Instant Coffee

Jun 06 2024 33 ep. 23 mins 4
Instant Coffee Podcast artwork

This is Instant Coffee, your quick fix of everything Middle East. This podcast, brought to you by the LSE Middle East Centre, features 20-minute conversations with activists, artists, journalists and more from the region.

  Arts  History  News  Society & Culture  Technology
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3.10 The Power of Radio

Jun 06 2024 29 mins  
How did the radio, a major technological development in the history of sound and music, change the social, cultural and political landscape of the region? In this last episode of the season, we speak to audio curator Hazem Jamjoum, and Elias Anastas and Saeed Abu Jaber, two of the co-founders of the Palestinian radio station Radio Al Hara. We find out more about the history of the

3.9 War Tech and Nationalism in Turkey and Israel

May 21 2024 29 mins  
This episode explores the link between technology, warfare and nationalism. Turkey and Israel are two countries in the region who have developed their technological capabilities for both domestic and international conflict. We speak to two researchers who have been tracing the use of military technologies and the effect they have had on a sense of nationalism amongst their populati

3.8 Data for Development with Nagla Rizk

May 07 2024 26 mins  
What does the era of 'big data' mean for development technologies in MENA? How can data be used for good, to ensure projects working with vulnerable communities such as informal workers and women are seen and supported? What kind of repercussions does poor data collection have on emerging technologies? How can data-driven research and technology improve prospects for the next gener

3.7 Living in the Future with Rahel Aima

Apr 23 2024 26 mins  
Writer and art critic, Rahel Aima, who grew up and currently lives in Dubai, talks to us about living in the Gulf, a region rapidly developing itself as the place to be for smart cities and high-tech living. Rahel explores a concept she has been thinking about for some time, the Khaleeji Ideology, which meets at the intersection of technology, economy, the environment and nation b

3.6 Art Meaning and Art Making with Nadim Choufi

Apr 09 2024 23 mins  
How can art complicate claims of progress, innovation and the use of rapidly developing emerging technologies in MENA? In this episode, Cima Chehab speaks to visual artist Nadim Choufi about how he incorporates technology into his artwork both as subject matter and as medium. In the conversation, they discuss Nadim's own artistic practice, his use of "lecture performances" and the

3.5 Archiving and Mapping Technologies in Palestine and Syria

Mar 26 2024 25 mins  
Majd Al-Shihabi of 'Palestine Open Maps' and Sana Yazigi of the 'Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution' talk to us about how they have centered their archiving processes around maps, and what digital archiving can do for Palestinian and Syrian community-building. This episode also features comment from Dr Sara Salem and Dr Mai Taha of LSE, who explore the importance of creative

3.4 Fintech, Crypto and Sanctions in Iraq and Iran

Mar 12 2024 30 mins  
Iraq's engagement with fintech is new but rapidly developing, amidst a contemporary economic history that has struggled with foreign intervention and internal corruption, while Iranians have been engaging with a form of fintech - alternative digital currencies - for some time, to evade and work around sanctions and a crippled economy. In this episode we speak to Ali Al-Hilli and S

3.3 Re-Appropriating Technologies with and for Refugees and Migrants

Feb 27 2024 24 mins  
Smartphones, food-only debit cards, biometric data checks at border crossings, these are some of the ways refugees and migrants interact with technology in their daily lives both in the region and the diaspora. This episode unpacks the benefits, ambivalences and concerns surrounding these technologies. Our guests, Dr Reem Talhouk and Dr Yener Bayramoğlu discuss refugee-centered d

3.2 Knowledge Production Across Empires

Feb 13 2024 31 mins  
The Abbasid and British Empires are the nexus through which our two guests, Dr Ahmed Ragab and Dr Katayoun Shafiee explore technology, knowledge production and power. This episode charts medieval paper production and Abbasid-era hospitals to the "discovery" of oil by foreign entrepreneurs in southern Iran, exploring the different ways technological knowledge production developed ac

3.1 Digital Rights and Big Tech in MENA

Jan 30 2024 30 mins  
What kinds of obstacles are people in MENA facing with regards to access to technological opportunity and concerns around digital rights abuses? How are they tied to global challenges? Dr Nakeema Stefflbauer, tech executive, investor and digital rights advocate shares her thinking. This episode also features comment from Kassem Mnejja and Marwa Fatafta of Access Now, a digital rig