inbetweenish • bridges across cultures

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How do you keep your culture alive, when you’ve had to flee and create a whole new life in a country you never chose yourself? 

Sarah Baharaki was born in Badakhshan Province and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. But rather suddenly, the year she graduated from high school, the situation in her country took a radical turn. In just a few days after the fall of the capital city of Kabul, Sarah, just a teenager at the time, had to flee her home country with her family and has never been able to return home since.

In this conversation, Sarah walks us through being uprooted from her home country, landing in the UK, the culture shock she had to overcome, and how she balances her new culture with her home culture. When we speak of the differences in languages we also go into the topic of humor and ‘how to be funny in a foreign language’.

From a world away, she watched as her friends and classmates back home became stripped of basic human rights. Driven by a deep conviction, Sarah is a huge advocate for The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4 which advocates for Quality Education, and SDG 5 which advocates for Gender Equality. Today Sarah takes charge of the topics dear to her heart. She has carved a path out for herself and is currently a Global Youth Ambassador for Their World, and a UK Youth Delegate to the UN Women in the UK. With a focus on Afghan women, she was also the Opening Keynote speaker at ECOSOC2024 at the UN Head Quarters in New York. 

Episode mentions:
Afghanistan is not what traditional media portrays. Yes, security risks exist, but there is more to the country than just the Taliban’s unsettling presence. Learn more about Afghanistan and one of the most famous poets who comes from there in the following links:

• Omar Haidari — Human Rights Advocate and Blogger from Afghanistan
• The Afghan — learn more about Afghanistan through the eyes of an Afghan
• Yes Theory — 96 Hours Inside of Afghanistan in 2020
• About Rumi — Molana Jalal al-Din Mohammad-e Balkhi
• Rumi’s Poetry translated into English

In a wonderful twist of fate, this quote by Rumi (translated into English) feels incredibly fitting for this episode:

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

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Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Is cultural 'enoughness' a myth?

In this episode, I sit down with Lazou, a Sino-Mauritian-Canadian-American creative, podcasting colleague and friend who also explores questions of belonging. Lazou shares her unique perspective in understanding layered identities while sharing her own diverse cultural identity. Together we discuss:

• seeing the West through Disney colored glasses,
• language learning, translation gaps, and language evolution,
• colonization vs settling and the history of Diego Garcia,
• being Chinese enough, confronting biases and so much more!

Lazou is a talented musician, producer, and writer, hosting the 'Nuances: Our Asian Stories' podcast. Through her platform, she examines the Asian diaspora experience, tackling topics like queerness in pre-modern Asian times.

Episode Mentions:

• Podcast — Nuances: Our Asian Stories
• Podcast — Nuances Season 2: Queering Pre-Modern Asia
• Book — Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen
• Diego Garcia — Human Rights Watch: UK, US Expelled Islanders 50 Years Ago, a Crime Against Humanity
• Diego Garcia — AJ+ How the U.S. Stole This Paradise Island?

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Belonging vs Belongings:

It has always bothered me how similar these two words are, set apart only by an ‘S’. Yet somehow they hold completely different meanings.

In this minisode, I’m exploring the relationship between our sense of belonging and our physical belongings. The idea for this episode came about after I recently lost a physical product of mine and I found myself unreasonably upset over it. A conversation with a dear friend sparked this debate and now I’m letting you into bits and pieces of our conversations where she shares a metaphor that helped me reframe the relationship between belonging and belongings.

I hope you find value in this less structured, unscripted minisode and if you do, please share it with a friend or spark this conversation with someone around you:

What is the relationship between belonging and belongings?

Are belonging and belongings intricately connected?

Can we find belonging without our belongings?

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

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Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

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Is home a person, a place, or a feeling? 

On this episode of the inbetweenish I speak with Mona Hassan who shares her unique experiences growing up at the intersection of Austrian, South Korean, and Egyptian cultures. Mona takes us through her multicultural upbringing and emphasizes the importance of family acceptance in fostering a sense of belonging within society. We discuss the fascinating parallels between South Korean and Egyptian values and how they can sometimes clash with Austrian culture. At the end, Mona vulnerably shares her spiritual journey that has led her to redefine her sense of “home” and make sense of her belonging.

Episode Mentions:

• Mona Hassan on Instagram
• Embodied Coaching Institute
• Women Empowerment Coach Training 2025
• Mona Hassan’s podcast, WTF is normal, I want Magic!

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Can you find where you belong halfway across the world?

In this episode, Shreya Sharma shares her unique experience growing up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) and moving to various countries in the Gulf region before becoming a naturalized Canadian citizen, where she found her chosen place of belonging. She discusses the impact of colonial beauty standards, the caste system, and her intersectional identity as a queer woman of color on her sense of self. Shreya challenges traditional notions of "coming out" and reflects on her journey to Canadian citizenship, which has brought her a profound sense of belonging and liberated her to choose her own path. She poignantly articulates this newfound freedom in a powerful, poetic way.


Episode mentions

• Shreya's Audio Affairs — Shreya's newsletter
• The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

How has your gender impacted your sense of belonging? — with Malik

On this episode of the inbetweenish, we focus on an inbetweenish aspect that has seldom come up in previous episodes: gender identity. Malik is a bicultural transgender man who spent his formative years between America and Egypt. With Malik we cover his first identity crisis, discovering the spectrum of LGBTQ+, manoeuvring his gender identity within himself and also with his family, and complicated feelings towards the places you come from. This conversation was truly eye-opening for me in many ways, from how differently Malik felt in Egypt as a man vs a women, to how unifying religion can be and bring families together, and so much more.

In honor of Pride Month, in June, I thought it was the perfect time to publish this episode. I ask that you please listen with kindness and an open mind.

Episode mentions

• Malik’s Website
• Malik on Spotify: MMKN
• Malik’s Art on Instagram
• Glee — TV Series (2009-2015)

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

How do you connect with your different cultures?

In this episode, I’m speaking with Fiona Livingstone, who balances her Dutch-Scottish heritage with her English upbringing. Fiona candidly shares her journey of navigating her cultural identity and the challenges she experienced along the way. She opens up about her childhood home, her desire to assimilate, and how her perspective evolved over time. From feeling silently judged to missing out on learning Dutch, Fiona reveals how she coped and how nostalgia played a significant role in her life. Interestingly, she created a list of all the things she loves about her different cultures, which helped her form a unique and authentic sense of being. This episode offers a touching and insightful glimpse into Fiona's life and how her magazine, FOYER, was born from her own struggles with her identity.

Fiona Livingston is the founder and editor of FOYER magazine, an annual print arts, culture and heritage magazine from the point of view of second-generation, mixed-heritage and third-culture kid individuals. 

Episode mentions

• FOYER Magazine
• Culture Stew Podcast
• Robert Burns — Auld Lang Syne
• Robert Burns — Tam o’ Shanter
• Katherine May — Wintering 

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Can we talk about taboos? 

In this second episode with Amuna Wagner we explore taboos and the importance of processing them and addressing them. She also shares her views on the nuance and difference between religion and faith. This is particularly interesting to listen to given her life experience with a family that touches the three Abrahamic religions. Lastly, we also focus on her experience of growing up as an interracial child and touch upon her documentary Schwarz, capturing conversations around the black German experience. 

In the last episode, Amuna reflected on her crisis of purpose as she walked us down her fascinating family history: from the Holocaust, to refugee camps, and eventually to rebuilding of life as a marginalized community. Make sure you tune into episode 1! 

Episode mentions

• If you're interested in watching her documentary, Schwarz, reach out to Amuna directly through her Instagram or her website 
• Kandaka, the blog
• Article in Kandaka: Motherhood as Sisterhood
• Article in Kandaka: Archiving the Women Who Made Me Possible
• The Zine: High Priestess in Low Tides

—

✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

How has your family's past influenced your identity?

In this first episode, Amuna Wagner reflects on her crisis of purpose and wonders out loud if she has a responsibility towards her identity. She walks us down her family history from her grandparents to her parents, from the Holocaust, to escapes, to refugee camps, and eventually to rebuilding of life as a marginalized community. Amuna’s background touches the three Abrahamic religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam - which adds another layer of complexity to her multicultural identity.

In the next episode, we will explore Amuna’s cultural influences, her experience as an interracial child, and her queerness. You don’t want to miss this thoughtful episode where we will discuss taboos and distinguish between religion and faith. Coming out April 2nd!

Episode mentions

• Amuna’s website 
• Kandaka, the blog
• Article in Kandaka: Motherhood as Sisterhood
• Article in Kandaka: Archiving the Women Who Made Me Possible
• The Zine: High Priestess in Low Tides

—

✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

What if you don’t fit the stereotype?

In this episode, Sadia Azmat, a published author, podcast host and a stand-up comedian, brings a unique perspective to the discussion on cultural identity. Sadia is born in Britain to Indian parents and she is also a practicing Muslim, however, she does not quite fit the perception people tend to have of her. She shares her journey with embracing her hijab and how it became complicated due to media narratives and misconceptions surrounding it. Sadia also touches on her experiences dealing with cultural expectations, relationships, and finding peace within herself.

Episode mentions

• Sex Bomb — memoir by Sadia Azmat
• No Country for Young Woman — BBC Sounds podcast co-hosted by Sadia Azmat
• Find out more about Sadia Azmat through her website

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✳ Leave a Review or Rate the show on Apple or Spotify. It means a lot!
✳ Sign-up to The QUEST. Newsletter to explore the crossroads of multiple belongings.

—

Original music is composed and produced by Malik Elmessiry.
The inbetweenish pod is created and hosted by Beatriz Nour.

—

Curious to learn more about the in-betweenish?
Visit our website: www.inbetweenish.net
Behind-the-scenes is on our Instagram: @inbetweenish.pod
Have an idea? Contact Us or send an email to [email protected]