Why Berlin?
Editor Jordan Elgrably introduces the BERLIN issue guest editor, Viola Shafik, and more than a dozen new contributors to TMR.
Berlin
Translating Walter Benjamin on Berlin, a German-Arabic Journey
Ahmed Farouk, the Arabic translator of Günter Grass, W. G. Sebald and Rosa Luxemburg, among others, struggles with Walter Benjamin.
“What Are You Doing in Berlin?”—a short story by Ahmed Awny
Egyptian writer Ahmed Awny divigates between fiction and reality in this decentering short story.
Paranoid in Berlin: a short story by Shada Mustafa
Shada Mustafa, author of the novel "Things I Left Behind," negotiates Berlin from a recent immigrant's vantage point.
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Film historian Viola Shafik interviews Syrian filmmaker Ziad Kalthoum about his peripatetic life in Syria and beyond.
My Berlin Triptych: On Museums and Restitution
Filmmaker and historian Viola Shafik muses on German art, colonialism and restitution in Berlin.
The Intruders and the City
Rasha Abbas, a Syrian writer who ventures into the surreal, examines her conflicted relationship with Berlin.
Phoneless in Filthy Berlin
Maisan Hamdan, a single Palestinian woman, attempts to survive in Berlin without a cell phone.
Berlin Gastronomical: A Feast of Flavors
Author and literature professor Randa Aboubakr, who travels back and forth from Cairo to Berlin, explores the city's Arab offerings.
Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck
A serial entrepreneur, engineer and nomad settles in Berlin, only to start up an Egyptian food truck.
The Mystery of Tycoon Michel Baida in Old Arab Berlin
Film curator and scholar Irit Neidhardt searches for clues to the Berlin disappearance of gramophone tycoon Michel Baida.
Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans
Abir Kopty argues that German guilt is being used to silence Palestinians and others who protest on their behalf.
On Ali Yass’s Die Flut (The Flood)
Berlin-based Jordanian artist and curator Ala Younis interviews Iraqi artist Ali Yass on his new work.
Shirin Mohammad: Portrait of an Artist Between Berlin & Tehran
Noushin Afzali profiles multimedia artist Shirin Mohammad, who glides back and forth between Berlin, Bremen and Tehran.
Exile, Music, Hope & Nostalgia Among Berlin’s Arab Immigrants
Cultural historian Diana Abbani meditates on music among Berlin's Arab immigrants.