Welcome to the very first edition of Radio Ifriqia, a new podcast powered by afikra. In the first episode, we delve into the history and relaunch of the influential Moroccan magazine, Souffles (Anfās in Arabic, meaning "breath" or "spirit"), with founding editors Hisham Aidi (Columbia) and Zakia Salime (Rutgers). Souffles was originally launched in 1966 by a group of Moroccan writers and artists who came of age writing in Paris and were steeped in Pan-Africanism, decolonial movements, and anti-liberation movements of the era. They are credited with coining the phrase "cultural decolonization", challenging the dominance of colonial paradigms in newly independent Morocco and examining what it meant to decolonize knowledge and culture. It was the first truly transatlantic, transcontinental magazine, connecting North Africa to the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. The original magazine lasted from 1966 to 1972 but the editors have resurrected it, relaunching the magazine in 2022 on the 50th anniversary of its closure as "Souffles Monde". The relaunch is driven by a commitment to bring academic research to a lay audience and reignite the tradition of decolonizing knowledge and challenging structures of power—the very spirit of Souffles. This discussion explores the magazine's initial intellectual pillars, the importance of historical reference points from the region, the continued relevance of debates on language and identity, and the new team's commitment to creating a dialogue among scholars across generations and geographic boundaries in the spirit of Pan-Maghrebism and South-South conversations.
0:00 Welcome to Radio Ifriqia
1:50 The Historical Context of Souffles in Morocco
3:30 The Founding Members of Souffles
4:28 Coining "Cultural Decolonization"
5:40 Souffles Monde: Relaunching a Vintage Magazine of the North African Left
7:41 The Magazine's Closure and Relaunch
8:24 The Meaning of the Title "Souffles"
10:16 Bridging the Generational Gap in Scholarship
11:55 Centrality of the Palestinian Struggle
14:47 Intellectual Pillars of the Original Magazine
16:16 Where the Maghreb Fits on the African-Arab Spectrum
16:31 Challenging Intellectual Domination by External Actors
17:59 The Intentionality of a Magazine, Not a Journal
18:46 Translation and Highlighting Scholarship from the Global South
21:07 A Transformational Experience for the Editors
23:32 Bringing Academic Research to a Lay Audience
24:32 Inserting the Maghreb into South-South Conversations
25:11 Progressive Movements in North Africa
27:46 Hopes for the Podcast and Distribution
29:19 Conveying the History of Progressivism to the Younger Generation
30:20 Balancing Crude Culturalism with Political Economy
32:01 Forging Global South Connections and Dialogues
33:32 Why This is a Critical and Plastic Moment
34:19 Depolarizing Intellectual Discourse
35:18 Renewing Interest in Questions of Justice
37:06 The Importance of the Podcast as an Entry Point
38:03 Decolonization is a Marathon and a Relay Race
Hisham Aidi is a Moroccan-American political scientist, author, music critic, filmmaker, and senior lecturer in international relations at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. His research interests include comparative race politics, art and social movements, and the political economy of development. His book Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture on global hip hop was a 2015 winner of the American Book Award.
Connect with Hisham Aidi 👉 https://instagram.com/uptown_berber
Zakia Salime is Assistant Professor in Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, where she teaches courses in comparative feminism(s), gender, globalization, social movements, international inequalities, and postcoloniality. Her research interests include, race, empire, the political economy of the "war on terror," development policies, Islamic societies and movements, and Middle East and US relations.
Connect with Zakia Salime 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakia-salime-58760a53
Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu
