Author
Mariam Shahin
Filmmaker and writer Mariam Shahin has produced and directed more than 70 documentary films, and she is author of Palestine: A Guide (Interlink Books, 2005) and coauthor of Unheard Voices: Iraqi Women on War and Sanctions (Change, 1992).
Articles by this author
Cheikha Remitti, Queen Mother of Rai
Arts & Culture
People
Born in a village in northwest Algeria, Cheika Remitti sang high-energy songs of love, loss and society that pioneered rai music. Beloved by fans for more than 60 years until her death in 2006, her influence and popularity endure.
Reviving the Art of Tunisian Glass
Arts & Culture
In the mid-1980s, Sadika Keskes fired up the first artisanal glass furnaces in Tunisia in 600 years. Since then she has revived a once-thriving heritage craft and, through her teaching, lit up imaginations among a new generation of artisans.
Habibi Funk’s Musical Revivals
Arts & Culture
Across North Africa a few back-street stores still sell records pressed in the ’70s and ’80s. There Jannis Stürtz has been digging for local classics to rerelease on his digital-and-vinyl label, Habibi Funk, bringing them to global audiences and illuminating some the era’s most vibrantly hybrid music scenes.
The Arts Come Home to Bethlehem
Arts & Culture
From urban gardening workshops to artists in residence, gallery shows, cinema and a historical archive, Dar Jacir is one of the oldest and most stately homes in Bethlehem and one of the Palestinian town’s newest touchstones for creative expressions.
Kufiya Nouveau
Arts & Culture
Once a traditional Arab headdress of white cotton sewn with traditional patterns in black or red, the kufiya is being pulled by designers onto the streets and runways of global fashion.