presentation/talk

Hosted by Afikra 

Presenters: Lizzy Vartabnian and Asma Ibrahim

Located At thoughtworks, london 

May 14 2023

https://www.afikra.com/talks/category/London

 

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The way Afikra operates is that a post goes out, on all their social media platforms, that they will be having an event on a specific day, time and that you must register in advance if interested. They don't give any other information on who is presenting or what, which is a very big part of the whole experience. 

 

Afikra, which is an Arabic word translated to ‘did you know’ or ‘just to let you know’ depending on how it is used, is a social and fun way for anyone to learn or speak about the history of Arab culture in a non-traditional matter or topic. For example, I attended one in Bahrain over four years ago and the presenter spoke about why the Egyption cotton is valuable. This time around, I was firstly very excited to know they have such events in London, but coincidentally at least one speaker focused on Diaspora, which seems to be the theme of my unit 2 research. 

 

A disclaimer is given at the beginning of each presentation;  they are not experts on the topic, they have done the best they can on researching the information, but anyone is welcome to correct or add facts if they see it is needed. This is a social event, a fun creative way to share history and culture of things that, sadly, isn't always found in history books.

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Lizzy Vartabnian was the first presenter, who is of Armenian Palestinian descent. Her topic focuses on the first photography workshop that took place in Jerusalem Palestine, back in the mid 19th century. It was set up by an Armenian priest named Yessai Garabedian. But my interest sat with Asma Ibrahim, who is of Yemeni descent, the second to present. Her topic covered the diaspora of Yeminies, focusing on the history of communities that traveled from Hadramout, which is an area in Yemen, to Indonesia. A video that was flooding social media is what sparked her interest in the topic. It contained a group of Indonesian, very much asian looking, musicians wearing traditional Yemini clothes, singing traditional Arabic songs and using Arabic instruments like the oud. In her own words, “it blew my Yemini side of the family away”.  To give context as to the reason why they found it fascinating; Yamanies are usually known for their dark skin, long thin noses and big eyes. Myself included, I was very amused with what I was watching. As if someones cutting into a ripe pineapple, only to find it blue-sih purple because actually it's a blackberry, but then tastes like an orange. This presentation left me questioning if there is anything typical these days? We live in a world that contains history full of war, migration, travel, conquering and other situations that go around moving from one place to another, yet we are still surprised whenever we see such a culture of mixed identity. But then we find it normal when seeing someone patriotic, nationalist and loyal to that one bloodline, country or entity. These are some of the things that leave me in a state of ‘awkward’ that I find necessary to discuss through my work.