revolution”. In this unlikely setting, Elaine moved in the same circles as world famous radicals, rag tag political parties, spies and military leaders. And she became an unlikely sidekick to one of the most iconic liberation groups of our time, just as it was beginning to fall apart. This episode was produced by Deena Sabry and Alex Atack, and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking by Eman Alsharif, sound design by Mohamad Khreizat, Paul Alouf and Alex Atack. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Elaine's book is Algiers: Third World Capital Justin's book is Revolution or Death: The Life of Eldridge Cleaver Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

Two stories about two streets, and the justices and injustices hidden in their names. Follow us to Tehran and Khartoum as we uncover two histories brought together by one common denominator.  This episode originally aired in February 2021, and was produced by Zeina Dowidar with editing by Dana Ballout. Additional support from Nadeen Shaker, Alex Atack, Shraddha Joshi, and Abde Amr. Fact checking by Shraddha Joshi, sound design by Zeina Dowidar and Alex Atack, with mixing by Mohamed Khreizat.

When Heba was very young, there was a knock at the door at her home in Lebanon. It was another family from the village, claiming that they knew her… from a past life. Now, as an adult, she still wonders: Have I always been Heba? Or was there another life before this one? This episode was produced by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi, and sound design by Paul Alouf. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

You might remember Somali bananas from your childhood, lining the shelves at your local supermarket. During the late 80s and early 90s, Somalia made millions of dollars exporting its coveted bananas to Italy and the Middle East. But this thriving export business ground to a halt suddenly in 1991, when the country was thrown into the grip of a civil war. Decades later, farmers have returned home to try and bring the Somali banana back to its former glory. But with so much standing in their way – ruined farmland, the threat of Al Shabab, and the ghosts of warring militias and multinational banana companies – will they succeed? This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker and Sawsan Abdillahi and edited by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Fact checking was by Deena Sabry and sound design by Monzer El-Hachem. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar and Finbar Anderson. Find a transcript for this episode at our website. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

'Yasir?' That's too difficult. I'll just call you Tony. This episode originally aired in October 2017. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support this podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 a month.

In 2014, the palaeontologist Nizar Ibrahim went public with an astonishing discovery he'd made while studying a set of dinosaur bones from the Moroccan Sahara. But almost immediately, it caused a rift amongst his colleagues – forcing them to question everything they'd ever known about their work. This is the strange and chaotic story of Nizar's discovery – how it upended everything we know about dinosaurs – and the unlikely, devastating saga behind humankind's pursuit of the truth about the Spinosaurus. This episode was produced by Alex Atack and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking was by Deena Sabry and sound design by Youssef Douazou. Our team also includes Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Nagi Daifallah was a young farm worker from Yemen who moved to California in the early 1970s, when he was just 20 years old. He went on to become one of the organisers of the influential 1973 grape strikes in California, led by Cesar Chavez. But one night, after a day of striking, he was beaten to death by a local county sheriff outside a restaurant in Lamont, California. Although the sheriff who killed him never faced justice, Nagi's story - and the movement he helped organise - went on to make real change to farm workers' rights in America, and continues to inspire Yemeni American activists today. This episode originally aired in April 2021. This episode was produced by Suzanne Gaber and Will Thomson, and edited by Dana Ballout. Additional support on this episode from Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar, Shraddha Joshi and Abde Amr. Sound design by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

After finally reaching Europe, Aizen was back in jail. He had calculated that the journey from Afghanistan to France would take three months. But more than two years later, he was somewhere completely different. Then, finally, his luck started to turn. This episode was produced by Al Shaibani and edited by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout, with editorial support from Heba El-Sherif. Fact checking was by Eman Elsherif and Deena Sabry, and sound design was by Monzer El Hachem and Paul Alouf. Artwork by Ahmad Salhab. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Through smugglers, barbed wire fences and forests, Aizen arrives in Europe. But the sense of relief he feels at making it this far is short-lived: the physical and mental toll of travelling so far from home begins to weigh heavy. This episode was produced by Al Shaibani and edited by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout, with editorial support from Heba El-Sherif. Fact checking was by Eman Elsherif and Deena Sabry, and sound design was by Monzer El Hachem and Paul Alouf. Artwork by Ahmad Salhab. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

‘A game' is what smugglers and migrants call attempting to cross illegally from one country to another. As Aizen leaves his childhood behind in Afghanistan, his only way to get to Europe is to play the game, travelling through this dangerous network of human traffickers. This episode was produced by Al Shaibani and edited by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout, with editorial support from Heba El-Sherif. Fact checking was by Eman Elsherif and Deena Sabry, and sound design was by Monzer El Hachem and Paul Alouf. Artwork by Ahmad Salhab. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

‘Aizen' says he's the most unlucky person in the world. This football-obsessed teenager from Afghanistan grew up in the chaos of Kabul, and at 15, was imprisoned in one of the worst adult prisons in the world. All for a crime he didn't commit. In this four part series, we're following Aizen's journey as he leaves his childhood in Afghanistan behind for what he hopes will be a better life in Europe. This episode was produced by Al Shaibani and edited by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout, with editorial support from Heba El-Sherif. Fact checking was by Eman Elsherif and Deena Sabry, and sound design was by Monzer El Hachem and Paul Alouf. Artwork by Ahmad Salhab. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

When you think of good quality olive oil, which countries first come to mind? This week, we're travelling to the heart of the world's largest exporter of organic olive oil to learn all about the liquid gold that graces dinner tables around the globe. And it's not where you'd expect. This episode was produced by Zeina Dowidar and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking by Deena Sabry and sound design by Youssef Douazou. Our team also includes Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Kaia Olive Oil is on Instagram at @worldofkaia and at worldofkaia.com. You can find a transcript for this episode at our website: kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

A father and daughter journey to their ancestral homeland, looking to track down the place their family had lived before being forced to flee the Armenian genocide. They're among hundreds of Armenian families who, over the last three decades, have returned to their ancestors' home on a search for answers, in a country that that still denies the genocide ever took place. This episode was produced by Alex Atack and Deena Sabry, and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking was by Deena Sabry and sound design by Monzer El Hachem. Our team also includes Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar and Finbar Anderson. A special thank you to Syuzanna Petrosyan and Salpi Ghazarian at the University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies. Find out more about Nubar's upcoming documentary here: scarsofsilence.com. Carel's book is called A House in the Homeland, and you can find it at Stanford University Press.  Find out more about Annie's tours and see pictures and videos of previous trips at her Facebook page, @historicarmenia. Find a transcript for this episode at our website. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

This is the final week of the first World Cup hosted in the Middle East. And it's been a tournament like no other: We've seen Morocco advance further than any Middle East or African team has before, making the whole region proud. And we've seen many joyous moments go viral as fans from across the world descend on Doha. But it's also a World Cup shrouded in controversy, that has left many of us with mixed feelings. So, over the last couple of weeks, we've been going out to speak with fans around the world to get a sense of what people make of it all, from the highs and lows of the tournament itself, to everything happening off the pitch. This episode was produced by Ban Barkawi, Alex Atack and Ahmed Ashour, with help from Sarah Risheq, Al Shaibani, Shahd Bani-Odeh, Maher Ali, Soumaya Bouabdellah, Youssef Douazou, Sara Kaddouri and Zeina Dowidar. It was edited by Sarah Risheq and Dana Ballout. Sound design was by Paul Alouf. Our team also includes Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. Our sister podcast - Masafat - has also released an episode about the Qatar world cup in Arabic. To hear that, search Masafat in your podcast app. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Alex Odeh was well known in the Arab community in Santa Ana, California. He was often on TV or writing into newspapers, talking about discrimination against Arabs in the US or about his beloved homeland, Palestine. But on the morning of October 11th 1985, he stepped through his office door and a pipe bomb exploded. He died hours later. From the beginning, the FBI had strong leads and a list of suspects. But decades later, Alex Odeh's murder is still unsolved. This episode was produced by Alex Atack and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking by Deena Sabry and sound design by Mohamad Khreizat. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson. You can read David Sheen's story for The Intercept here. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Kerning Cultures season 4 launches next week, December 8th. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

We're thrilled to share another podcast from Kerning Cultures Network with you: “Beyond the Raging Sea: State of Mind”. In 2016, Omar Samra called Omar Nour with a life-changing idea: “How about we row across the Atlantic Ocean?” Within a matter of hours, the two were registered to compete in the world's toughest race: a 3,000-mile unsupported row across the mighty Atlantic Ocean, in a seven-meter rowing boat. However, nine days into their journey, when their boat capsized in a severe storm and the life raft didn't open, they came face-to-face with death. State of Mind is produced by Kerning Cultures Network.  Lobna Monieb is the host of State of Mind. This episode was produced by Lobna, and edited by Heba El-Sherif. Fact-checking by Deena Sabry and sound design by Monzer El-Hachem. Special thanks to Dr. Anna Lembke for speaking to us for this episode. 

It's 1988, and Somalis are fleeing the city of Hargeisa. People are trying to get out, trying to save their families. But in the city's radio station, staff are packing cassettes and reel to reel recordings into a secret underground bunker. On them: A slice of their country's musical heritage, to remain for years in an underground room—until now. This episode was produced in collaboration with Far Flung with Saleem Reshamwala, from the TED Audio Collective. To listen to other episodes that travel all over the world to explore ideas, follow Far Flung with Saleem Reshamwala wherever you're listening to this. This episode was produced by Sawsan Abdillahi, Hiwote Getaneh, Alex Atack and Saleem Reshamwala. Production support in Hargeisa by Ismaaciil C. Ubax. Fact checking by Nicole Bode and Paul Durban, and sound design by Kristin Mueller. The executive producer was Eric Nuzum. Special thanks to Vik Sahonie at Ostinato Records for letting us use the music from the Sweet As Broken Dates album. You can hear songs from the buried tapes on this Spotify playlist. Find a transcript for this episode on our website: kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.  Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

We're excited to share another podcast from the Kerning Cultures Network with you. Masafat is Kerning Cultures' soul sister. It's a series of Arabic audio documentaries driven by curiosity. Exploring unfamiliar dimensions from the past or the present. In this episode, we introduce a music genre surrounded by a lot of controversy: Mahragant music in Egypt. Why do we only listen to Mahraganat by men? Why haven't women broken into Mahraganat yet? Masafat is a Kerning Cultures Network production.  This episode was produced by Lobna Monieb, and edited by Shahd Bani Odeh and Alma Intabli. Editorial support by Heba Afify, Rand Khdair, Nadeen Shaker, Dina Salem and Nima Salha. Fact-checking by Tamara Jaburi. Sound design by Mohamed Khreizat.  Listen to Masafat wherever you get your podcasts.

A blind oud player from humble beginnings, Sheikh Imam's destiny changed drastically when he met a dissident poet called Ahmed Fouad Negm, and they formed a duo. Together, they would go on start a new era in Egyptian popular music. Their songs would shake regimes, travel the world on cassette tapes, and transcend their own time to become part of the soundtrack to Egypt's revolution decades later. Today, the story of Sheikh Imam: the Egyptian singer who became an icon of dissent. This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker, Heba El-Sherif and Alex Atack, and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking was by Deena Sabry and sound design, music and mixing by Monzer El Hachem. Voice over by Eihab Seoudi, and translation help from Maha El Kady. Cover art by Ahmad Salhab. The songs you heard on this episode were composed and performed by Sheikh Imam and written by Ahmed Fouad Negm and Zein Alabidin Fouad. Lyric translations were by Ahmed Hassan and Elliott Colla. Fill out our listener survey here (it'll only take 5 minutes!) Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. You can find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

Stuck in his Palestinian hometown of Jenin during lockdown, Mo'min Swaitat walked into an old music shop where thousands of dusty cassettes lined the walls. They contained decades of Palestinian music and field recordings once confiscated by the Israeli army, long since forgotten, and never meant to make it out of Palestine. This is the story of what was on those cassettes, and Mo'min's mission to give them a second life. This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking by Deena Sabry, sound design and mixing by Nadeen Shaker, Alex Atack and Monzer El Hachem. Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar. You can listen to the Intifada album on Bandcamp. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

In the 1960s, a college professor and his group of students were determined to build and launch rockets into space. And so, they did. This week, on Kerning Cultures, a story about the first-ever rocket launched from the Arab world into space. This episode first aired in 2020 and was produced by Tamara Rasamny with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Zeina Dowidar, Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker, and Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Mohamad Khreizat, and fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

Azzam Alwash remembers the marshlands of southern Iraq as a magical place, where he would spend long days gliding through the thick reeds by boat with his father. But for decades now, the area has been under threat, so Azzam has become part of the effort to save the natural wonder before it's too late. This episode was produced by Dana Ballout, Alex Atack and Tamara Juburi with fact checking by Deena Sabry. Sound design and mixing by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. A special thanks to Azzam Alwash for speaking to us. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

In the 1930s, the architect Nasri Khattar had an idea to singlehandedly overhaul the Arabic script. For the next 47 years, he worked day and night to get the world to adopt his writing system, Unified Arabic. Ultimately, he failed. This is his story.  This episode was produced by Jahd Khalil and edited by Dana Ballout with Alex Atack and Hebah Fisher. Sound design and mixing was by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. You can find Yara Khoury's book - Nasri Khattar, a Modernist Typotect - here. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website.

In 2012, a Yazidi family fled to Sweden in the hope of a better life, far from persecution. After nearly six troubled years struggling to seek asylum without proper paperwork, their traumatised daughter “fell asleep” - and didn't wake up again for another five years.  For half a decade she has been in a coma-like state, a condition called resignation syndrome that afflicts thousands of other asylum-seeking children in Sweden. Producers Zeina Dowidar and Andrei Popoviciu travel to Sweden and meet the families, doctors and social workers who are trying to figure out what this mysterious illness is, and how to treat it. This episode was produced by Zeina Dowidar and Andrei Popoviciu. It was edited by Dana Ballout with support from Alex Atack and Nadeen Shaker. Fact checking on this episode was by Deena Sabry, audio editing by Youssef Douazou, and sound design and mixing by Mohamed Khreizat. Translation by Amina Khalil. A special thanks to all of the families we spoke to, as well as Dr. Elisabeth Hultcrantz, Dr. Karl Salinn and Dr. Debra Stein for speaking with us for the episode. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website.

A warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence and assault. As Egyptian women celebrated the arrest of serial predator and rapist Ahmed Bassam Zaki in the summer of 2020, another case came to light: An alleged gang rape in the upscale Fairmont Hotel. If the men involved were convicted, this case would be another big success for the #MeToo movement in Egypt. But instead, it took nasty turns; evidence would be buried, case witnesses would be arrested and campaigners for the victim would face threats and intimidation. Many began to ask: was this the end of the #MeToo movement in Egypt? This week, the second in a two-part series: the rise and fall of #MeToo in Egypt. This episode was written and produced by Nadeen Shaker and Zeina Dowidar, with editing by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Fact checking by Deena Sabry and sound design and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat and Paul Alouf.  Special thanks to everyone who made this story happen: Sabah Khodir, Noor Gohary, Nadine AbdelHamid, Farah Desouky, Zeina Amr, and Nadine Enan. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures. Editor's note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that Sabah Khodir had seen the Fairmont video. In fact, she had only seen screenshots of it. The audio has been updated to reflect this correction.

A warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence and assault. In the summer of 2020, a 22-year-old Egyptian woman made the difficult decision to publicly call out her harasser on social media. In a moment of rage, she picked up her phone and typed out a post that would end up travelling much further than she expected - far beyond her social circle. Over the next few weeks, in a whirlwind of Tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram stories, it became clear that she wasn't the only person this man had assaulted: over 50 other women stepped forward with a laundry list of accusations against him. It was the first step towards a major reckoning for Egypt; one that inspired big changes in how the country - and the law - deals with sexual assault cases. But for the activists driving that change, it would turn out to be exhausting, and even dangerous. This week, the first in a two-part series: the rise and fall of Egypt's #MeToo movement. This episode was written and produced by Nadeen Shaker and Zeina Dowidar, with editing by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Fact checking by Deena Sabry and sound design and mixing by Paul Alouf. Special thanks to everyone who made this story happen: Sabah Khodir, Noor Gohary, Nadine AbdelHamid, Farah Desouky, Zeina Amr, and Nadine Enan. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website, kerningcultures.com/kerningcultures.

In 1917, a musical prodigy called Zabelle Panosian recorded a song that captured the heartbreak of a generation of Armenian Americans in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide. She toured the world, selling thousands of records. And then, she was almost completely forgotten.  This episode originally aired in July 2020. This episode was produced by Alex Atack with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Tamara Rasamny, Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar and Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Alex Atack and Mohamed Khreizat, and fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Ian's new book about Zabelle Panosian can be found here.  Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode at our website.

In 1962 the library at the University of Algiers was burned to the ground, turning hundreds of thousands of books to dust. But it was overshadowed by Algeria's independence from the French, and was largely forgotten. So one man has made it his mission to answer a simple question: are these books really gone? Or were they smuggled out by the extremists who set the library on fire in the first place? Thank you to Samir Hachani and Bruno Boulanger for speaking to us for this episode. Thank you also to Dr. Andrew Bellisari, and Rayane from @ze.art.nerd.  This episode was produced by Zeina Dowidar and edited by Dana Ballout. Additional support from Alex Atack and Nadeen Shaker, fact checking by Deena Sabry, with sound design and mixing by Paul Alouf. Additional production support from Abdelraouf Meraga. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode here.

We're holding off on releasing this week's Kerning Cultures episode. Instead, we're sharing resources on how to help the crisis in Ukraine. You can read the full list here.We'll be back next week.

This week, we're following the trail of an elusive camel herder called Hadj Ali (or, as the Americans called him; Hi Jolly). He was one of the first people from the Middle East to move to the USA, and although he died penniless, alone and almost entirely forgotten, he played a big role in America's westward expansion... all on camelback. It's a wild ride, so saddle up. This episode was produced by Laith Majali, Dana Ballout and Alex Atack, and edited by Dana Ballout. Fact checking by Deena Sabry and additional support by Nadeen Shaker and Zeina Dowidar. Sound design and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat and Alex Atack. A special thanks to Doug Baum, Marshall Trimble, Heba Afify and all of the cameleers who spoke to us for this story. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode here.

How do you preserve a language when your government is actively trying to erase it? Abduweli Ayup is a Uyghur linguist who was trying to stop the Chinese government from replacing Uyghur with Mandarin. He had been studying the language's history, teaching Uyghur to younger students and writing books in Uyghur. But when the Chinese government began forcibly detaining Uyghurs in Xinjiang, his work got much riskier. Then, they came for Abduweli himself. This week on Kerning Cultures, Abduweli's fight to preserve his mother tongue. This episode originally aired in August 2019. Special thanks to Abduweli Ayup and his family for sharing their story, and to Arienne Dwyer and Timothy Grose. You can find a transcript for this episode here. This episode was produced by Durrie Bouscaren and Alex Atack, with editorial support from Dana Ballout and Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Mohamed Khreizat. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.

A family secret, hidden for decades by a grandfather in Iraq, gets uncovered by his grandson - who chooses to revive a potentially dangerous legacy. This episode was produced by Alex Atack and Tamara Juburi, and edited by Dana Ballout with additional support from Nadeen Shaker and Zeina Dowidar. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi and sound design by Mohamad Khreizat. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode here.

During the Syrian war, a group of archeologists risk their lives to record the damage being done to their country's cultural heritage, just as it was being taken away from them. This episode was written and produced by Zeina Dowidar and Alex Atack, and edited by Dana Ballout with additional support from Nadeen Shaker. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi and sound design by Sara Kaddouri. Thank you to Alice Fordham and Salman Ahad Khan for their help recording interviews for this story, and to Abdullah Al Assil, who performed the voice of Adnan. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Find a transcript for this episode here.

Since 9/11, US governmental agencies have poured millions of dollars into spying on Arabs, Muslims and Arab Americans. Their surveillance has changed countless lives as ordinary citizens all over the country were interrogated, arrested or had their homes raided. But this didn't start in 2001. Invasive - and even illegal - surveillance programmes against Arabs and Arab Americans have a long history in the US, going all the way back to the 1970s, with a program code-named Operation Boulder. But it wasn't until a lawyer named Abdeen Jabara took his own government to court that the true size and scale of the programme was revealed. This episode was produced by Suzanne Gaber and Will Thomson, and edited by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack. Fact checking by Deena Sabry. Additional support from Nadeen Shaker and Zeina Dowidar. Sound design and mixing by Paul Alouf. Thank you to Afnan, Amaney Jamal, Abdeen Jabara, Anan Ameri, John Shattuck, and Nicole Nguyen for speaking with us for this episode, and to the Bentley Historical Library for the use of their archives. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month. Read this episode's transcript here.

Kerning Cultures season 3 launches next week, January 27th. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Ahead of the latest season (which launches at the end of this month!), our team gets together to talk about what they're excited for, and what they've learned from producing the upcoming season of Kerning Cultures. Kerning Cultures' season three launches on January 27th. Make sure you're subscribed wherever you get podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $2 a month.

Lynn left behind her hometown village in the Philippines for a housekeeping job in Lebanon at the age of 23. It was only meant to be temporary… until she met Butros, her employer's nephew, and they fell in love. But for Lynn, marrying Butros has meant choosing to settle down in a country where she's treated as an outsider. This episode originally aired in June 2019 and was produced by Dana Ballout, Nathalie Rosa Bucher and Alex Atack. Editorial support from Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Mohamad Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.  Support this podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 a month.

His whole life, Walid Waked had been told that his great grandfather invented the Arabic typewriter. And then, one day, he learned that another family – the Haddads – believed they invented it. This week on Kerning Cultures, the contested history of the Arabic typewriter. This episode originally aired in September 2019. Thank you to everybody we spoke to for this story: Ahmed Ellaithy – for taking us down the rabbit hole with you – Walid Waked, Anis Waked, Alexandre Cordahi, Nagla Badran, Pascal Zoghbi and Titus Nemeth. This episode was produced by Ahmed Ellaithy, Hebah Fisher, Nadeen Shaker, and Alex Atack, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Tamara Rasamny, and Zeina Dowidar. Sound design by Mohamad Khreizat. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. This episode is brought to you by GoSell by Tap Payments: https://www.tap.company/sa/ar/sell Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support this podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 a month.

Faysal Bibi and his team of palaeontologists have been captivated by this one particular moment that took place in the Abu Dhabi desert seven million years ago. This week, a journey back to a time before the desert was the desert… when elephants, crocodiles and monkeys reigned supreme in the UAE. This episode was produced by Alex Atack, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Nadeen Shaker, Tamara Rasamny and Zeina Dowidar. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar and Dina Salem. Sound design by Alex Atack and mixing by Mohamed Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. This episode originally aired in September 2020. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

Ronnie Chatah started giving his walking tours of Beirut in 2008, during a period of stability for the city. He would guide tourists through the city, telling stories of Phoenician ruins, French architecture and Ottoman houses. He'd also talk about Lebanon's civil war, and the problems that came to follow it. These were always stories about other people, other eras and other lives, until December of 2013, when Ronnie's own life was sucked into the political unrest that he'd spent years talking about on his tour. This episode is brought to you by GoSell by Tap Payments: https://www.tap.company/sa/ar/sell Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support this podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 a month.

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In 1968, a trio of Palestinian filmmakers began making films about life under Israeli occupation. Almost 15 years and over 90 films later, their film unit became a dominant force in the Arab film industry. But in 1982, their film reels disappeared. Overnight, decades of footage and thousands of hours of archives were gone. Today on Kerning Cultures, the search for the Palestinian Film Unit’s lost archives. This episode originally aired in August 2020 and was produced by Zeina Dowidar, with editorial support from Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker, Tamara Rasamny, Dana Ballout, and Hebah Fisher. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Sound design and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. For the list of films and other resources mentioned in this episode, visit our blog: https://kerningcultures.com/kerned-and-cultured/palestinian-film-unit Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

In October 1960, the walls were closing in for Patrice Lumumba. Months earlier, he had been celebrated as the Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister after decades of brutal colonial rule. But now, he had been overthrown in a coup and was being kept under house arrest by his political opponent. With Lumumba's life at risk, the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser proposed a dangerous and unusual plan to have three of Lumumba's young children smuggled out of the country and away to the safety of Cairo. This week on Kerning Cultures; Patrice Lumumba's children, and their escape to Cairo. This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker and edited by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack, with additional support from Zeina Dowidar, Shraddha Joshi and Percia Verlin. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi, and sound design and mixing by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

After their employer abandoned the vessel they was working on, Vikash Mishra and his crew spent nearly three years stuck on a slowly sinking ship off the coast of the UAE. This week on Kerning Cultures: Vikash’s ordeal, and how he eventually made it back home to his family in India. This is the second of two episodes about ship abandonment in the Middle East. Listen to part one here. This episode was produced by Alex Atack and edited by Dana Ballout, with additional support from Zeina Dowidar and Nadeen Shaker. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi, and sound design and mixing by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. Ayushi Shah provided additional production support in Mumbai. Special thanks to Martha Schlee. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

Because of what's happening in Palestine this week, we're holding off airing our usual programming. Instead we're going to re-air one of our favourite episodes from last season: Jerusalem Calling. With this episode, we hope to remember the rich history of Palestine, and that the occupation and Israel's apartheid policies go back decades. If you'd like to learn more about ways you can help Palestinians, we've put together a list of resources on our website, and will be sharing them on our Instagram this week: @kerningcultures. The Palestine Broadcasting Service started airing in 1936, from a brand new transmitter tower in Ramallah. It was a British station in three languages, aimed at promoting the message of the mandate government throughout the region. But over the following decades, as Palestine saw political upheavals, bloody conflicts and power shifts, the radio station found itself in the middle of it all... and became a unique capsule of the events that lead up to the Nakba. This episode was produced by Shahd Bani-Odeh, Alex Atack and Darah Ghanem, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Nadeen Shaker, Tamara Rasamny, Zeina Dowidar and Dina Salem. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar and Dina Salem. Sound design by Alex Atack and mixing by Mohamed Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

When seafarer Mehmet Gulsen stepped on board the Kenan Mete, he thought he was signing up to a pretty standard 7 month contract, and then he’d be home in Ukraine with his young daughter and his dog. But a few months in, things started going wrong, and he ended up abandoned with his crew at a port in the Suez Canal, with no idea when they’d be able to go home. This week on Kerning Cultures, of the strange legal limbo that allows seafarers to wind up abandoned and unable to leave their ships... sometimes for years at a time. This episode was made in collaboration with 99% Invisible. Check them out wherever you get your podcasts. It was produced by Alex Atack and edited by Katie Mingle, with additional support from Dana Ballout, Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and the whole 99% Invisible team. Dilara Çelik provided translation support and Onur Akmehmet was the voice of Mehmet. You can find a transcript of this episode at our website. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

Loving Lebanon is one thing; living there is another. Generation after generation, surviving in the homeland sometimes costs too much. This essay was written and read by Zahra Hankir, and it was originally published in Guernica. The episode was produced by Alex Atack with support from Dana Ballout. Sound design and mixing was by Paul Alouf and Alex Atack. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.