The afikra Podcast

Pre-oil Gulf history didn't vanish when oil was discovered. It survived in places few people thought to look. Fahad Bishara, associate professor at the University of Virginia and the Doha Institute, discusses his books A Sea of Debt and Monsoon Voyages. He explains how 19th-century merchants kept long-distance trade going through extended credit, how Kuwaiti dhow captains read literature and used celestial navigation, and how he came across his grandfather's dhow logbooks in a friend's family trunk.

00:00 Introduction
01:36 A Family Link to the Sea
07:21 Memories of Indian Ocean Trade
13:58 Port Cities and Merchants
20:23 Credit, Debt, and Law
25:54 Routes and Commodities
32:03 The Voyage of “the Crooked”
40:45 Navigation and Life at Sea
43:23 Gulf History Beyond Oil
49:43 Further Reading

Fahad Ahmad Bishara specializes in the economic and legal history of the Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Islamic world. He is Associate Professor of History and Rouhollah Ramazani Professor of Arabian Peninsula and Gulf Studies at the University of Virginia, currently on leave and teaching at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He is the author of A Sea of Debt: Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780–1950 (Cambridge University Press, 2017), which received the J. Willard Hurst Prize (Law and Society Association), the Jerry Bentley Prize (World History Association), and the Peter Gonville Stein Award (American Society for Legal History), and Monsoon Voyagers: An Indian Ocean History (University of California Press, 2025), which follows a single Kuwaiti dhow on a 1924 trading journey around the Persian Gulf and Western Indian Ocean, drawing on the private archives of Kuwaiti merchant and dhow captain families. He holds a BA from the University of Southern California (2004), an MA in Arab Gulf Studies from the University of Exeter (2006), and a PhD in History from Duke University (2012).
Connect with Fahad Bishara 👉 https://history.virginia.edu/people/fahad-ahmad-bishara

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

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: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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Ottoman agricultural officials once warned that local locust invasions posed a greater threat to the empire than the Allied powers during World War I. Dr. Samuel Dolbee, Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, talks about his book Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East. He explores how shifting environmental dynamics reshaped human history across the Jazira borderlands, from the bizarre Ottoman reliance on Sufi-blessed water to attract locust-eating starlings to the conscription of hundreds of thousands of women and children for pest control. The conversation also delves into how agricultural expansion eliminated native habitats to alter pest ecology.

00:00 Introduction
01:25 Environmental History Disconnection
07:38 The Setting of Locust of Power
16:46 Impact of the Moroccan Locust
26:49 Ottoman State Control and Borders
31:09 Uncovering Personal Histories
36:22 Historical Context and Control Efforts
40:24 Agriculture, Plant Diseases and Movement
51:12 Reflecting on History and Storytelling

Samuel Dolbee is an environmental historian of the late Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East. He is Assistant Professor of History and D Family Dean's Faculty Fellow in Studies of the Middle East at Vanderbilt University. His book Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2023) sheds new light on borders and state formation by following locusts across the late Ottoman Empire to the Second World War, revealing how they shaped both the environment and people's imaginations. Drawing on archival research in multiple languages, Dolbee traces environmental, political, and spatial transformations in the Jazira — the borderlands of today's Iraq, Syria, and Turkey — by following locusts and their relationship to people in motion: Arab and Kurdish nomads, Armenian deportees, Assyrian refugees. The book co-won the 2024 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Book Prize. He completed his PhD at New York University and MA at Georgetown, and is editor-in-chief of the Ottoman History Podcast.
Connect with Samuel Dolbee 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-dolbee-9a44834/?isSelfProfile=false


Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

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: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

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We know about Islam in America, but what about America in Islam? Yale historian Alan Mikhail unpacks Sultan Selim I, the thuggish sultan who wrote bad poetry yet conquered the Arab world in 1516–17 and, Mikhail argues, changed the course of world history. From the water buffalo that powered Ottoman Egypt’s rural economy to Muhammad Ali’s deadly Mahmudiyya Canal, they explore how environmental history reveals the lives of the farmers who made up most of the Middle East’s past. Then the conversation crosses the Atlantic to meet Anthony the Turk, often called New York’s first Muslim, whose mysterious origins and life in the Dutch colony are at the heart of Mikhail’s new book Newcomers.

00:00 Introduction
01:08 Growing up between America and Egypt
04:16 Why the Ottoman Centuries Matter
07:00 What is environmental history?
10:41 Rethinking Muhammad Ali's Egypt
14:40 Animals, land, and the Life of an Empire
23:09 Selim, the Overlooked Sultan
27:21 What Does it Actually Mean to Conquer an Empire?
33:23 How Ottoman was Ottoman Egypt?
38:00 Anthony the Turk and Islam in Early America
47:53 Did the Ottomans Care About the New World?

Alan Mikhail is the Chace Family Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of six books that have garnered numerous distinctions and been translated into ten languages. His most recent book is Newcomers: The Story of Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York. In addition to his current work on the intertwined histories of Islam and early America, he has written about the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. His book My Egypt Archive received the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology. Before that, God’s Shadow won the Gold Medal in World History from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, was a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award, was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and was named a book of the year by the Times Literary Supplement, History Today, Publishers Weekly, and Glamour. Mikhail has written dozens of scholarly articles as well as for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times.
Connect with Alan Mikhail 👉 https://www.alanmikhail.org

Hosted by Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://instagram.com/mikey_mu

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

FOLLOW & RATE THE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

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: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shaping space goes far beyond physical structures, it deeply impacts people's lives and connects to the human spirit. Renowned, award-winning Saudi architect Sumaya Dabbagh shares her journey navigating the evolving architectural landscape of the Gulf, shifting away from commercial real estate focus to cultivate authentic, contextual architecture. She delves into her unique design philosophy of creating continuity by blending modern elements with historical fabric, as seen in landmark projects like the Mleiha Archaeological Centre and the Al Ain Museum. The conversation also highlights the intangible elements of design, exploring how thoughtful materials and sensory details bring a sacred sense of space to life.

00:00 Introduction
01:38 Returning to the Gulf in the Early '90s
06:22 Real Estate vs. Architecture
11:34 Turning Points in Gulf Building Standards
14:52 Establishing a Practice & Contextual Architecture
19:11 Understanding the Architectural Fabric of Cities
25:15 Looking Beyond Soulless Towers to the Human Spirit
29:53 Redefining Al Ain Museum
36:03 Showcasing History at Mleiha Archaeological Centre
40:51 Materiality & Setting
42:26 Designing Places of Worship & Sacred Spaces
44:56 A Broader Movement Towards Cultural Identity
46:31 Recommended Reading for Aspiring Architects

Sumaya Dabbagh is the founder and principal architect of Dabbagh Architects in Dubai. Born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, she studied architecture at the University of Bath under the guidance of the late Peter Smithson and Sir Ted Happold. She began her career in London and Paris before returning to the Gulf region in 1993. In 2008, she founded Dabbagh Architects, one of the first women-led architectural practices in the UAE and one of the first in the Gulf region to be registered as a RIBA Chartered Practice (2015). Her multi-award-winning projects include the Mleiha Archaeological Centre in Sharjah (2016), nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and the Gargash Mosque in Dubai (2021), making her one of the first women architects to design a mosque in the UAE. The Al Ain Museum in Abu Dhabi is currently under construction. She was a founding member of the RIBA Gulf Chapter (2009) and served as its Chair from 2015 to 2019. Her work is driven by the notions of memory, identity, and belonging, and she has been shortlisted for the Tamayouz Excellence Award for Woman of Outstanding Achievement (2019 and 2024) and named Principal of the Year at the Middle East Architects Awards (2019).
Connect with Sumaya Dabbagh 👉 https://instagram.com/dabbagharchitects_


Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

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: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A collection of black-and-white photographs from 1920s mandate Lebanon completely flips traditional regional history on its head. Dr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan takes us on a fascinating journey behind her PhD research into the life and legacy of Marie al-Khazen, a pioneer Lebanese photographer. Dr. Taan, a professor and director at LAU, utilizes a gender-focused lens to decode al-Khazen's meticulously staged compositions of active, unconventional women driving cars, smoking cigarettes, and going on armed hunting trips. This engaging discussion explores agency, cultural cross-dressing, and the striking parallels with other early female Arab photographers like Karimeh Abbud, demonstrating how these archival treasures continue to challenge established regional histories.

00:00 Introduction
02:03 The Discovery in Canada and an Unconventional Re-entry
09:11 Aristocracy, Feudal Backdrops, and Staged Patriarchs
17:39 Anecdotes of a Village Outcast
21:22 Viewfinders from Above and Interrupted Legacies
31:12 The Stone Under the Steering Wheel
34:15 Trends of Fluidity and Cultural Cross-Dressing
37:33 The Working Woman vs. The Documentarian
41:58 The True Landscape of Palestine
43:01 Self-Orientalizing and the Trend of the Bowl
48:43 Scratched Faces and Pre-Photoshop Erasure
53:06 White Eggs and the Mysterious Wife of Bonfils

Dr. Yasmine Nachabe Taan is Associate professor of Design and Design History at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut.
She holds a PhD in Art History and Communications Studies from McGill University. Her research focus is on design writing and research, visual culture and gender representation, design, media, photography and visual culture in the Middle East and North Africa. She publishes articles on visual culture in a number of international journals. She has illustrated more than twenty children’s books and has participated in a number of residencies in Berlin, Cairo, Beirut and Bratislava. Her artwork has been exhibited in New York, Berlin and Beirut.
Connect with Yasmine Nachabe Taan 👉 https://instagram.com/yastaan

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

FOLLOW & RATE THE AFIKRA PODCAST:
» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/the-afikra-podcast/id1529437743
» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5nafoF1Zs7F48mGZjlhrze
» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014643869

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

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: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.