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SUMMARY:Layla Azmi Goushey on Launching Multilingual 'Baladi' Magazine
DESCRIPTION:ArabLit Staff \nWriter\, scholar\, teacher\, and editor Layla Azmi Goushey recently launched a new online literary magazine. It’s called Baladi\, and it’s available at baladimagazine.com. The project started at the end of 2020\, she said\, when she contacted Aya Ghanameh about creating a banner for the site. “I had an image of Jaffa’s harbor that I liked\,” Azmi Goushey said\, “and I wanted something that displayed some whimsy along with the idea of the past\, present\, and future. The motto I developed for Baladi is Exploring the Past\, Engaging the Present\, and Imagining the Future.” \nThe site has a focus on the speculative\, and on conversations with authors\, featuring talks with authors like Mohammed Said Hjiouij (Kafka in Tangier)\, PL Stewart (Drowned Kingdom Saga)\, Marguerite Dabaie (The Hookah Girl and Other True Stories)\, Lena Mubsutina (Amreekiya) and others\, as well as poetry\, art\, and short fiction in English and in Arabic. \n \nWe had a back-and-forth about the magazine over email. \nCan you tell us a bit about where you got the idea to launch Baladi\, the discussions behind it\, and how you’d describe the focus of the magazine?  \nLayla Azmi Goushey: I’ve played around with different ideas and possibilities for journal sites and blogs for a while.  I created a blog titled “Transnational Literacies” and I posted a few personal essays and book reviews on it\, but the name didn’t reflect what I felt inside. What I liked about the name “Transnational Literacies” is that it acknowledged different communication structures and literacies – kind of an awareness of flowing\, dynamic\, evolving forms of language\, including art\, but it was too academic for my purposes. \nI finally had an epiphany because of a webinar I attended where a speaker kept referring to Palestine as the “blad\,” or the homeland. I love the term because of all the connotations to indigenity and the right of return\, but as a Palestinian American from Texas\, I’ve always found requests to specify my homeland uncomfortable.  I remember a time at a small dinner party when\, in answer to the question of where I’m from\, I replied that I am from Fort Worth\, Texas. Conversation then focused on reminders that I am to also say “I am from Jerusalem” because that is where my father was born. I am very proud that Jerusalem is part of my heritage and that my grandfather owned a shop in the Old City.  However\, the older I get the more I want to acknowledge those memories of my Texas homeland. Complex answers to these supposedly simple questions are an angst of being in the diaspora.  So\, after mulling my discomfort over the term “blad” and the reasons for it\, because I do want to acknowledge the loss of Palestine\, and I do want to own the term and express myself as a Palestinian American\, I realized that I needed to define the terms blad or baladi (my homeland) for myself. \nI inherited some sympathies with Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Arab nationalism due to the influence of my father and his friends – their generation.  However\, I’m done with nationalism now.  I can see that it is a divisive and anti-indigenous concept.  I’m looking for something more flexible and unifying. Maybe intercultural and postnational – whatever that means.   \nRegarding the Baladi Magazine concept\, I now see earth as the homeland.  I’m rooted in concepts of indigeniety and interculturalism. \nAnother apothegm that I encountered last year helped me focus my concept for Baladi. I interviewed a Lebanese American woman who has contributed much to the Texas Arab American  community since the 1980s. She was born in the U.S.\, and spent several years in Morocco working for an NGO. After several minutes of our discussion of identity and belonging\, she suddenly said “Layla. Identity is fluid.” That statement hit home for me. (No pun intended.) I think we all show different sides of ourselves at different times\, and many folks\, including those in diaspora\, evolve in our lifelong search for identity and belonging.  \nYou have pieces published in English and published bilingually in Arabic and English. Are you open to more languages? What made you want to publish bilingually? \nLAG: Yes. Baladi Magazine is multilingual\, and I will publish both the English version and the original language of any submission.  This is reflective of my desire to recognize indigenous authenticity and artistic authenticity of the writer or artist (if it is an artist’s interview\, for example). I want to remind people of the origin of a work and that the English version is a mediated form of the original.   \nYou have some beautiful stand-alone narrative art submissions — Aya’s sailboat\, Nour Moussa’s “Tribute” to Nabil Farouk and Ahmed Khaled Tawfik — as well as art that goes along with literary works\, like Lisa Suhair Majaj’s artwork that goes with her poem. What made you want to focus on art\, and what sorts of art are you looking for? \nLAG: I love all kinds of art and I use art as prompts for writing.   \nHowever\, many pieces of visual art convey stories and poems of their own.  I edit a student art and literary journal at my college\, and the English and art department collaborate on the project.  I have always done this in my workplace and it just seemed a natural concept to carry over into my personal projects. \nThe magazine has a strong audio-video element — a recording of Lisa Suhair Majaj’s “Voices” poem and the several video discussions. What made you want to focus on the video? \nLAG: I was influenced by an indie writers’ and booktubers’ group I’m involved with. They will set up reading schedules of mostly indie-authored science-fiction\, fantasy\, and horror books\, but they will occasionally include a well-known traditionally-published book.  A few of us will read the book and then come together and discuss it on a Youtube live stream or live podcast with each other and in conversation with folks who post questions in the chat. I like the idea of a relaxed conversation versus a formal interview structure. It just seemed natural to do the same type of discussion on Baladi. So I tell the folks I invite that it is meant to be a casual conversation. I do a lot of preparation for a conversation\, but once we begin I want the mood to be friendly and responsive.  If we need to pause and Google something obscure that is brought up during the discussion\, that’s fine. It’s all good. \nMy work with the indie sci-fi and fantasy writers (with SWANA and Western perspectives) is also why you may see some work by them on Baladi.  There are some unhelpful publishing and reading silos I hope to work around. For example\, if the author’s work reflects a respect for indigenous populations\, or in some way is bringing something new about interculturalism to the work\, I would consider it for Baladi regardless of the author’s perceived identity.  \nHow often/frequently do you expect to publish? And what kinds of submissions are you looking for?  \nLAG: My goal is to do something every Saturday for now. That might be a YouTube conversation with someone\, or it might be that I publish a submission of a short story or poem. I’ve also considered publishing a couple of my own reflective prose pieces. \nSubmissions I would like to see are poems\, short stories\, and art that are futuristic and experimental but based in indigenous themes.  I also like pieces that reflect an aspect of Baladi’s motto of exploring\, the past\, engaging the present\, and imagining the future. For example\, a reflection that puts new light on a historical event is always of interest. Most of all\, while I’m open to publishing work rooted in all belief systems\, I’m especially interested in explorations of the secular Arab experience or the secular Arab Western experience. As a secular humanist\, I want to provide a place for this topic\, because I rarely find folks in my everyday life who share my secular beliefs. \n \nYou can follow Baladi on Twitter at @BaladiMagazine and on YouTube at youtube.com/@BaladiMagazine. \n 
URL:https://arablit.org/event/editor-layla-azmi-goushey-on-launching-multilingual-baladi-magazine/
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240515T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240515T203000
DTSTAMP:20260405T205920
CREATED:20240513T133318Z
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SUMMARY:NAKBA THEN AND NOW: REFUSE SILENCE
DESCRIPTION:Join Radical Book Collectives and The Polis Project on May 15th at The People’s Forum for a night of readings to commemorate 76 years of the Nakba and to stand in solidarity with Palestine. Nakba Then and Now: Refuse Silence invites you to raise your voice\, amplify the Palestinian struggle for freedom\, and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.\n \nMore at the PEOPLE’S FORUM website.
URL:https://arablit.org/event/nakba-then-and-now-refuse-silence/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240518T200000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Helsinki:20240518T213000
DTSTAMP:20260405T205920
CREATED:20240511T141630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240511T173840Z
UID:62910-1716062400-1716067800@arablit.org
SUMMARY:Launch of 'Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!'
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the launch of “Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!”\, a co-production of ArabLit Quarterly and Majalla 28.  \nWe will be joined by several contributors\, including Hooda Shawa\, Basman Aldirawi\, Atef AlShaer\, Tom Abi Samra\, Salma Harland & more\, and we hope to be joined by co-editors Mahmoud Al-Shaer\, Mohammed Zaqzooq\, who are in Rafah. \nJoin us on May 18 at the livestreamed event at youtube.com/c/ArabLitQuarterly. \n 
URL:https://arablit.org/event/launch-of-gaza-gaza-gaza/
LOCATION:YouTube
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Beirut:20240604T190000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Beirut:20240604T203000
DTSTAMP:20260405T205920
CREATED:20240524T163757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240524T181550Z
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SUMMARY:Series of Talks: 'Archives & Heritage for Palestine'
DESCRIPTION:Archives & Heritage for Palestine: a Series Hosted by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar and Tam Rayan\nDr. Salman Abu Sitta in conversation with Ghada Dimashk \n\nTuesday\, June 4\, 2024 \n9am GMT-7 San Francisco (Ohlone) \n12pm EST Toronto (Tkaronto) \n7pm GMT+3 Jerusalem/Beirut \n \n\nLivestream on Facebook and Youtube live from Beirut! \n \n\ninfo@archiveslab.org | https://www.facebook.com/MELALibs  |@MELALibs\n \nRegister today!  \n \nWe are honored to host renowned scholar and historian\, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta\, Founder and President of the Palestine Land Studies Center (PLSC) at the American University of Beirut\, in conversation with Ghada Dimashk\, PLSC librarian and archivist\, for the first installment of Archives & Heritage for Palestine\, a series hosted by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar and Tam Rayan\, in defense of Palestinian life\, land\, liberation\, and return. Drawing on records\, documents and maps from the PLSC collection\, our guests will illustrate and explore the role of archives and heritage pertaining to Palestinian history and identity to counter epistemic violence\, colonial erasure and the cultural dimensions of genocide. \n \nThe Archives & Heritage for Palestine series is a joint initiative of the Middle East Librarians Association (Archives & Heritage for Palestine Advocacy Sub-Group)\, the American University of Beirut’s Palestine Land Studies Center\, Publishers for Palestine\, and the Archives & Digital Media Lab; and sponsored by the Lebanese Library Association\, CUNY’s Archival Technologies Lab\, Library Freedom\, and We Here. The series responds to the urgent need to act in solidarity with Palestinian colleagues and institutions in Palestine and the Shetat (Diaspora) to safeguard the heritage\, history\, and memory of the Palestinian people under settler colonialism and genocide. Through education and advocacy\, the series works to surface\, connect\, amplify\, and promote the efforts already underway by Palestinians and supporters in Palestine and around the world in the archives and heritage sectors.  \n \nAbout the Speakers & Hosts:\n \nDr. Salman Abu Sitta is a Palestinian academic best known for his crucial work formulating a practical return plan for Palestinian refugees and documenting Palestine’s land and people through his extensive mapping of Palestine. He is the Founder and President of the Palestine Land Society (PLS)\, and his archival collection and working files form the backbone of the Palestine Land Studies Center (PLSC) at AUB. He is also the author of over 400 articles and papers on Palestine\, as well as several books. Notable among them is a series of atlases documenting Palestine at different periods. These include: Atlas of Palestine 1948\, Atlas of Palestine 1917- 1966\, Arabic and English editions; Atlas of Palestine 1871- 1877\, and the Return Journey Atlas. There are also a series of poster maps about al Nakba. More details are available on the PLSC website: www.plands.org. His book\, Mapping my Return\, is the first personal memoir in English describing the experience of Al Nakba in southern Palestine. Dr. Abu Sitta is a member of several organizations dealing with Palestinian rights\, human rights and international law. Dr. Abu Sitta spoke at many international forums in Europe\, USA\, Japan\, Australia\, and New Zealand\, in addition to the Middle East. Of notable interest is his virtual trial of Lord Balfour in his seat for many decades\, the University of Edinburgh.\n \nGhada Dimashk is the librarian\, archivist and interim coordinator at the Palestine Land Studies Center at the American University of Beirut\, where she is responsible for the Dr. Salman Abu Sitta Archive\, and the Centre’s policies and descriptive standards. Recently\, she launched a project with a group of international experts to archive social media and web content from and about Palestine\, with a focus on Gaza. From 2009 to 2023\, Dimashk was the Librarian at the Lebanese National Library. She holds a master’s degree in Library & Information Science from the Lebanese University\, where she completed a thesis project mapping the Lebanese LAM sector\, and developing a sample online portal to increase accessibility and preservation efforts.\n \nDr. Jamila Ghaddar is a Lebanese writer\, archivist\, historian and educator. She is Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University’s Department of Information Science in Kjipuktuk\, Mi’kma’ki (homeland of the Mi’kmaq) also known as Halifax\, Canada. She is founding director of the Archives & Digital Media Lab and a Research Affiliate at AUB’s Palestine Land Studies Center. She recently completed a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship working with Raymond Frogner (National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation) and Dr. Greg Bak (History Dept.) at the University of Manitoba. Ghaddar has worked in archives and libraries around the world\, including at the American University of Beirut’s Jafet Library where she archived the personal papers of Dr. Constantine Zurayk who coined the term ‘Nakba’; and at the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory in Johannesburg where she helped preserve the papers of the anti-apartheid figure\, Nelson Mandela. Her publications appear in Disputed archival heritage (2023\, Routledge)\, In the Field\, Archival Science\, Library Quarterly\, and Archivaria\, among others. Ghaddar holds a PhD and Master of Information from the University of Toronto.\n\nTam Rayan is pursuing their PhD in Information at the University of Michigan\, specializing in Archives and Digital Curation\, and is advised by Ricky Punzalan and Patricia Garcia. They received their MI in Information Studies (2020) and MA in Ethnomusicology (2016) from the University of Toronto. Their research is focused on how to build transformative archival representations of those in diaspora. Specifically\, they are interested in how to better serve and represent the recordkeeping needs of ethnic groups impacted by forced migration\, political conflict\, and/or exile. Their work has been previously published in Across the Disciplines and they have a forthcoming publication in Archival Science. They are currently a core member of the ACA BIPOC Special Interest Section\, a former steering committee member of the SAA Archivists and Archives of Color section\, and a former ARL/SAA Mosaic Fellow.
URL:https://arablit.org/event/series-of-talks-archives-heritage-for-palestine/
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