Sami Hermez and Sireen Sawalha, the author and the subject of My Brother, My Land: A Story from Palestine join us on Ehkili (afikra's book club) to discuss writing the book and the real story behind it. In this episode, the book, which mixes oral history, memoir and creative non-fiction, comes to life. We hear from Sireen herself about the real people and stories that are depicted in the book, while Sami tells us about the experience of honouring Sireen's stories and words on paper. Together, they tell us how they wanted to approach the Palestine predicament through this novel.

0:00 Introduction
1:01 Origins of “My Brother, My Land: A Story From Palestine”
4:14 Sireen Sawalha’s Story
14:18 Impact on Sami & Reasons Behind Writing It
21:31 Humanizing Resistance Fighters
31:14 Representation on the Page
40:00 Family & Community Reaction
49:11 Book Recommendations

Sami Hermez is an anthropologist and teaches at Northwestern University in Qatar. He is the author of War Is Coming: Between Past and Future Violence in Lebanon (2017). His work in and out of the classroom reflects a strong commitment to freedom, justice, and equality. His family's history of migration spans the Levant, with roots in Al-Qosh, Aleppo, Beirut, and Jerusalem. Sami lives in Doha with his family.

Connect with Sami 👉  / hermezsami  

Sireen Sawalha is a high-school teacher of Global Studies and United States History. She has previously worked as a delegate advisor to the Jordan Mission to the UN.

Connect with Sireen 👉https://x.com/SireenSawalha

My Brother, My Land is a "riveting and unapologetic account of Palestinian resistance, the story of one family's care for their land, and a reflection on love and heartache while living under military occupation." It follows Sireen Sawalha's family over the decades following 1967. Through their lives, Hermes confronts readers with the complexities of life under occupation.

Learn more about the book 👉https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3...

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉   / mikey_mu  

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4khpLDZ...
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1044...

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series:    • 🎙️ The afikra Podcast  

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:   / afikra_  
🔗 Facebook:   / afikra.official  
🔗 Twitter:   / afikra