The Native and the Refugee | Malek Rasamny
Malek Rasamny — documentary filmmaker, co-founder of "The Native and the Refugee" and one of the original afikra presenters — on his critical work juxtaposing the societies, struggles and lived experience of settler colonialism by looking at Native Reservations and Palestinian refugee camps through a spatial lens.
Taking his film "Spaces of Exception" as a starting point, we talk about reservations and refugee camps as uniquely dual spaces that are all at once akin to prisons, yet a territory where it is possible to practice native sovereignty. He points to the very power of Indigineity in calling nationhood into question, the potent transnational solidarity that exists between Native Americans and Palestinians, and why it is possible to be a settler coloniser without a sponsor state.
Malek Rasamny is a documentary filmmaker, researcher and writer. He was also one of the first afikra presenters when we first launched. He is the co-founder — along with Matt Peterson — of "The Native and the Refugee" which is a multi-media research project that compares and contrasts the societies and struggles of both Native American reservations and Palestinian refugee camps in the Middle East. Much of their work and research culminated in their feature film "Spaces of Exception" which was shot between 2014 and 2017 in Arizona, New York, South Dakota, Lebanon and the West Bank.
THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Palestinian history and culture will not be erased. History warns us how media's dehumanizing rhetoric can pave the way for targeted aggression and allow society to permit atrocities as grave as genocide. It is resolutely within our mission to counteract this dehumanizing narrative. Afikra has always stood in unwavering solidarity with our Palestinian sisters & brothers and individuals of all nationalities and faiths around the world who bravely protest the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and condemn the state violence of the Israeli colonial settler project.
After the events of October 7, 2023 it felt impossible to go on with the podcast like business as usual. So we dedicated The afikra Podcast programming to special episodes relevant to understanding the historical context to what is happening in Palestine. Each episode was recorded in real-time and uploaded to YouTube and everywhere you get your podcasts. For most of these, the time of recording is key to understanding the context in which these conversations took place so make sure to refer to these and to check out all of these highly informative conversations with guests who are from completely different disciplines and have generously shared their time and insight in these dark times.
And as we entered the new year and the atrocities continue, we deemed it necessary to create an exclusive series dedicated to Palestinian history and culture. This is how this podcast came about and will continue to exist so long as the fight for liberation and peace continues.
