This is Instant Coffee, your quick fix of everything Middle East. This new podcast brought to you by the LSE Middle East Centre, features 20-minute conversations with activists, artists, journalists and more from the region.

Instant Coffee - Season 1

On this first episode of Instant Coffee, Omar al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi) talks to Jean Kassir about covering the Lebanese revolution in times of Coronavirus. Jean is co-founder of Megaphone news, an independent media platform covering Lebanon and the region.

You can find Megaphone on: 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megaphone.news/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/megaphone_news
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megaphonenews/

Episode 1: Reporting the Lebanese Thawra with Megaphone's Jean Kassir

On the second episode of Instant Coffee, Sinéad Murphy (@DrS1neadMurphy) talks to Ahmed Masoud (@masoud_ahmed) about 'Obliterated', the play that never happened. Ahmed is a Palestinian & British writer from Gaza, living in London/UK. Author of the mystery novel Vanished & The Shroud Maker.

Episode 2: Arts under occupation with Ahmed Masoud

In episode 3 of Instant Coffee, Rasha Obaid Ba Sabih (@Rasha7Rasha) talks to Hafez Al-Bukari of the Yemen Polling Centre (@yemenpolling)about the challenges of researching in Yemen. The Yemen Polling Centre is an independent research centre which aims to impact local and international policymaking with the ultimate goal of improving the living conditions of the Yemeni people.

Episode 3: Challenges of researching in Yemen with Hafez Al-Bukari

On the fourth episode of Instant Coffee, LSE Middle East Centre's Jack McGinn talks to Alon-Lee Green about the future of the Israeli Left. Alon-Lee is National Director of Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab grassroots movement organising in Israel.

You can find Standing Together on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/standingtogetherenglish/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/omdimbeyachad
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.together.movement/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEE8M44MkYm6wqN8HN98jnA

Episode 4: The Future of the Israeli Left with Alon-Lee Green

On the fifth episode of Instant Coffee, LSE Middle East Centre's Muna Dajani talks to Salem Barahmeh about technology and activism in Palestine. Salem is Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and an advocate for Palestinian freedom and rights.

You can find the PIPD on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePIPD/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepipd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepipd/?hl=en
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI1faJEQi3ZG-WkPLIBIS-g/featured 

You can also download Palestine VR app from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Episode 5: Technology and activism in Palestine with Salem Barahmeh

On this episode of Instant Coffee, Isabel Käser talks to Houzan Mahmoud about the state of feminism in Kurdistan and Culture Project, a platform for writers, feminists, artists and activists from Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora to freely express their ideas. Houzan, a Kurdish feminist and public lecturer is co-founder of Culture Project.

Culture Project: http://cultureproject.org.uk/
Kurdish Women's Stories (edited by Houzan Mahmoud): https://www.waterstones.com/book/kurdish-womens-stories/houzan-mahmoud//9780745341132

Episode 6: Feminism in Kurdistan with Houzan Mahmoud

On this episode of Instant Coffee, Marral Shamshiri-Fard talks to Moshtari Hilal about locating Afghanistan in the 'Middle East', as well as her own artistic practice. Moshtari Hilal is a visual artist and researcher working from Hamburg and Berlin.

Website: https://www.moshtari.de/
Instagram: @moshtarimoshtari

Episode 7: Locating Afghanistan in the 'Middle East' with Moshtari Hilal

On this episode of Instant Coffee, Sara Salem talks to Ghiwa Sayegh about resistance politics during a global pandemic. Ghiwa Sayegh is a feminist writer and researcher. She is editor-in-chief of Kohl, a journal for body and gender research produced in Beirut, Lebanon.

We recorded this episode on the 3rd of August 2020, a day before the explosion in Beirut. We decided to release it as is because we believe it provides a good framework for understanding what led to the explosion.

Website: http://kohljournal.press/
Twitter: @kohljournal, @feministswrite

Episode 8: Resistance politics during a global pandemic with Ghiwa Sayegh

On this episode of Instant Coffee, Sandra Sfeir, Projects Manager at the LSE Middle East Centre, talks to Aida Al-Kaisy about the growth of independent media in Iraq in the age of disinformation. 

Aida Al-Kaisy is a media development consultant and researcher who focuses on supporting ethical practices in the media industry.

Episode 9: Independent media in Iraq in the age of disinformation with Aida Al-Kaisy

On this episode of Instant Coffee, Co-producer of Instant Coffee, Nadine Almanasfi, talks to Omnia Shawkat about arts and culture in Sudan, and the country's unique position between Africa and the Arab World. Omnia is co-founder of Andariya, a bilingual digital cultural platform from and on Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.

https://www.andariya.com/

Episode 10: Between Africa and the Arab World, Sudan's arts and culture with Omnia Shawkat

On the final episode of this season's Instant Coffee, Co-producer of Instant Coffee, Ribale Sleiman-Haidar, talks to Wafa Mustafa about her father's enforced disappearance and why the world should be doing more to help. Wafa is a Syrian activist, campaigner and journalist. She is a survivor of detention and member of Families for Freedom, a group of women-led Syrian families demanding freedom for all of the country’s arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared citizens. 

Families for Freedom: https://syrianfamilies.org/en/

Episode 11: Keeping the memories of Syria's disappeared alive with Wafa Mustafa

On this special episode of Instant Coffee as part of our 10-year anniversary celebrations, we spoke with renowned food writers Claudia Roden and Sami Zubaida reflecting on all things gastronomic in the Middle East!

Claudia Roden is a food writer and cultural anthropologist. Born and brought up in Cairo, she is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food', 'The New Book of Middle Eastern Food' and 'Arabesque—Sumptuous Food from Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon'.

Sami Zubaida is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, and also holds posts as Professorial Research Associate at the Food Studies Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Born in Iraq, he is the co-author of 'Food, Politics and Society: Social Theory and the Modern Food System' and co-editor of 'Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East'.

Special Episode: Food of the Middle East with Claudia Roden & Sami Zubaida

Welcome to the LSE Middle East Centre's podcast feed.

The MEC builds on LSE's long engagement with the Middle East and North Africa and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE.

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