logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2022
52m 39s

Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in...

AFIKRA
About this episode

Andrew Simon talked about his latest book "Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt." Media of the Masses investigates the social life of an everyday technology—the cassette tape—to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores.

Andrew Simon is a historian of media, popular culture, and the modern Middle East. He holds a B.A. in Arabic, Middle East, and Islamic Studies from Duke University and was a fellow at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and is currently serving as a lecturer at Dartmouth. Andrew's interdisciplinary research has received generous support from the Social Science Research Council and the American Research Center in Egypt, and his work has been published in the International Journal of Middle East Studiesand cited in the Washington Post. Andrew's first book, Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt (2022), is forthcoming with Stanford University Press and shares the extraordinary story of an ordinary object.

Created & hosted by Mikey Muhanna, afikra 

Edited by: Ramzi Ramman

Theme music by: Tarek Yamani https://www.instagram.com/tarek_yamani/

About Outline:

Outline is a process-focused conversation that looks at guests’ individual projects rather than their full bodies of work. The conversation sketches the journey of the project; the spark of curiosity that led to the project, the process of implementing the idea, the struggles that emerged throughout the implementation, and the aftermath of the project that includes new questions and new ideas. The name “Outline” stems from the idea of creating a retroactive project outline which is part of a broader emphasis on the process of curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking from a nuts and bolts perspective. Outline is not discipline-specific; the series will be held with artists, academics, writers, filmmakers, among others. Join the live audience: https://www.afikra.com/rsvp   

Follow

Youtube - Instagram (@afikra_) - Facebook - Twitter 

Support 

www.afikra.com/support

About afikra:‎

afikra is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region- past, present, and future - through conversations driven by curiosity. 
Read more about us on  afikra.com
 

Hosted by: 
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK 
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Up next
Sep 29
Yemen as the Global Home of Coffee | Nancy Um
We challenge contemporary perceptions of Yemen as a "backwater" by revealing the pivotal role of its port city, Mocha, in the making of our modern world. Historian Nancy Um delves into the fascinating history of coffee, from its origins in 15th-century Yemen to its global spread ... Show More
55m 37s
Sep 22
Orientalism & Edward Said | Professor Nubar Hovsepian
Author of "Edward Said: The Politics of an Oppositional Intellectual," professor Nubar Hovsepian joins us to delve into the nuanced legacy of Edward Said, exploring common misunderstandings of his work, the reception of "Orientalism" within academia, and Said's vision of the "opp ... Show More
1 h
Sep 15
Sustainability in Qatar & the GCC: Environmental Challenges & Opportunities
The author of "Sustainable Qatar: Social, Political and Environmental Perspectives" delves into the multifaceted meaning of sustainability, especially within the context of the Arabian Peninsula. Our guest unpacks the region's unique environmental challenges, including sea level ... Show More
56m 13s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2023
Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt: A Conversation with Andrew Simon
Andrew Simon, a historian of media, popular culture, and the Middle East at Dartmouth College, discusses his new book Media of the Masses: Cassette Culture in Modern Egypt (Stanford University Press, 2022) , with Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel. Media of the Masses is an engagi ... Show More
1h 7m
Jun 2021
Caroline Seymour-Jorn, "Creating Spaces of Hope: Young Artists and the New Imagination in Egypt" (AU in Cairo Press, 2021)
It is now just over a decade since protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square started Egypt's chapter in the events of the Arab Spring. Much has been made in western criticism of art and culture's role in the revolution, but the everyday cultural production of studio artists, graffiti art ... Show More
1h 1m
Mar 2024
Building Successful Modern Arab Cities | Yasser Elsheshtawy
Yasser Elsheshtawy – adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia’s GSAPP and non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington – joins us on the Tasmeem Doha podcast to talk about his keynote speech from the conference “(Re)Constructing Urban Spaces: Unearthin ... Show More
59m 53s
Feb 2024
Decolonizing & Decentering Theater in the Arab World | Laila Soliman
A captivating conversation with theater director and playwright Laila Soliman about theater, cultural discourse and decolonization across the Arab world. Using three of her major works – Zigzag, La Grande Maison and her first opera Woman at Point Zero – as reference, we discuss w ... Show More
59m 39s
Apr 2022
Feature: Why Did Baghdad Emerge as the Gastro Capital of the Ancient World? [Community Presentation]
In this afikra FEATURE, Mohamad Tassabehji Mohamad talks about the city during Baghdad’s Golden Age and the production of cookbooks in that era. He does so by asking the question of "Why did Baghdad emerge as the Gastro capital of the ancient world? Why did they produce so many c ... Show More
30m 36s
May 2024
Yasmine Ramadan, "Space in Modern Egyptian Fiction" (Edinburgh UP, 2021)
In 1960s Egypt, a group of writers exploded onto the literary scene, transforming the aesthetic landscape. Yasmine Ramadan’s Space in Modern Egyptian Fiction (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) explores how this literary generation presents a marked shift in the representation of ... Show More
40m 50s
Mar 2024
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.Starting with the Qat ... Show More
56m 24s
Feb 2024
A Journey Through Arabic Percussion | Karim Nagi
In this episode of Quartertone, Karim Nagi takes us on a journey into the world of Arabic percussion and rhythm. He talks about his experience as a musician and how the arts – and percussion in particular – have helped him embrace and grow into his own Arab identity. He shares hi ... Show More
49m 31s
Feb 2024
Say More - Ira Glass on Is This It?
Ira Glass has created over 800 episodes of the genre-defining radio show and podcast This American Life. Each week on the show he weaves together stories around a central narrative theme and he never shies away from the big hard questions. But after almost 30 years of producing t ... Show More
49m 16s
May 2022
Merphie - Growing up on the ruins of Deir Yassin
Merphie grew up in a religious, Zionist home in Jerusalem. When she was a teenager, she discovered what the system doesn't want Israelis to know - that she and her family live on the ruins of Deir Yassin, a pre-1948 Palestinian village that had been massacred during the Nakba. Th ... Show More
59m 13s