This is not a watermelon afikra
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- Society & Culture
Palestinian history and culture will not be erased. History warns us how media's dehumanizing rhetoric can pave the way for targeted aggression and allow society to permit atrocities as grave as genocide. It is resolutely within our mission to counteract this dehumanizing narrative. Afikra has always stood in unwavering solidarity with our Palestinian sisters brothers and individuals of all nationalities and faiths around the world who bravely protest the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and condemn the state violence of the Israeli colonial settler project.After the events of October 7, 2023 it felt impossible to go on with the podcast like business as usual. So we dedicated The afikra Podcast programming to special episodes relevant to understanding the historical context to what is happening in Palestine. Each episode was recorded in real-time and uploaded to YouTube and everywhere you get your podcasts. For most of these, the time of recording is key to understanding the context in which these conversations took place so make sure to refer to these and to check out all of these highly informative conversations with guests who are from completely different disciplines and have generously shared their time and insight in these dark times.And as we entered the new year and the atrocities continue, we deemed it necessary to create an exclusive series dedicated to Palestinian history and culture. This is how this podcast came about and will continue to exist so long as the fight for liberation and peace continues.
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A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature | Refqa Abu-Remaileh
Refqa Abu-Remaileh joins us on This Is Not A Watermelon podcast to discuss the fascinating and crucial work she does through her digital project "Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature". We dive into the very nature of Palestinian literature, discussing how it is without a centralized nation state and the challenges this presents in understanding it, as well as the key role of magazines in its production. Refqa explains the concept of a "diaspora-homeland continuum" and what it means to historicize Palestinian literature. Finally, she shares the names of figures of Palestinian literary production that are often forgotten.
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A Moment of Becoming: Understanding Palestine Through Its Art | Yazid Anani
On this episode of This is Not a Watermelon podcast, we sit down with Yazid Anani to discuss Palestinian art, curation, and the role of artists and their work in redefining Palestine and the lexicon used to describe the Zionist project and Israeli occupation.
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RERUN: Visualizing Palestine | Creating Narrative Interventions
This episode of This is Not a Watermelon is a re-run of a conversation recorded on June 7, 2021 with three of Visualizing Palestine’s team members: Ramzi Jaber, Ahmad Barclay and Jessica Anderson. We are re-running this episode at a time when Visualizing Palestine’s work is more vital than ever.
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RERUN: Mai Masri | Fostering a Sense of Belonging Through the Camera
In this episode of afikra's This Is Not A Watermelon, pioneer Palestinian filmmaker and director Mai Masri shares her cinematic journey, her inspirations, and the stories behind her most impactful works. Masri reflects on her early trilogy Children of Fire, Children of Shatila, and Frontier of Dreams and Fears, sharing the realities and experiences of filming under siege and occupation. She talks about the power of finding poetry in the human condition and capturing harsh realities faced by Palestinians every day, as well as why she chooses to focus on small, personal stories to speak to a broader narrative. Finally, we learn about how Masri fostered a sense of belonging through the camera as a Palestinian who had grown up in the diaspora.
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RERUN: Sliman Mansour | Palestinian Art & Resistance
This is a rerun of a conversation that we initially published on February 8th, 2023 with iconic Palestinian painter, sculptor, author and cartoonist Sliman Mansour. This conversation is still very relevant today. If you find it useful, please share it or let us know your thoughts in the comments section. And make sure to subscribe to the THIS IS NOT A WATERMELON podcast for more interesting content on Palestine.
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The Native and the Refugee | Malek Rasamny
Malek Rasamny — documentary filmmaker, co-founder of "The Native and the Refugee" and one of the original afikra presenters — on his critical work juxtaposing the societies, struggles and lived experience of settler colonialism by looking at Native Reservations and Palestinian refugee camps through a spatial lens.