Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh took the Ramallah Clubs Network (of the Palestinian diaspora in the USA) as a starting point to reflect on the intricacies and complexities of the Palestinian diaspora and their manifestations. They will explore the experience of being in diaspora and exile and how this formulates one’s relationship to home and homeland. Often, members of the diaspora reconnect through community centres, festivals and events in order to continue their cultural practices, and keep the community connected. But beyond sharing food, dance and conversation, what intangible elements do these gatherings transmit? What are the other forms and tools that are used to understand this convoluted relationship between here and there? In the face of Palestine’s settler colonial reality how have they contributed to direct and indirect forms of resistance, narrative formations and acts of remembering?

In a series of conversations broadcast online on Radio Al Hara every Thursday of the month of October, Hijawi and Shilleh will be speaking with colleagues, artists, filmmakers, social activists, and friends from different geographies, whose work is connected to or influenced by their diasporic/exilic experience and desire to reconnect.  

EN - In the first episode of The Ramallah Club Network, Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh are speaking with the artistic directors of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts - Dries Douibi and Daniel Blanga Gubbay - about the concept of The Diasporic Schools and their own origins.

FR - Pour commencer la série de podcast de The Ramallah Club Network, Samah Hijawi et Reem Shilleh s'entretiennent avec les directeurs artistiques du Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Dries Douibi et Daniel Blanga Gubbay, à propos du concept de The Diasporic Schools et de leurs propres origines.

NL - Om de reeks podcasts van The Ramallah Club Network te starten, praten Samah Hijawi en Reem Shilleh met de artistiek leiders van het Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Dries Douibi en Daniel Blanga Gubbay, over het concept van The Diasporic Schools en hun eigen afkomst.

A project by Samah Hijawi and Reem Shilleh, initiated and coproduced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2020 in the context of The Diasporic Schools / Production: Kunstenwerkplaats

More info: https://kfda.be/en/festivals/2020-edition/programme/the-ramallah-club-network/