The afikra Podcast

Palestinian architect and artist Dima Srouji explores the systematic displacement of Palestinian material culture and the liberation lab working to bring it home. For over a century, archaeology in Palestine has been weaponized, used as a tool for land grabs and the erasure of contemporary identity. From ancient glass vessels held in Western museums to human remains stored in university basements, the physical history of Palestine has been excavated, categorized, and displaced. Dima discusses her work in restitching these archives through art and collaboration. By working with multi-generational artisans like the Twam family, who still possess the ancient know-how of glassblowing, she creates ghost objects that challenge the colonial narrative of a dead past.

 

00:00 Introduction

01:32 Architectural Education & the Spiritual Connection to the Land

07:30 The Liberation Lab

09:47 Ghost Objects: Restitching Material Heritage Through Palestinian Glass

12:28 The History of Colonial Archaeological Excavations

15:44 Challenging Museum Narratives

18:03 The Twam Family Workshop: Four Generations of Glassblowing in Jaba

21:28 Ancient History of Levantine Glass Fabrication

25:50 The Weaponization of Archaeology

29:47 Sebastia vs. the City of David

32:32 Saving Sebastia: Experimental Film as an Exercise in Creative Diplomacy

36:01 Reclaiming the Displaced Material Culture of Gaza

39:34 Excavated Human Remains

42:36 Rituals of Return

44:01 The Restorative Power of Broken Glass

48:43 Rememberment: A Form of Restitution

50:24 The Archive of the Palestine Exploration Fund

56:00 Future Projects and the Cosmic Mediterranean

 

Dima is an architect, artist, and researcher interested in the ground, objects, displacement, restitution, forgeries, and living archives. Dima leads the MA City Design studio focused on archaeological sites in Palestine as sites of urban struggle. Her practice explores the power of the ground, its strata, and its artefacts in revealing silenced narratives and embedded intergenerational memories. Dima holds an M.Arch from the Yale School of Architecture and a B. Arch (Hons) from Kingston School of Art. She founded Hollow Forms, a glass blowing project with the Twam family in Jaba’, Palestine in 2016. She will be Jameel Fellow at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2022.

 

Connect with Dima Srouji 👉 https://instagram.com/dimasrouji

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

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» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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Rare artifacts within the vast archives of the Library of Congress (LOC) represent a shift in how our region's history is fundamentally understood. Moving beyond traditional nationalist timelines, Arab World specialist in the African and Middle East division at the LOC, Dr. Muhannad Salhi, explores the transition of diverse items in the library's "Near East" collection, from 3000-year-old economic receipts to unique cultural fragments, into autonomous objects of study that define a global narrative. Reclaiming these stories serves as a resistance against regional erasure and the invisibility often felt in the global cultural landscape.

 

0:00 Introduction

1:52 The "Near East" Section: Geographic and Linguistic Scope

3:02 The Library's Path

4:46 Overview of the Arabic Collection

5:20 The Library's Oldest Items

7:06 Digitization Efforts and Copyright Restrictions

9:10 The Purpose of the Library of Congress

13:24 Regional Context and Cultural Insight

16:00 A Public Resource and Supporting Global Scholarship

18:36 Overseas Offices and Book Dealers

19:17 A Typical Week with Rare Materials and Scholarly Research

22:11 The Oldest Piece of Islamic object in the Americas

25:00 Calligraphy Styles: From Kufi to South Asian and Persian Aesthetics

27:03 The Chinese Quran: A Unique Intersection of Cultures

28:03 The Dalail al-Khayrat and Mantle of the Prophet

31:55 Manuscripts from Gambia

33:24 Arabic Translations of Greek Medicine

35:45 A Unique Work on Petroleum

36:54 Astronomy and Astrology

39:53 Mapping the Region

44:42 Archiving Historic Newspapers and Pop Culture

48:42 Early Arabic Printing

52:10 The Jefferson Quran: Myth vs. Reality in Pop Culture

57:00 Arab-American Literature: Ameen Rihani's The Book of Khalid

58:20 Iraq's Most Wanted Deck of Cards

01:00:22 A Lost Letter from West Africa

01:02:15 Photography Archives

01:03:33 The Items That Got Away

01:06:08 What Policymakers Should Understand About the Region

 

Muhannad Salhi is the Arab World Specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress, where he covers the Arab world, North Africa, and Islam. He received his doctorate in history and his MAs in history and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Palestine in the Evolution of Syrian Nationalism (1918-1920) as well as other book chapters, book reviews, and blogs. His interests include the Ancient Near East, Classical Islam, the Modern Middle East, and Islamic studies. Prior to coming to the Library of Congress, he taught courses on the Arab World and Islam at various colleges and universities in the Chicago area, including the University of Chicago and Governors State University.

 

Connect with Muhannad Salhi 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhannad-salhi-09b20549/

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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Beyond the Orientalist myth of being seductive, mysterious, and dangerous, what is the reality of Tangier? Professor of anthropology Majid Hannoum deconstructs the invention of the Maghreb and delves into the complex socioeconomic and racial fabric of contemporary Moroccan cities. He explores how colonial legacies continue to shape identity, from the very term "Maghreb" – which he argues did not exist in pre-colonial Arabic historiography in its current sense – to the phenomenology of color that influences modern social hierarchies in Tangier.

00:00 Introduction

01:50 The Colonial and Post-Colonial Invention of the Maghreb

03:31 Neighborhood Politics and Class Dynamics in Meknes, Morocco

06:12 Historical Evolution of Maghreb in Arabic Historiography

09:17 Deconstructing Orientalist Myths and the Seductive Image of Tangier

12:47 Historical European Gazes

18:03 Tangier in Pre-Colonial Times

19:41 Tangier in Fiction, Songs, and Folktales

23:41 Exploring Migration, Sexuality, and the City’s Unseen Sides

25:59 Socioeconomic Realities

30:23 Migration Patterns and the Phenomenology of Color in Moroccan Urbanism

32:59 The Native Colonial Gaze and Socioeconomic Racialization

39:46 Decolonizing Ibn Khaldun & Challenging the Myth of European Discovery

43:24 Translation Ideology

50:43 Discourse Analysis and the Radical Critique of Academic Categories

53:40 Scholarly Recommendations for Unlearning and Decolonizing Knowledge

Majid Hannoum is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas whose extensive research focuses on North Africa. Growing up in Meknes, Morocco, his personal history is rooted in the very urban and socioeconomic dynamics he explores in his academic work, such as the internal class and neighborhood hierarchies within Moroccan cities. His scholarship is deeply concerned with deconstructing colonial narratives and unlearning entrenched mindsets.

Connect with Majid Hannoum 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/majid-hannoum-04661ab/

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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Modern Egyptian art was not simply an institutional byproduct of the 20th century, but rather a profound ontological shift in how the nature of the art object was fundamentally understood. Moving beyond traditional nationalist timelines, this transformation was deeply intertwined with the physical dismantling of historic Cairo, where stripped architectural fragments were repurposed into autonomous art objects for a new elite. Today, reclaiming these narratives serves as an urgent resistance against the regional erasure and invisibility often felt in the global cultural landscape.

 

00:00 Introduction: Defining the Autonomous Art Object

02:28 Challenging the "East Meets West" Trope

05:28 The Ontological Shift

10:20 The Nahda Influence

13:31 Memories of Gaza and the Weight of Regional Crisis

18:03 The Urgency of Representation and Invisibility

22:22 Huda Sha'arawi: Feminist Icon and Anti-Colonial Art Patron

25:32 Disrupting Colonial Markets

30:14 Mahmoud Mukhtar & Publicly Funded Neoperonism

34:02 The Rise of Surrealist Criticism

37:06 Connectivity Across Lebanon, Syria, and the Cairo Salon

41:44 The National Salon vs. the European Cairo Salon

46:13 Confronting Pseudomorphism

51:39 Scholarly Recommendations for Re-centering Arab Art History

54:03 The Art and Liberty Group’s Interruption of Futurism

56:11 Marxism, Feminism, and the Social Unconscious

 

Clare Davies is an associate curator at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. She has contributed to a wide range of research, programming, and archival projects related to art and photography in the Middle East since serving as associate curator of the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo between 2004 and 2006. She completed her doctoral dissertation at New York University Institute of Fine Arts and was subsequently awarded the inaugural Irmgard Coninx Prize Fellowship at the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin. She is the coauthor of "Robert Morris: Object Sculpture, 1960–65" and has published regularly on contemporary art from the Arab world.

 

Connect with Clare Davies 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-davies-a49a9b143/

 

Hosted by Mikey Muhanna

 

Connect directly with Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu

 

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

 

FOLLOW & RATE THE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:

» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743

» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze

» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

 

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK

Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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Unveiling the suppressed history of "Shar," Professor Ali Abdellatif Ahmida details the forgotten genocide of the Libyan people under Italian settler colonialism in 1911. As a distinguished political scientist and historian at the University of New England, Professor Ahmida dedicated 15 years to investigating why this mass tragedy was systematically erased from global scholarship and collective memory. Through meticulous research and rare oral testimonies from survivors, he reconstructs the horrors of forced displacement and concentration camps that claimed the lives of tens of thousands. He offers a nuanced critique of the "collective amnesia" in Western academia and the strategic silence of post-war Italy, challenging myths of "moderate" Italian fascism.

 

00:00 Introduction: An Extensive Scholarly Void

02:28 Beyond the Stereotypical Image

05:28 Navigating the Colonial Transition in 1911

10:20 Perspectives From the Southern Frontier

13:31 The Slow Dismantling of an Empire

18:03 The Ideological Weight of the Roman Myth

22:22 Artificial Lines and the Unified Movement

25:32 The Roots of Organized Resistance

30:14 Negotiating the Terms of Independence

34:02 Contradictions of the Post-War Client State

37:06 The Logic of the Fourth Shore

41:44 The Mechanics of Mass Displacement

46:13 Global Complicity and the Politics of Amnesia

51:39 Reclaiming a Seat in Historical Memory

54:03 The Ethics of the Freedom Fighter

56:11 Shar: The Survivors’ Conceptualization of Death

 

Professor Ali Abdellatif Ahmida is the founding chair and a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of New England in Maine. Born in Waddan, Libya, and educated at Cairo University and the University of Washington, his scholarship focuses on historical sociology, political theory, and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa. A prolific author, his major works include "The Making of Modern Libya" and his most recent investigative research into "Shar," the forgotten colonial genocide in Libya.

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.