Kerning Cultures

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 CapitalJustin's book is Revolution or Death: The Life of Eldridge CleaverSupport 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.