The Queer Arabs

This episode features Ṭaüs Jafar, formerly Tamara, who was born in Troy, MI to an Iraqi-Muslim immigrant family. Ṭaüs’ music and songwriting has played on the radio, been featured in pop songs, in the scores of feature films and TV shows, and been part of experiential design in museums and large-scale public installations. Jafar’s work and experimentation as an artist, musician, and activist eventually led them to a practice and pursuit of knowledge around healing, meditation, and dharmic studies. After two years of training to become a teacher of a non-dualist meditation practice, Jafar is called again to share their…

It was such a pleasure talking to Mike Mosallam, creator of the film ‘Breaking Fast’ (on Hulu). The film follows a gay Muslim man looking for love during Ramadan (the film is best described as a Ramadan rom-com). (See more here: https://www.breakingfastfilm.com) We discussed the importance of media portrayal of the fun and sense of humor shared among Arabs, as this is not often the side of the community that gets focused on. We talked about the ways Arab actors are often pigeonholed in media, and how Mike’s film serves to counteract that while still tackling meaningful topics. We also…

Photo by: VampKitty/Nadine Barišić This week’s episode features Jillian York who, like Liz Henry (featured last week) played a vital role in 2011 in unveiling the hoax surrounding the blog ‘A Gay Girl In Damascus’ — the fictional character Amina Arraf had become a beloved figure by many around the world at the time. To many, Amina represented a key shift in conversation surrounding the LGBT community; finally, there was an Arab lesbian voice reaching folks internationally. In this episode, we discuss the psychological damage that can can be caused by catfishing, particularly when marginalized identities are co-opted. Jillian also…

Photo source: https://bookmaniac.org/about/ We were joined by Liz Henry who played a vital role in 2011 in unveiling the hoax surrounding the blog ‘A Gay Girl In Damascus’ — the fictional character Amina Arraf had become a beloved figure by many around the world at the time. When Liz helped discover that Amina did not actually exist (and a catfisher in the UK was behind the scheme), many people who had been invested in Amina’s story experienced various levels of grief. To many, Amina represented a key shift in conversation surrounding the LGBT community; finally, there was an Arab lesbian…

Huge thank you to the UC Davis MENASA Resources Center (@ucdavismenasa) for having us as guest speakers! Following our presentation on the (brief) history our podcast, what we’ve learned along the way, and an overview of queer organizing in the SWANA region, we recorded a live Q&A with some awesome attendees. Our discussion included pre- and post-9-11 racial perceptions of us as Arabs in the US, finding queer SWANA and Muslim community (in various locales and online), what brings us Queer Arab joy (from cooking to listener DMs to messy chosen families). View the full presentation here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12xpDI01x3YU6KHZpedTu0TwzVy6sWf0orqVmVXGggnU/edit?usp=sharing

Denmo Ibrahim, a first-generation Egyptian-American actor, writer, and entrepreneur, joined for this week’s episode. We focused on her upcoming work, Brilliant Mind, which is a participatory digital experience that will be presented through Marin Theater Company. In this work, the two main characters (siblings Dina and Yusef) learn of their estranged father’s death, they return to their childhood home to bury a man they never knew. The story explores the bond that forms between the two siblings in navigating the grief, and the ways in which they get to know their father after his death. Alia and Denmo both relate…

Randa Jarrar is a Los Angeles-based Palestinian-Egyptian writer, actress, and more. She joined us to discuss her recent and upcoming work, plus virtual kink parties, tattoos, tatreez and tea! Randa is the author of the forthcoming memoir Love Is An Ex-Country, the novel A Map of Home, and the collection of stories Him, Me, Muhammad Ali. She is also a performer who has recently appeared in Hulu’s RAMY, as well as the short films GOT GAME and FINJAN. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Salon, Bitch, Buzzfeed, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of a Creative…

Luai Qubain is an author and engineer born and raised in Jordan and currently based in Denver. His book The Kingdom’s Sandcastle revisits his experiences as a young man in Jordan hiding his sexuality, losing his mother, and surviving an abusive relationship. Luai recalled the challenges of writing and reliving trauma, and why he felt compelled to do so. He also discussed the particular risks of relationship abuse within heavily persecuted queer communities. We also talk about the various groups of visitors in Jordan – including study abroad bros and vacationing Saudis – and the densely-packed cultural diversity of the…

Lena Harbali is an LA-based Syrian-American multidisciplinary artist working in fashion, writing, music, visual art, and more. Lena discusses how growing up in various places – Michigan, Belgium, and Japan – shaped her perspective on the world. She recounts her journey into designing, and eventually modeling, with the goal of making fashion for all body types and gender expressions. She also talks about recording her recent EP, embracing her voice, and releasing the throat chakra. We discuss how art can at once be a form of expression and something to hide behind – and learning to share ourselves more directly…

Alex (Lebanese, pronouns they/them) co-founder studio SoftNotWeak discusses with Ellie their new game currently in development called Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To. It is an action-puzzle game set in a lush, narrative-driven world of witchy demons. Everyone is non-binary in this one. Ellie and Alex discuss killing ourselves for a white audience, white education by minorities in corporate America, hating on trash representation, Call of Duty, QPOC joy, business structuring, the over representation of traumatized white lesbians as a genre, the failures of changing the system from within, the Gerudo apologists that are us, excellent head cannon, the…

Massoud Hayoun is a Los Angeles-based journalist and writer. His book When We Were Arabs recounts his grandparents’ lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles as a decolonial reclamation of Jewish Arab identity. In part two of our two-part conversation, Massoud explains his decision not to include his queer identity in the book–with the intention of focusing on his grandparents’ stories and the anticolonial message, but also with some concern about making himself a singular voice on Queer Arab issues. We also discuss the challenges of writing for a mixed or unknown audience, where accounts of homophobia in…

Massoud Hayoun is a Los Angeles-based journalist and writer. His book When We Were Arabs recounts his grandparents’ lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles as a decolonial reclamation of Jewish Arab identity. In part one of our two-part conversation, Massoud explains the process of conceptualizing and writing this book alongside his grandmother. We discuss the challenges of balancing our cultural focus on the past with the need to imagine a better future, and how claiming an identity can be a political choice. We also talk about how concepts of gender play out in our personal and political lives,…

Mloukhiyyé is a Beirut-based artist working with pixel art, text, video games, drag and more! They discussed their past and future projects, including illustrations of performers in and around the Lebanese drag scene, video games that reflect social and environmental issues, an illustrated book about Lebanese queer slang, and a piece involving Tatreez and Lebanese herbs. We also talked about their journey into queer identity, why they chose the mloukhiyye leaf as their namesake, pronouns in Arabic, misogyny and homophobia within gaming circles, why queer people like Animal Crossing, and more! Shoutout to some of the artists and organizations mentioned…

Tasneem is a producer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, newly based in Toronto, with East African and South Asian roots. Their recent album “Just Before the World Ends” captures a sense of raw punk authenticity with a third-culture-kid spin. We talked about Tasneem’s experience growing up in Oklahoma in a Muslim immigrant family, the influences and inspirations that have shaped their music, a story about dates, Palestine, and Portugal, and more! www.jesuistasneem.com

Claudia (she/her) is a queer, mixed Lebanese-American, disabled sexual and domestic violence preventionist, advocate, survivor, and social justice organizer, based in Fredericksburg, VA. She joined us to talk about her work as Community Services Specialist at the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault (RCASA) in Fredericksburg, VA. RCASA’s services include a 24/7 hotline, counseling, hospital accompaniment, legal accompaniment, case management, prevention education. As part of her position, Claudia educates people in her community (as early as middle school) about healthy, unhealthy, and abusive relationships, consent, bystander intervention, and much more. Our conversation included the importance of intersectionality in work around sexual…

Image: “Lovers in the Times of Revolution” Omar Sfeir is a Beirut-based photographer and filmmaker. His work documents human intimacy as a means of questioning social norms. His photographic journeys tell the stories of non-conformists in the context of their respective societies, inspired by the taboos of sexual expression in the MENA region, especially towards the LGBT community. We discussed his recent photography projects, which represent the Lebanese Revolution, the Beirut explosion, and the COVID-19 crisis through visual symbolism, and his new documentary “Album,” which follows the relationships between three queer Lebanese individuals (including himself) with their mothers. We also…

Photo by Dasha Landa Sivan Battat (she/they) is a queer Iraqi-Jewish artist & organizer based in New York City, focused on new play and new musical development, and Arab-Jewish cultural organizing. Sivan’s work is across genres – in the theatre, in community, in ritual celebration, and beyond. Our conversation with Sivan was so rich, we decided to make it a two-parter! This week’s episode focuses on Sivan’s recent work organizing ancestral storytelling workshops and what it means to connect to our (biological or otherwise) ancestors as queer people. Sivan also discusses her process of finding community across intersecting identities. https://www.sivanbattat.com/

Amina Shareef Ali is a trans, Oakland-based singer-songwriter, therapist, mom, and punk of Egyptian, Turkish, and Filipino descent. She discussed the challenges of retracing cultural heritage lost through her father’s passing and her mother’s assimilation, and the complex pressures of passing identity to the next generation. We also discussed lies we’ve been told about “making it” as an artist under capitalism, the audience base she found after embracing her queer, trans, and mixed-brown identities, what it means to be (folk)punk, and more! Amina’s new album ‘In the Dark (Awake Of Course)’ is coming out Monday March 29! Follow her on…

With Donald Trump finally out of the White House, Ellie, Alia, and Nadia took this episode to look back on the flurry of damages he’s caused over the last four years, particularly with regards to immigration and LGBTQ rights. (Not lost on us was the irony of Trump using a vague notion of “gay rights” to justify the Muslim ban, while persistently rolling back actual protections for queer and trans Americans.) Many of his executive orders were eventually struck down in court, but not without inflicting serious harm and leaving us psychologically drained. We also discuss our tentative hopes, concerns,…

Photo credit: Jenna Hamed (IG: @j7md) Michael Zalta is a queer Syrian-American Jewish writer, researcher and playwright interested in the intersections between Media Theory, Biopolitics and Decolonial Aesthetics. His recent play “Who the Fuck is Ahmed” is about the psychosexual misadventures of an American-Jewish couple who moves to Haifa to raise a family, when a metaphysical ghost from historic Palestine drives a wedge through the relationship. Michael discussed growing up in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community (and the deep similarities he saw in David Adjmi’s memoir), and becoming a “Foucault Fuckboy” at NYU to overcompensate for the particular myopia of his…

Aram Ronaldo is a Palestinian-American organizer invested in anti-colonial land justice across geographies. They joined us to discuss solidarity organizing between Indigenous, Black, and Palestinian movements, and the duality of being both displaced people and settlers. They discuss their current project, The Lalime Ohlone Transfer Project, which involves transferring their family business’s land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust,* the Bay Area’s prominent Indigenous women-led community organization. We also talked about their first time visiting Palestine, the foods that keep us connected to our cultures, the importance of imagination in activist/organizing work, the origins of “philistine” as an insult, and…

For this episode, we’re inviting you to hang out with us at brunch, featuring charcuterie by Adam Elsayigh. Adam walks us through his journey as a charcuterie artist and his near-religious obsession with Trader Joe’s. Cristian joins us to talk about the queer scene in Puerto Rico and the struggles common in too-tight-knit queer communities in anywhere. We also analyze our personal tendencies with giving, receiving, and seeking out compliments and criticism on our work. This one’s a bit of a mixed plate, but it just might suit your taste.                 Here is…

RIDIKKULUZ (aka Samer) is a Jordanian-American artist (with Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian roots) visualizing identity through painting, sculpture, performance, and video. He is also part of the NYC ballroom scene, as a member of House of Xtravaganza. This episode was recorded from Samer’s apartment, where he showed us some of his artwork and talked about finding ballroom/vogue as part of gaining confidence in visible queerness. He mentioned how his cultural upbringing, with an emphasis on knowing one’s history and predecessors, has translated into seeking out queer community and mentors. We also discussed whether we believe in accidents, ghosts, horoscopes, and…

Rime Salmi is a singer-songwriter whose work channels the fusion between her Moroccan heritage and Canadian upbringing. She sings in French, English, Spanish, and Arabic, weaving in rhythms from across the African continent and diaspora. Directed by Reda Lahmouid, the video for her cover of Warda’s “Batwanes Beek” features well-known dancers in the Montreal LGBTQ scene making the city their catwalk. Rime joined us to discuss staying connected to her roots through music, becoming a more conscious ally to queer people in the MENA, releasing music in times of crisis, her upcoming tracks, and more.

Sheyam Ghieth is an Egyptian-American artist exploring themes of language, liberation, queerness and exile through illustration, hand lettering, pattern making and graphic design. Her “QUEER in Arabic” and “Nonbinary in Arabic” T-shirt designs have raised relief funds for queer and trans Muslims and Arabs since Ramadan 2020. Sheyam has created graphics for Netflix, Hulu, A24, HBO and FX; and has designed for shows such as Orange is the New Black, The Americans, and Ramy. Born in Cairo, she has lived all over, including Rome, Zimbabwe, Sudan, NYC and, most recently Portland. She is a former bus driver and an ex-journalist.…

Neda (@hijabilusciousis on IG) is a Persian-American nurse practitioner, pole dancer, and generally cool person. She discusses her recent work performing COVID tests, getting COVID herself, and which precautions she wishes more people were taking. She also describes both the hate and support she has encountered on her journey into pole as a Muslim woman in hijab. She highlights the importance of respecting how sex workers have shaped the discipline of pole dance without homogenizing the genre as necessarily sexual. Tune in and stay sanitary bitches!

This week we have a personal catch-up episode with Ellie, Alia and Nadia. We discuss Ellie’s one-year-anniversary since surgery, Nadia’s gender feelings surfacing in quarantine, bizarre barriers to entry in every job market, and where we want to take this podcast next (hit us up if you’re a SWANA person in Latin America, a QPOC gamer, or anyone else who wants to chat). We also talked about how we maintained our mental health during election night (it involved reenacting the Mean Girls script and playing Marry/Fuck/Kill instead of checking stats). If you want to join in on our questionable entertainment,…

It was an honor to talk with actor & writer Xavier Clark on this episode! Xavier (he/him/his) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist, born and raised in Turkey. As a playwright, his full-length plays include: Where Angels Fear to Tread (Workshop: Echo Theatre Company, Los Angeles), merry merry merry merry, supper (Workshop: National Black Theatre), retrofit(s) (Semi-Finalist: 2020 O’Neill Center NPC, 2020 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Finalist: 2019 Mitten Lab, The Lark 2019 Playwrights’ Week) and backstroke boys (Finalist: New Harmony Project 2020 Spring Conference, 2019 Theatre Viscera Queer Playwriting Contest). He was a semi-finalist for The Civilians’ 2020-21 R&D Group, a finalist for the National Black Theatre’s…

Photo credit: Kitty Suen This episode features writer David Adjmi, whose memoir Lot Six was recently released. The beautiful telling of the often painful process of growing up while feeling a sense of unease/displacement in a repressed society is powerfully portrayed with a nuance that will make a reader feel seen. David describes (in the book and in this episode) the relief of discovering theater and its ability to release emotions in a way that regular life often does not allow for. In this episode, we also discuss David’s Syrian Jewish background, the experience of writing a memoir, his other…

We talked to Kinda Hibrawi, one of the founders of Mint + Laurel, a lifestyle brand focused on products from or inspired by the Middle East. Kinda, who is Syrian-American and from Aleppo, started Mint + Laurel along with Mai Barazi and Rama Chakaki. Mint + Laurel focuses on transparency and sustainability, collaborating with independent artisans, small artisan groups, non-profits and local social enterprises internationally. We talked to Kinda about the story behind Mint + Laurel, the social impact this new organization has already had, the meaning behind the products, and more. To see the amazing textiles, soaps, and more,…

Esraa Warda is a performance and teaching artist that preserves and transmits traditional Moroccan and Algerian dance forms through movement workshops and interactive performances. A young talent of Algerian origin, Warda is a community-taught dancer under the mentorship of women elders in her family and artists from Morocco and Algeria. She is a firm advocate in the power of intergenerational transmission, women-led traditions, and decolonizing euro-centricity, Orientalism, and oppressed bodies in dance. Mark Balahadia is a Filipino American dancer specializing in the dances of Iraq and the Khaleej). Check out his earlier episode published on July 10! For this episode,…

Hamour Baika is a writer from Iran currently living in the DC area. His new novel On the Enemy’s Side explores the sociopolitical complexities of the Iranian Revolution through the lens of a forbidden same-sex relationship between a political prisoner and a guard. We discussed the historical inspiration and research process behind this novel, the different forms that racism takes in Iran and the US, his next work-in-progress, why we all hate listening to our recorded voices, and more! (Bonus giveaway: Sign up for Hamour’s newsletter on HamourBaika.com for the chance to win a free audiobook!) More background info from…

This week we were joined by the incredible WIZZY, a Syrian singer, songwriter, and show producer living in Berlin. WIZZY discusses writing and producing the new single “Light of my Eyes” (ضو عيوني), organizing the events “Queers for Syria” and “Queens Against Borders,” and finding community through migration, nightlife, and quarantine.  

Andrea Abi-Karam joined for an episode to talk about WE WANT IT ALL: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics – Andrea co-edited the anthology with Kay Gabriel. The anthology includes work by intergenerational trans poets against capital and empire. Andrea read one of their pieces on this episode; we also touched on the ways this year has shifted and impacted creativity and focus. Andrea also shared their love of rollerblading that has emerged! The book, coming out in November, is available for pre-order from Nightboat Books! Follow Andrea on IG @wolf_hour

Angie Assal is a Lebanese-American artist whose work has included visual art, film, music, dance, and jewelry! She tells us how she began her jewelry line Sound of Mazzika, which features 3D printed/hand painted designs representing Arabic music and culture. (For the next year, all proceeds will be donated to the Lebanese Red Cross!) We also discussed the difficulties creating art that critiques our cultures in primarily white spaces, issues of cultural appropriation and body standards in the belly dance/raqs sharqi scene, the party we first met at, and more! Visit https://soundofmazzika.com/

Ellie’s back for an episode! We talked about rent and Rent (both the monthly thing people have to pay and the movie) and more.

‘Queer in a Time of Forced Migration’ is three-part animated transmedia series by Ado Ato Pictures that follows the stories of LGBTQ refugees from Egypt, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia across continents and cultures — from the 2011 Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa region to the world today. Throughout the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, filmmaker Tamara Shogaolu and Egyptian journalist Nada El-Kouny collected more than 60 oral histories from women, LGBTQ individuals, as well as ethnic and religious minorities, with follow-up interviews conducted in Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway. The series documents arcs of hope, backlash, and displacement. The…

One month post-explosion, it remains crucial to #talkaboutlebanon, and support the ongoing project of relief, recovery, and rebuilding. This wonderful conversation with Danny from @rebuildingbeirutwithpride was initially shown as part of the @baylenfm House Arrest Digital Festival–but now you can listen on all of our podcast platforms too! @rebuildingbeirutwithpride is a UK-based initiative raising funds to rebuild Beirut through the celebration of Queer Arab talent. As well as their recent performance event, they have been running an art auction at @rbp.auction. All proceeds are equally split and donated to the Lebanese Red Cross, Beit El Baraka , Basmeh & Zeitooneh…

It was such a pleasure to talk to The Beachy Afghan, the wonderful creator of the IG platform thebeachyafghan. We discussed her experience as the child of Afghan immigrants in Germany post-9/11, our shared frustration with the incorrect assumption of homogeny that is often made about the regions surrounding the SWANA region and around Afghanistan and its surrounding region, and so much more!

Note: This episode was recorded two days before the Beirut explosion. Please see Nadia’s post from August 7th for relief fundraisers, updates, and more. —– Lebanese-French singer Eliz Murad joined us to talk about the new band she is developing, The Sabayas! We also discussed her former band, Teleferik. Eliz is creating The Sabayas with Moroccan-French drummer Nadine Talif, combining Arabic with rock, blues, and soul. Eliz was told – while on Lebanese TV – that she was the first Arab woman to sing in Arabic and mix it with rock and roll. During this episode, we talked about navigating…

Amrou Al-Kadhi is an Iraqi-British writer, performer and filmmaker based in the UK who is redefining what it means to create mainstream entertainment. In this episode, we talk about drag as an expression of culture and gateway into writing, navigating the US and UK entertainment industries, their book Life as a Unicorn, writing the finale of Little America, and more! Insta: @glamrou Twitter: @glamrou www.amroualkadhi.com

We had a wonderful conversation with Amuna, an activist and entrepreneur in the UAE. Amuna is a Queer Black Arab woman who founded the Black Arabs Collective, a space for sharing stories and amplifying voices of Black Arabs. We discussed how racism in the SWANA region is pervasive and underacknowledged. We also talked about Amuna’s experience as a queer woman in Dubai who grew up in a religious family. You’ll catch a bit of the call to prayer from the mosque next door to Amuna as we have a beautiful, gay conversation on this episode. (We also chatted about Tinder,…

Hosted by National Queer Theater & Dixon Place, and moderated by Sivan Battat, a panel with activists from across the Middle East and North Africa region discussed Transgender and Transnational Activism. What does queer and transgender activism look like in this region? In conversation around Amahl Khouri’s documentary play She He Me, following the true stories of three Arab characters who challenge gender norms, the panel explored queer experience in the region, activism on the ground, and how the Middle Eastern and North African Diaspora can support this work. The panel features Amahl Khouri, Hashem Hashem, and Pooya Mohseni. Please…

On June 13, 2020, Dixon Place & National Queer Theater presented, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and NYC Pride: Creative Conversations: The Syrian Civil War and LGBTQ Communities The panel featured Omer Abbas Salem, Bitta Mostofi, Danny Ramadan, and Noor Hamdi. This panel, moderated by Festival Dramaturg Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, explored the experiences of LGBTQ people and trends in LGBTQ rights in Syria, before and during the country’s unrest. Featuring playwright Omar Abbas Salem and actor Noor Hamdi, as well as activists from Syria and the MENA region, some of the themes discussed included queer and…

NYC-based dancer Mark Balahadia joins us to talk about his study of various SWANA dance styles and what led him to become well known particularly among Iraqi and Saudi crowds. He also explains how he ended up learning khaleeji Arabic, his experience performing for royalty, and more. Check out his YouTube channel here! Follow Mark on IG @balahadiamark

NYC-based playwright and theater maker Daaimah Mubashshir joined us to talk about her new play “Room Enough (For Us All),” writing at the intersection of queer, Black, and Muslim identities, confronting racism both within theater and US Muslim spaces, and more. Daaimah brought up her personal experience of reconciling queer and Muslim identities, as well the many ways that connection to religion can look like. We further discussed how Arab and SWANA anti-blackness manifests in Muslim spaces, including queer-centric ones. Our conversation also included the impact of racial discrimination and abuse in theater increasingly coming to the surface, and Daaimah’s…

We were thrilled to talk with Laith Nakli, who you might know as Uncle Naseem on the show Ramy on Hulu! He discussed the challenges breaking into the industry, pushing beyond “terrorist” typecast roles, and using his position to shift representations of Arabs and Muslims on screen. Laith also recounted his pre-acting pursuits as a bodybuilder (winning the title of Mr. Syria) and running a candle shop. [Spoiler alert] The episode also includes discussion of Ramy Season 2, the issues of race, gender, and sexuality addressed within it, and the range of audience reactions–so we strongly recommend watching that first!…

CW: Suicide, self harm, queer killing, queer death, honor killing, sexual abuse, rape, firearms. On the June 14, 2020, LGBTQ and human rights advocate Sarah Hegazi took her own life. Sarah first came under the public eye following the notorious September 2017 Mashrou’ Leila concert where Sarah, alongside two friends, waved a rainbow flag. Despite the shadow of a state that actively quelled all sexual freedom, for that moment Sarah was unabashed in her identity as a queer woman. In the months following, the Egyptian state executed a mass witch-hunt of hundreds of queer youth with the aid of the…

Zaina Arafat is a journalist, fiction writer and teacher based in New York City. We talked to Zaina about her new novel You Exist Too Much, which was released on June 9! The novel centers a queer Palestinian American character who grapples with the effects of inherited trauma, her position within in-between spaces that come with being part of the diaspora, and her sexual identity. Our conversation touches on the importance of the “messy” character (versus unrealistically aspirational) when bringing representation to any form of media. We also discuss Zaina’s teaching and other writing she has done. You can order…

[Content warning: Instances of state violence in Egypt; general references to familial violence/abuse; general references to instances of suicide] —- Tarek Mohamed is an Egyptian feminist and queer activist, scholar and writer. He is working on his PhD in Anthropology, and is based between Egypt and the United States. During this episode, Tarek discussed how his activism grew from personal to public, highlighting 2010 as a year when many people in Egypt started to feel safe mobilizing visibly. He also highlighted how leftist spaces, when led by cis herero men, are wrought with homophobia and misogyny. Tarek explores intersectionalities that…