Kerning Cultures

Loving Lebanon is one thing; living there is another. Generation after generation, surviving in the homeland sometimes costs too much.

This essay was written and read by Zahra Hankir, and it was originally published in Guernica. The episode was produced by Alex Atack with support from Dana Ballout. Sound design and mixing was by Paul Alouf and Alex Atack. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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Two stories of music getting lost… and then found again. A record producer unearths a Moroccan masterpiece in the back of a dusty electronics shop in Casablanca, sending him on a long and complicated mission to find out what happened to the artist. And, a song that was never meant to be heard outside a small group of friends becomes an internet sensation.

This episode was written and produced by Alex Atack and Dana Ballout, with editing support from Zeina Dowidar and Nadeen Shaker. Fact checking by Tamara Juburi. Sound design by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager. Special thanks to Nahida Tarbaou, who helped us record one of the interviews for this episode, and to Roger Bendaly, Jannis Stürtz, Nordine Aboura and Joey Hamoui for speaking to us for these stories.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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In 1942, Lebanon's National Museum opened in Beirut, celebrating the country's golden age, and inside, it housed some of the region's most important artifacts. So when the Lebanese war started in 1975, the museum staff came up with an elaborate scheme to save everything inside the museum. This week on Kerning Cultures, the story of how a small team of museum employees protect thousands of years' worth of history.

This episode originally aired in December 2019, and was produced by Alex Atack and edited by Dana Ballout, with additional support from Tamara Rasamny and Hebah Fisher. Fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar and sound design by Mohamad Khreizat.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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Nagi Daifallah was a young farm worker from Yemen who moved to California in the early 1970s, when he was just 20 years old. He went on to become one of the organisers of the influential 1973 grape strike in California, led by Cesar Chavez.

But one night, after a day of striking, he was beaten to death by a local county sheriff outside a restaurant in Lamont, California.

Although the sheriff who killed him never faced justice, Nagi's story - and the movement he helped organise - went on to make real change to farm workers' rights in America, and continues to inspire Yemeni American activists today.

This episode was produced by Suzanne Gaber and Will Thomson, and edited by Dana Ballout. Additional support on this episode from Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar, Shraddha Joshi and Abde Amr. Sound design by Alex Atack and Mohamad Khreizat.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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Over the last half century, as many nations around our region have gained independence or been through regime change, they've have had to ask themselves big questions. Like, what makes our country, our country? What are the symbols that define us? And, who gets to decide the answer to those questions? In our episode today, two stories about the complicated paths two countries took to arrive at those decisions.

This episode was produced by Alex Atack and Abde Amr, and edited by Dana Ballout with additional support from Zeina Dowidar and Nadeen Shaker. Fact checking by Percia Verlin, and sound design by Mohamad Khreizat and Alex Atack.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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The graceful courtyards of Mexico and Puerto Rico aren't the first places you'd go looking for a secret Islamic history. But a closer look at the tiles and teacups reveals a bloody, beautiful and largely forgotten past.

This episode was produced by Alice Fordham and edited by Dana Ballout, with additional support from Alex Atack. Fact checking by Percia Verlin, and sound design and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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What happens when somebody dies in a country that's not their home? In the UAE, the answer to that is complicated. This week on Kerning Cultures, stories about the families who've had to go through the experience, and the group of volunteers who help repatriate the bodies of foreigners after they've died in the UAE.

This episode originally aired in September 2019.

Special thanks to Zaki, Max, Ashraf Thamaraserry, Vidhyadharan, Amal Mathew, Ambika and Renji. The people at the Indian Association; CM Bashir, Sajad Saheer, Mohamed Mohideen and Baiju G. Sunil at the Hindu Crematorium and Mr. Johnson at Holy Trinity Church.

This episode was produced by Noha Fayed and Alex Atack, with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Hebah Fisher, Shahd Bani Odeh and Tamara Rasamny. Translation by Ashfana Hameed. Sound design by Mohamed Khreizat. Fact checking by Zeina Dowidar. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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In 2015, our producer Nadeen Shaker visited the Cairo Genizah in one of Egypt's oldest synagogues. It was the place where, thousands of years ago, the Jews of Egypt literally stored any papers with God's name on them instead of throwing them away.

After a prominent Egyptian Jew, Jack Mosseri, discovered the Genizah manuscripts almost a century ago, and his untimely death afterwards, the manuscripts disappeared from view for decades.

When they were  finally rediscovered, the question of where the collection of manuscripts would eventually go – Egypt, Israel, or the UK – became a thorny and still unanswered debate.

Today on Kerning Cultures, the story of the Genizah  manuscripts and the question of where Egyptian Jewish history should be kept.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

This episode was produced by Nadeen Shaker and edited by Dana Ballout, with additional support from Alex Atack, Zeina Dowidar, Shraddha Joshi, and Abde Amr. Fact checking by Alex Atack and sound design and mixing by Mohamad Khreizat.

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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 checkpoints on the city's streets. The US, UK and Russia condemned the invasion, and some British and American citizens were taken as hostages. But the Indian government had no stake in the conflict, and around 165,000 Indian citizens living in Kuwait were caught up in a situation that didn't involve their country.

Which left the Indian government with a question they'd never had to face before: how do we evacuate tens of thousands of our citizens from a foreign country, all at once?

Today on Kerning Cultures, the story of one family's escape from Kuwait during one of the largest government evacuations in history.

This episode was written and produced by Alex Atack and Shraddha Joshi, and edited by Dana Ballout with support from Nadeen Shaker, Zeina Dowidar and Abde Amr. Fact checking by Shraddha Joshi, sound design by Alex Atack and mixing by Mohamed Khreizat. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager, and Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.

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