Episodes
Episode 1 - Mary Haddad
Mary, Who Practices Law in Three Languages
In this episode, Mary reflects on growing up in a small Arab village in northern Israel and the path that led her to become a lawyer working in human rights. She talks about navigating the legal system while holding multiple identities, and how language shapes the way she moves through the world. Speaking Arabic, Hebrew, and English, Mary shares how each language carries a different sense of comfort, power, and vulnerability—and what it means to find her voice across all three.
Episode 2 - Naz Al-Windi
Naz, whose tongue speaks first
In this episode, Naz Al-Windi reflects on living between worlds, as an Iraqi Kurdish woman raised in Germany, and how those layered identities have shaped her academic work and activism. She discusses the complexities of belonging, the role language plays in identity, and how experiences of marginalization influence the questions she asks as a scholar. Now pursuing a PhD, Al-Windi explores how people living through conflict understand and define violence, challenging dominant Western frameworks. She also reflects on Hamburg’s hidden colonial history and on the balance between scholarship and activism in making sense of the world.
Episode 3 - Alia Khaled Madi
Alia, from the rubble of Gaza’s Islamic University
to a bucolic campus in Cairo
In this episode, Alia Khaled Madi joins us from the bucolic American University in Cairo, reflecting on her uncertain transition from the Gaza Strip to Cairo. A top English literature student and storyteller, her life was upended in 2023. After months of uncertainty, she evacuated to Cairo, where she now navigates displacement while her father remains in Gaza, using storytelling to explore survival, identity, and hope.
Episode 4 - Mohamed Sayed
Mohamed, from Al-Azhar to Indiana
In this episode, we speak with Mohamed Sayed, whose journey spans from a rural village in Egypt to global Islamic scholarship. A graduate of Al-Azhar Islamic University, he shares how his passion for rethinking religious education led him beyond traditional frameworks into international academia.
From studying with the British Council to earning a Fulbright in the United States, Mohamed reflects on the cultural and intellectual shifts that reshaped his thinking. Now a PhD student in Indiana and a leader at a local Islamic center, he bridges scholarship and community life while fostering dialogue across beliefs.
Episode 5 - Kris Azzeh
Kris, an actress and rugby player in Amman
In this episode, Kris Azzeh takes us inside her world in Amman, Jordan, where she’s carving out a path as a theater artist while also playing one of the most physical sports around: rugby.
Kris embodies a generation that is both deeply local and unmistakably global. Her story is one of persistence, self-definition, and refusing to stay in the lanes laid out for her.
Episode 6 - Abdelouhab Adjroum
Vahap, the market-minded philosopher
Abdelouhab Adjroum joins us from Turkey for a conversation spanning philosophy, language, markets, and life across borders. Born in Morocco, educated in Qatar, and now working in the private sector, Abdelouhab reflects on studying Arabic philosophy and postmodern thought, navigating multiple languages and cultures, and balancing intellectual passion with economic reality. From Ibn Arabi to market economics, this episode explores what it means to think deeply while living practically.
Episode 7 - Belsem Aljobory
Belsem, the student who built a school
Growing up among Philadelphia, Jordan, Pakistan, and now London, Belsem Aljobory has spent much of her life navigating borders, identities, and expectations. In this conversation, she reflects on what it means to belong to many places at once: the daughter of an Iraqi Shia father and Pakistani Sunni mother, raised by a fiercely independent single mom she still calls “home.” From building a girls’ school in Pakistan while still a college student to working with the U.S. Embassy in London, Belsem speaks candidly about faith, migration, education, and the power of empathy across political and cultural divides. Her story is one of constant movement, but also of searching for connection, purpose, and a way to bridge worlds that are too often kept apart.
Episode 8 - Obayda Ghadban
Obayda of Syria, from exile to public service
Obayda Ghadban was “born into politics.” Raised in exile from Syria, he pursued careers in journalism, translation, and political science, united by a passion for research. During the 2011 Syrian uprising, his digital activism placed him at the heart of the revolution from afar, helping document and amplify events unfolding on the ground. After the fall of the Assad regime and the end of the civil war, Obayda moved to Syria in 2024. Today, he serves in the country's new government, drawing on the same research and analytical skills that shaped his career to help rebuild Syria's relationship with the world.
Episode 9 - Laila Shadid
Laila, who made her father’s path her own
Laila Shadid has spent much of her twenties exploring the Arab world. In this episode, she reflects on how living in Palestine, Jordan, and now Egypt has helped her reconnect with her Arab identity. Laila and Nathan explore the ways language shapes who we are, discussing how speaking Arabic can transform relationships and reveal different parts of ourselves. They also share memories of Laila’s late father, whose legacy continues to inspire her commitment to meaningful work and journalism.
Episode 10 - Yitzok Horowith
​Yitzok, the Haredi on the outskirts
Yitzchok Horowith was raised in Jerusalem's Haredi community but now lives on its outskirts, balancing tradition with a life that defies expectations. In this episode, he explains what it means to be Haredi, why he chose to serve in the Israeli military, and how he navigates religious, cultural, and political divides. Nathan and Yitzchok also discuss the changing role of the Haredi community in Israeli society and what its future may look like.
Episode 11 - Aviva Gould
Aviva, the producer
In this special episode, the microphone turns to the person usually behind the scenes. Producer Aviva Gould joins host Nathan Brown to reflect on the experiences that shaped her understanding of Israel, Palestine, and Jewish identity: from a gap year in Tel Aviv and studying Arabic in Jordan to navigating campus after October 7 and finding community through social justice work in New York. Together, they explore what it means to hold complexity, resist easy labels, and keep asking difficult questions. It's an honest conversation about belonging, curiosity, and why listening across divides still matters.
Episode 12 - Saeede Mokhtarzade
Saeede, an Iranian human rights scholar in Galway
Saeede Mokhtarzade studied law in her native Iran before moving to Europe in 2019. Living in Germany and Ireland, she has added two degrees, and is onto the third, a PHD on Human Rights. In this episode, she explains her PHD topic of marriage and divorce contradictions across religious and secular legal systems. She also addresses Islamic Feminism, authoritarian regimes, separating people from their government, and how media coverage is unproportional. She conveys her understanding thoughtful and delicately, without hiding how she feels.
Episode 13 - Manal Daddah
Manal, the Moroccan from Amsterdam
Manal Daddah has spent her life in Amsterdam but her summers in Morocco. In this episode, she reflects on her Moroccan-Dutch identity and how she - and the people she meets - understand the many parts of who she is. She takes us through her travels to Morocco and her semester studying in the United States, weaving these experiences into a deeper exploration of identity, belonging, and the ways we understand the world around us. She opens and closes the episode with poems, offering a glimpse into her creativity, depth, and unique perspective.
