My Arab Identity - بودكاست الهوية

Second-generation Arab Australians speak out about their mixed identity, being accepted in society, and obstacles they face belonging to both Eastern and Western cultures.

My Arab Identity - بودكاست الهوية host Maram Ismail Source: Aaron Wang

My Arab Identity podcast explores what it feels like to belong in two places, and nowhere at the same time. Hear from young Arab-Australians on how they’re dealing with the complexities of a mixed identity.

Listen to My Arab Identity podcast episodes now:

Episode one: Sara Saleh - Where will I be buried?

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Where will I be buried?

SBS Arabic24

07/11/201912:44

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Episode two: Amani Haydar - Healing after mum's murder

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Healing after mum's murder

SBS Arabic24

12/11/201917:19

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Episode three: Ryan Al-Natour - Dear Queensland, not all Arabs are Muslims

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Dear Queensland, not all Arabs are Muslims

SBS Arabic24

20/11/201914:40

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Episode Four: Ruby Hamad - I changed my Arab name to fit in

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I changed my Arab name to fit in

SBS Arabic24

27/11/201910:32

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Episode Five: Culture shock: from Islamic school to university

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Culture shock: From Islamic school to university

SBS Arabic24

03/12/201915:19

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Episode Six: What does it take to become a "real Egyptian" in Australia?

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What does it take to become a 'real Egyptian' in Australia?

SBS Arabic24

10/12/201913:55

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Episode Seven: How this young Iraqi woman rebelled against her family's Mandean traditions

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Reflections of an Iraqi-Australian on Identity

SBS Arabic24

18/12/201914:36

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Episode Eight: How one advice stopped me from taking my own life

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How one advice stopped me from taking my own life

SBS Arabic24

25/12/201914:37

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Episode Nine: Why I accepted daily bullying at school?

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Why I accepted daily bullying at school?

SBS Arabic24

01/01/202010:40

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Listen to My Arab Identity podcast on your favourite podcast platforms: Pocket Casts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and here.

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The podcast highlights the challenges that Arab migrants and their children face while being of mixed identity in Australia and how they have overcome it.

Over nine episodes, Maram Ismail hosts writers who have decided to publish their stories about their journey of self-discovery, in Arabs, Australians, and Others anthology by Sara Saleh and Randa Abdel Fattah.

Randa Abdel Fattah, Rawan Al Kalmashi, Sara Saleh, Amani Haydar Source: Supplied

Have you ever pretended not to be Arab? How far do you go to please your parents? Ever thought about where you’ll be buried? This podcast explores what it feels like to belong in two places, and nowhere at the same time. We’ll speak with second-generation Arab-Australian migrants about how they’re dealing with the complexities of a mixed identity. How do you own your Arab culture and try to fit in with Australians?

In each episode, a young Australian-Arab will talk about how long and what it took them to appreciate the value of their Arabic heritage, language and culture in Australia. They talk about their experiences of integration into the wider society and the pitfalls they faced which led to the dispersion and confusion of their identities.

My Arab Identity reveals some stories of domestic violence, racial discrimination, bullying, and more from within the Arabic community in Australia. 

Sara Saleh Source: Supplied

Sara Saleh speaks about a dilemma that may face some migrants – where to be buried after death. How can an Arab-Australian woman with a migrant background, mixed between Egyptian and Lebanese-Palestinian, decide in which country her body would be buried? How can she choose?

Listen to the first episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Where will I be buried?

SBS Arabic24

07/11/201912:44

Play

Amani Haydar Source: Supplied

Amani Haydar is a young woman of Lebanese descent. She was deprived of a social life as a child and deprived of her mother in horrible circumstances. Her experience with her parents' migration to Australia revolved around a thin line between the expectations that migrants imposed on their children, and their cruelty in forcing their children to meet those expectations. Today, Amani Hayder stands against domestic violence after her father killed her mother four years ago.

Listen to the second episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Healing after mum's murder

SBS Arabic24

12/11/201917:19

Play

Ryan Al Natour Source: Supplied

Rayan Al-Natour is a young man who lived most of his life in western Sydney, within a very multicultural space.  He never thought how his cultural identity and appearance would impact on his settlement and acceptance one day in Rockhampton, North Queensland. He often had to stand up and defend the good people in his community; “They are not all terrorists and trouble makers”; He is seen as “Muslim-Lebanese”, although he is a “Christian –Palestinian”.

Listen to the second episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Dear Queensland, not all Arabs are Muslims

SBS Arabic24

20/11/201914:40

Play

Ruby Hamad Source: Supplied

Ruby Hamad speaks about her journey of self-discovery, to which identity she wants to belong?  How far she would go to be accepted within the wider Australian society? Is changing her name and denying her Arabic background enough? She talks about the language, appearance, family and lifestyle conflicts she went through as a Lebanese-Arab-Australian girl.

Listen to the fourth episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

I changed my Arab name to fit in

SBS Arabic24

27/11/201910:32

Play

Sara El Sayed Source: Supplied

Sara El Sayed dreamed of becoming part of the aerobics team at school when she was 12 years old. But the challenges she faced were greater than just getting accepted into auditions. She wanted to be just a simple, normal, and acceptable part of the broader school community, especially among her classmates. "A story about bullying, maybe some discrimination, and the challenges of her mixed identity."

Listen to the fifth episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Why I accepted daily bullying at school?

SBS Arabic24

01/01/202010:40

Play

Mohammad Awad Source: Supplied

Mohammad Awad disliked his name as a child and as a teenager, not because of its meaning or because of its descent, but because of the obstacles, it forced him to face. Mohammad mentions the harassment he endured at school, university and work despite having white skin. He also recalls how he was picked for a routine interrogation at Sydney airport when he was travelling to Lebanon to visit his father, at a time when fear of terrorism was at its peak.

Listen to the sixth episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

How one advice stopped me from taking my own life

SBS Arabic24

25/12/201914:37

Play

Rooan Al Kalmashi Source: Supplied

Rooan Al Kalmashi rebelled against what her community considered indispensable and social constants. Coming from Mandaean Iraqi descent, the main obstacles she encountered while growing up in Australia were to do with her own acceptance of her identity and coming to terms with it. She struggled growing up between two worlds and wanted her life to be free of any restrictions that she couldn't see fit in today, especially those imposed by parents.

Listen to the seventh episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Reflections of an Iraqi-Australian on Identity

SBS Arabic24

18/12/201914:36

Play

Abdulrahman Hammoud Source: Supplied

Abulrahman Hammoud went to an Islamic school where he found solidarity to fast during Ramadan, celebrate Eid, and saw his friends’ mothers wearing hijab. He did not feel different than or questioned for holding the Arab Muslim identity. But this world, which may be ideal for some migrants, disappeared when he first set his foot in the university, a world where he found himself a stranger and a target for anyone who didn't welcome diversity.

Listen to the eightieth episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

Culture shock: From Islamic school to university

SBS Arabic24

03/12/201915:19

Play

Miran Hosny Source: Supplied

Miran Hosny is proud of her Egyptian heritage. But you won’t know that she is originally from Egypt when she speaks her Arabic dialect, simply because she cannot associate herself with belonging to Egypt only. She was born and lived all her life in Australia, in a neighbourhood full of migrants who come from different countries and cultures that influenced her composition and understanding of her Arab identity. Although she speaks Arabic, she is still being criticised for not speaking the Egyptian dialect.

Listen to the ninth episode of My Arab Identity here:

LISTEN TO

What does it take to become a 'real Egyptian' in Australia?

SBS Arabic24

10/12/201913:55

Play

Listen to My Arab Identity podcast on your favorite podcast platforms: Pocket Casts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and here.