Our Women on the Ground

Our Women on the Ground

Author: Kerning Cultures Network November 24, 2019 Duration: 36:18

Asmaa al-Ghoul was an ambitious young journalist when she started reporting on Gaza – her hometown – for the newspaper she'd dreamed of working for in high school. But through the trauma of uprisings, wars, and a failed marriage, she began to question how much journalism really matters.

This week on Kerning Cultures, a special collaboration with Zahra Hankir as she reads Asmaa's essay from her book Our Women on the Ground.  You can buy Our Women on the Ground on Amazon here.

This episode was produced by Alex Atack, with editorial support by Dana Ballout, Tamara Rasamny and Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Mohamad Khreizat, and fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Thank you to Zahra Hankir for reading this essay, to Asmaa al-Ghoul, who wrote it, and to Mariam Antar, who translated it from Arabic. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.

Support this podcast on patreon.com/kerningcultures for as little as $1 a month.


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Dive into the rich, complex, and often surprising narratives that define a region through the lens of Kerning Cultures. This documentary-style series moves beyond headlines to deliver intimate, human-centered stories from across the Middle East and North Africa, and from the nuanced spaces in between. Each episode is a crafted audio journey, blending personal testimony with immersive sound design to explore themes of identity, history, innovation, and everyday life. You’ll hear from voices seldom amplified elsewhere-artists grappling with tradition, scientists tackling local challenges, families navigating change, and communities preserving memory. Produced by the Kerning Cultures Network, the podcast is built on deep reporting and a commitment to nuanced storytelling that challenges monolithic perspectives. It’s for anyone curious about the forces shaping cultures and societies, presented not as a lecture but as an experience. The result is a listening session that feels both expansive and personal, connecting global audiences to specific lives and places. Tune in for stories that are meticulously researched, emotionally resonant, and fundamentally human, reminding us that the most compelling tales are often found in the details we haven’t yet heard. This is a podcast dedicated to the art of narrative, offering a fresh and essential auditory window into a dynamic part of the world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Kerning Cultures
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