Our producer Nadeen Shaker takes us on her own personal journey in trying to discover why she felt excluded because of her hijab. In Egypt, things are more complex than they seem; history, politics, class, and money all played a hand in changing how people perceive veiled women. This week on Kerning Cultures, a story about what it’s like to feel like an outcast in your own country. This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker, with editorial support from Dana Ballout. Tamara Rasamny, Zeina Dowidar, Alex Atack, and Hebah Fisher. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Sound design by Alex Atack and Mohamed Khreizat. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.
36min 47sec
On August 2nd 1990, the Iraqi military invaded Kuwait City overnight, and its residents woke up to a city under occupation. The only airport was put on lockdown, and the Iraqi military set up checkpoi ...
33min 4sec
Ahmed Twaij explores an often-overlooked issue in the Arab world; racism towards Black Arabs. In this episode, he looks at racism in his own community, taking us from his Iraqi roots, through to moder ...
37min 48sec
As 2020 brought us countless examples of injustice and pain, it brought remembrances that we live in a world in need of more - well, work. And that means scrutinising the cities we live in, the homes ...
46min 26sec
After the Armenian Genocide, in which over 1.5 million Christians from the Ottoman Empire were killed by the Ottoman government, the main group of Ottoman leaders behind the atrocities were never made ...
38min 33sec
Since 2012, Korean pop culture has captured the imagination of people across the Middle East: from K-pop and K-dramas to Korean language classes and even to Korean fried chicken. It’s everywhere!
But ...
3min 55sec
We're excited to announce that season 2 of Kerning Cultures starts next week. Each Thursday, we'll be bringing you new stories from around the Middle East and North Africa. Here's a taste of what's to ...
58min 10sec
Our winter season is coming very soon, but while you’re waiting just a little bit longer we wanted to share an interview with Kerning Cultures’ CEO and Co-Founder Hebah Fisher on the Da Miri Podcast. ...
31min 58sec
While we’re gearing up for our next season, we wanted to share a behind the scenes look at what goes into making our episodes.
Hear Trancing with the Zars here, and Zabelle here.
This behind the scene ...
46min 51sec
For his entire life, Maysam has lived in Dubai. His parents are from Syria, a place he hasn’t visited since he was a young child. If you ask him, the UAE is his home. But on paper it isn’t, and likely ...
41min 1sec
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 go ...
44min 0sec
In our day-to-day lives, it’s a drink. But for some people, it is not as simple as that. It’s a Sufi’s spiritual companion, an Emirati’s keeper of tradition, and a Yemeni’s connection to his homeland. ...
37min 43sec
The lower west side of Manhattan used to be home to the biggest population of Arab immigrants in the US. In the early 20th century, streets were full of people speaking Arabic, with street vendors sel ...
42min 47sec
In 1979, Iftah Ya Simsim - the Arabic version of Sesame Street - aired for the first time. Over the next ten years, the show was loved by children across the Arab world, until 1990, when the show was ...
27min 45sec
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 bef ...
47min 0sec
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 indu ...
50min 59sec
This week, a special collaboration with one of our all time favourite podcasts: Radiolab. We produced the episode - Lebanon USA - last year, and Radiolab have taken that original story and elevated it ...
30min 45sec
This week on Kerning Cultures, two short stories. Producers Alex and Zeina uncover why Egyptians are so good at playing squash, and look at a businessman’s unlikely dream to tow an iceberg from Antarc ...
0min 50sec
We’re heartbroken by what happened in Beirut on Tuesday, August 4. Many of us at the Kerning Cultures team are Lebanese, or have close ties to Beirut. So we’re taking a break from publishing our episo ...
46min 4sec
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 rocke ...
53min 36sec
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, s ...
35min 10sec
For centuries in Egypt, Zar was a music and dance ritual believed to heal women from unwanted spirits that possessed their bodies. But as time went on and ideologies changed, the practice became cont ...
23min 48sec
This is the ugly truth: racism and anti-Blackness in the Arab world is a common practice and a subject so taboo that many have convinced themselves that it doesn’t even exist. But for those of us who ...
25min 56sec
Last year, our producer Darah Ghanem stumbled upon an obscure blog on a nearly forgotten corner of the internet. On it were hundreds of historic photographs of a Christian missionary school in Khartou ...
33min 6sec
Last year, our producer Darah Ghanem stumbled upon an obscure blog on a nearly forgotten corner of the internet. On it were hundreds of historic photographs of a Christian missionary school in Khartou ...
3min 27sec
We're back! We'll be here with a new episode of Kerning Cultures every Friday this summer. Here's a quick taste of what's to come.
Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production. Support th ...
16min 30sec
While we're working on the upcoming season of Kerning Cultures, we wanted to share with you another show we've been making. It's called al empire, and it tells the stories of exceptional Arabs and the ...
38min 35sec
All of our lives have changed. In this unprecedented time, we wanted to make something to reflect this moment. So today, our Kerning Cultures quarantine special: stories of staying at home, lockdowns ...
2min 25sec
The Kerning Cultures Network has a new Arabic show we're excited to share with you. Listen to B'Hob here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
B'Hob tells stories about the force that drives the univers ...
1h 4min
While we’re working on our summer season, we’re going to be dropping some bonus episodes into your feed over the next few months. Starting with this one: a special conversation featuring producer Alex ...
2min 6sec
This year, we’ll be switching to a seasonal release schedule, rather than one episode every two weeks. Hebah explains why.
Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a mon ...