Culture
To mark Pride Month, we’re sharing a list of resources for anyone who’d like to learn more about LGBTQIA+ issues across the Middle East and North Africa, and in diaspora communities around the world. The list includes books, podcasts, articles, online platforms, music and Instagram accounts to follow.
Bedouin women’s poetry is a rich, if little-known tradition of verse that stretches from Pre-Islamic Arabia all the way to the present day. While known within the Gulf and preserved in local communities, it rarely receives large-scale attention, generally because the emotional lives of women are considered culturally sensitive.
This week we’ve teamed up with Amazing Amazigh to share the story of Dihya, the legendary Amazigh queen and warrior. Amazigh (or Imazighen) is the name given to the indigenous people of North Africa. Scroll down to read all about Dihya’s role in the history of North Africa and how she became a symbol of Amazigh resistance and a Maghribi (North African) feminist icon!
Jewellery in the Middle East and North Africa has always played a far more significant role than just that of adornment. One of its most valued functions was that of portable wealth, a practice that finds its origin in the times before finances almost automatically included monetary currency and banks. As such, jewellery was a major factor in women’s financial independence.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, this schedule for a day of Arabic #WorkFromHome goodness will transport you to sunny Jordan. Squeezing tonnes of Arabic practice into your normal daily schedule, this plan for a day of immersion in Levantine Ammiya will do wonders for your language skills (but we warn you, it may come with a side order of wanderlust).



