Words From Our Global Ambassadors To Wrap Up an Incredible Year
We’re officially 9 years old! What a milestone. Over the past (nearly) decade, our global community of friendly nerds has come together, indulged their curiosity, and helped to reimagine the way we see the Arab world.
So, to mark the occasion, we asked some of our global ambassadors to reflect on their journeys: how they wound up setting up their chapters, their favorite moments so far, and what they’re excited about for the coming year.
Tarik Zahr: NYC Chapter
In 2014, the first afikra community led by Mikey Muhanna would meet in Brooklyn, NYC to nerd out on all things MENA-related. It eventually grew into one of afikra’s biggest chapters, now meeting almost monthly in large academic spaces with 50+ attendees and a variety of fantastic speakers. This year, afikra NYC organized six salons, with the help of our hosts at NYU’s Kevorkian Center and LAU New York, as well as our ambassadors Helana, Tanya, Faris, Caroline, Ana and Tarik.
To kick off a successful year filled with curiosity-fueled talks, Vol 32 in September introduced us to the roots of astrology in Mesopotamian Iraq, and the linguistic and cultural uniqueness of the Druze communities inhabiting northern Jordan. Speakers from Vol 33 in October shared imperative scientific achievements led by Arab women in academia, and instances of racialized science practiced among MENA communities when disputing their origins. Talks from Vol 34 in December explained the rise of anime consumption in the Arab world, and the use of music as a form of resistance in the Western Sahara. Speakers from Vol 35 in February explored femininity in Arab men through photography and dissected the complex demographics making up today’s Emiratis in the United Arab Emirates. Talks from Vol 36 in March exposed us to the enchanting styles of poetry found in southern Iraq and illustrated the first Arabic printing press in Manhattan’s Little Syria. To wrap up a year of active engagement and eye-catching topics, speakers from Vol 37 in July cataloged the medicinal usage of plants endemic to Lebanon’s Mount Hermon and unraveled the Jewish influences on Arabic music in the early 1900s.
The major highlights from this year stemmed from the wide range of talks we got to experience as a community. We witnessed a range of themes spanning music, science, art, religion and culture to regions covering North Africa, the Levant and the Gulf. Our speakers took the time and effort to share such exciting topics that consistently sparked conversations at our salons. Afikra spaces have become learning and social hubs for Arab intellectuality beyond politics – and ours is no exception. Afikra NYC rules!
Faisal Al Fuhaid: Kuwait Chapter
Before 2022, I followed afikra mainly on social media and had yet to attend an event in person. I finally met Mikey in February 2022 in Riyadh and he brought up how he had been trying to launch afikra Kuwait with multiple people for some time, and he was eager to finally get the ball rolling.
Initially I was hesitant, because I wanted to do right by it: that launching the chapter from scratch on my own would ultimately lead me to burnout and inconsistency. I then had a zoom call with Mysa many months later and was excited to learn that Dana Al Jouder was also on board to launch the chapter. From then on, my fears slowly lessened and we were on our way to hosting our first event!
Fast forward to March 2023, this first event launched at Caffeine in Shuwaikh with 76 people in attendance: listening to and engaging in the unique presentations put on by our amazing speakers Dana Al Jouder, Ahmed Taher and Sama Al Refaie!
The event invigorated the interest in Arab history within the Kuwaiti cultural scene, which had been missing for quite some time. The atmosphere at our first event was amazing – various people reached out to us saying how much fun they had at the event as well as expressed interest to get involved sometime in the future. We started things off on a high note and we look forward to carrying it over once the new season starts!
Franca Al-Khouri: Berlin Chapter
After learning about afikra in 2017 and attending almost all the Dubai salons until the pandemic hit, Riad and I made it our mission to start the Berlin salon once we returned home. We knew the community here would be so welcoming of the concept and that it would be in line with many projects starting in the city that went much further than the typical interest in shawarma and shisha. Arabic music, art and culture are booming in Berlin right now.
Together with our third Berlin ambassador Alex and the help of community coordinator Mysa, we were so happy to launch in the beginning of 2023 with an amazing first salon at AL.Berlin, a cultural space representing West Asia and Northern Africa. On a gloomy Sunday afternoon in January, we had a full house and started off strong with a full-length feature by Alex, connecting Khaleeji rhythms to swing and jazz, and Forwards by Mysa and Riad. In typical afikra fashion, questions and experiences were shared following the presentations.
The next salon followed in April in a truly unique location: Wild Heart Free Soul is a beautiful shop in Prenzlauer Berg that sells Anatolian Rugs and was an amazing backdrop to the presentations. Besides my forward on a fascinating connection between Morocco and Vietnam, we were so happy to have our first community presenter, Sarah, introduce us to the world of maté tea, brought to the Middle East from South America. Taha followed with a presentation on the origins of the heart of the Arab community in Berlin: Sonnenallee or Shar3a 3rab (شارع عرب). Just like the location, each presentation connected the region to another continent. It was similarly amazing to see the community getting together and enjoying each other's company, as we ended the evening in the park getting to know each other better.
The third salon took place at the German Association for Central Asia (GAFCA) who were kind enough to host us in June. It was another truly special event as all three presentations came from inside the community! Mirna – an avid afikra fan – presented on the beautiful Saudi tradition of the Flower Men, while Sepher introduced the community to the beautiful song Tzur Sheheyani, which connects to the Jewish heritage of North Africa. Finally, Mustapha, who had only attended one afikra salon by then, awed the audience with the
beautiful yet tragic story behind Um Kulthoum and the poet Ahmad Rami who wrote many of her songs' lyrics.
The Berlin team is so happy to have had such positive feedback, returnees and new faces at every event. Thank you to everyone who spread the word, attended and contributed! We are looking forward to bringing more afikra magic to Berlin in the fall and keep looking for amazing locations and motivated presenters.
Safaa Elidrissi Moubtassim: Marrakesh Chapter
An imperial city, a cozy café and a small group of motivated nerds: the first afikra event in Morocco happened last March (2023) and was followed by a second one in May 2023.
Who were the Seven Saints of Marrakesh? What do Damascus, Taif and Kazanlak have in common? Who was Ibn Battuta and what led him to become the first Moroccan Globe Trotter? And what is the story of Chikhat? These questions were answered and discussed in a friendly atmosphere where people from different generations, backgrounds and origins gathered with a shared desire: to learn and share.
“We need more initiatives like this one,” someone said at the end of the second chapter, which only made the local team (Safaa, Hiba, Nour, Youssra, and Sophia) excited for the next event.
Mysa Kafil-Hussein: London Chapter
Right from the beginning of September 2022, afikra’s London chapter has gone from strength to strength with regular events, five-star presentations and a beautiful growing community. In our first event over 60 people packed into a small space in Soho’s Thoughtworks for presentations by local ambassadors Muhammad Altalib and Sadir Abdul Hadi, and a virtual presentation by Isra Sati. Like every event, that afternoon was filled with questions, debates, intrigue, a lot of snacks and a lot of new and friendly people.
Since then, we’ve had six other community salons and the demand is only increasing! Presenters have included Yara Farhat, Saad Ojeili, Lara Houchou (also a local ambassador), Usman Butt, Mohammed Swileh, Zeinab Azarbadegan, Saeed Amen, Asma Ibrahim, Lizzy Vartanian, Lili Martinez, Joe Wroe and me – Mysa (twice)! Topics have ranged from the first photographers in Jerusalem and Egyptian sugar cane transportation, to the history of the drink maté and the origin of citrus fruits in the Arab world. We even got to learn how to read the ancient Yemeni Musnad writing system! As well as learning so much from each other: what has also been really beautiful to see over the last year has been the amount of new faces (recommended by others) to join our community, and to learn something new.
Shout out to all of our amazing, nerdy presenters and to our generous hosts: Joe at Thoughtworks, and Omar Lababedi who kindly let 50 strangers take over his apartment for one day in February. And of course, a shout out to the wonderful London team who made this all happen: Lara Houchou, Sadir Abdul Hadi and Muhammad Altalib, whose mingling, MC-ing projector and screen-fixing skills have been irreplaceable and worthy of endless gold stars. We can’t wait to meet more of the London community in 2023-2024 and discuss even more obscure, nerdy topics.
PS. My personal highlight from this year has to be the snack table at our pre-Christmas December event. A beautiful feast of sugar!
Sarra Mumayiz: LA Chapter
Vol 1 of afikra Los Angeles took place on January 15, 2023 in West Hollywood, California. The LA Chapter Ambassadors Sarra Mumayiz and Leila MacKenzie welcomed nearly 50 local attendees from in and around LA who gathered for the first time and engaged in a thoughtful discussion around exciting topics linking the United States and the Arab World.
Presentations included a feature from Leila MacKenzie titled “How Have Arabs Fallen for Country Music?”. Mysa Kafil-Hussein joined virtually from London with a Forward on the Duke Ellington tour of the Arab World in the 1960’s – an effort to engage in American cultural diplomacy and export jazz. Moving away from music, Farrah Berrou posed the question “Who was LA Attorney George Sibley?” and enlightened us with her Spotlight on one of the most significant civil rights cases in LA’s history, whose lead defense attorney happened to be a Lebanese immigrant.
Whether it was their first afikra experience or a returning global community member, everyone at the LA chapter’s first event expressed interest in actively engaging and cultivating curiosity around topics linked to the Arab region and forging relationships with link-minded people. We all look forward to continuing to build and learn from this invaluable platform and hosting more fun and insightful discussions here in the city of Angels!
Bootheina Majoul: Tunisia Chapter
It was a unique first encounter with the afikra team in Tunisia on December 11, 2022 and was such a pleasure to meet afikra affiliates from different nationalities (there were people from Palestine, USA, Tunisia…) meeting for the first time, gathered by curiosity and the thirst for knowledge. It was a groundbreaking event and the exchange was very fruitful. There were two presentations: Alaa Salem presented a feature on Sayed Darwich and Bootheina Majoul shared a Spotlight attempting to answer the question “What’s Behind Tunisian Doors?”. Both talks triggered the audience’s curiosity and led to long debates. Hoping that there will be more of this in the upcoming years in Tunisia.
Join the afikra family!
Everyone is welcome! There’s something for everyone in the afikra community: You can volunteer, present at an event, or simply meet likeminded friendly nerds:
If you want to join the afikra community, find your local chapter.
Share your curiosity, become an afikra presenter!
Find out about upcoming events around the world.
Sign up for the next round of afikra ambassador applications
