Webby Honoree in Diversity & Inclusion ’20

We’ve been called “‘This American Life’ of the Middle East” by The Guardian. We’ve also been featured on Radiolab (still wrapping our heads around that one). We’ve been awarded a Webby Honoree for Diversity & Inclusion. The Bello Collective named us among “100 Outstanding Podcasts” in 2019 and 2020. Oh, and Sarah Jessica Parker is a big fan. 

Latest Episodes

Dear Listeners
June 4, 2021

If you have been enjoying this podcast, we want to hear from you! ⁠ ⁠Understanding...

Escape to Cairo
May 27, 2021

In October 1960, the walls were closing in for Patrice Lumumba. Months earlier, he had...

Abandoned Ships: Part 2
May 20, 2021

After their employer abandoned the vessel they was working on, Vikash Mishra and his crew...

Jerusalem Calling
May 13, 2021

Because of what’s happening in Palestine this week, we’re holding off airing our usual programming....

Abandoned Ships: Part 1
May 6, 2021

When seafarer Mehmet Gulsen stepped on board the Kenan Mete, he thought he was signing...

Exodus
April 29, 2021

Loving Lebanon is one thing; living there is another. Generation after generation, surviving in the...

Found Sound
April 23, 2021

Two stories of music getting lost… and then found again. A record producer unearths a...

Collateral Damage
April 9, 2021

In 1942, Lebanon’s National Museum opened in Beirut, celebrating the country’s golden age, and inside,...

Viva Brother Nagi
April 2, 2021

Nagi Daifallah was a young farm worker from Yemen who moved to California in the...

Flagged and Stamped
March 25, 2021

Over the last half century, as many nations around our region have gained independence or...

Episode Library

Hebah on the Da Miri Podcast
January 18, 2021

Our winter season is coming very soon, but while you’re waiting just a little bit...

Behind the Scenes: Zar and Zabelle
November 26, 2020

While we’re gearing up for our next season, we wanted to share a behind the...

Update: Where the Heart Is
November 5, 2020

For his entire life, Maysam has lived in Dubai. His parents are from Syria, a...

Jerusalem Calling
October 1, 2020

The Palestine Broadcasting Service started airing in 1936, from a brand new transmitter tower in...

More Than A Buzz
September 24, 2020

In our day-to-day lives, it’s a drink. But for some people, it is not as...

Little Syria
September 18, 2020

The lower west side of Manhattan used to be home to the biggest population of...

Elephants in the Desert
September 3, 2020

Faysal Bibi and his team of palaeontologists have been captivated by this one particular moment...

The Missing Archives
August 26, 2020

In 1968, a trio of Palestinian filmmakers began making films about life under Israeli occupation....

Lebanon, USA 2.0
August 21, 2020

This week, a special collaboration with one of our all time favourite podcasts: Radiolab. We...

Misfits: Icebergs & Squash
August 13, 2020

This week on Kerning Cultures, two short stories. Producers Alex and Zeina uncover why Egyptians...

How to Help Beirut
August 7, 2020

We’re heartbroken by what happened in Beirut on Tuesday, August 4. Many of us at...

Rocket Man
July 30, 2020

In the 1960s, a college professor and his group of students were determined to build...

Zabelle
July 23, 2020

In 1917, a musical prodigy called Zabelle Panosian recorded a song that captured the heartbreak...

Trancing with the Zars
July 17, 2020

For centuries in Egypt, Zar was a music and dance ritual believed to heal women...

Ugly Truth
July 10, 2020

This is the ugly truth: racism and anti-Blackness in the Arab world is a common...

Outcast
July 3, 2020

Our producer Nadeen Shaker takes us on her own personal journey in trying to discover...

Unity High: Part 2
June 26, 2020

Last year, our producer Darah Ghanem stumbled upon an obscure blog on a nearly forgotten...

Unity High: Part 1
June 20, 2020

Last year, our producer Darah Ghanem stumbled upon an obscure blog on a nearly forgotten...

Summer Season Trailer
June 12, 2020

We’re back! We’ll be here with a new episode of Kerning Cultures every Friday this...

Dear Listeners
June 4, 2021

If you have been enjoying this podcast, we want to hear from you! ⁠ ⁠Understanding...

Escape to Cairo
May 27, 2021

In October 1960, the walls were closing in for Patrice Lumumba. Months earlier, he had...

Abandoned Ships: Part 2
May 20, 2021

After their employer abandoned the vessel they was working on, Vikash Mishra and his crew...

Jerusalem Calling
May 13, 2021

Because of what’s happening in Palestine this week, we’re holding off airing our usual programming....

Abandoned Ships: Part 1
May 6, 2021

When seafarer Mehmet Gulsen stepped on board the Kenan Mete, he thought he was signing...

Exodus
April 29, 2021

Loving Lebanon is one thing; living there is another. Generation after generation, surviving in the...

Found Sound
April 23, 2021

Two stories of music getting lost… and then found again. A record producer unearths a...

Collateral Damage
April 9, 2021

In 1942, Lebanon’s National Museum opened in Beirut, celebrating the country’s golden age, and inside,...

Viva Brother Nagi
April 2, 2021

Nagi Daifallah was a young farm worker from Yemen who moved to California in the...

Flagged and Stamped
March 25, 2021

Over the last half century, as many nations around our region have gained independence or...

No Victor But God
March 18, 2021

The graceful courtyards of Mexico and Puerto Rico aren’t the first places you’d go looking...

In Case of Death
March 11, 2021

What happens when somebody dies in a country that’s not their home? In the UAE,...

Celebrating Women: Nadine Labaki on al empire
March 8, 2021

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re bringing back our interview with Lebanese director Nadine...

Whose Genizah?
March 4, 2021

In 2015, our producer Nadeen Shaker visited the Cairo Genizah in one of Egypt’s oldest...

Evacuate Kuwait
February 25, 2021

On August 2nd 1990, the Iraqi military invaded Kuwait City overnight, and its residents woke...

The A-Word
February 18, 2021

Ahmed Twaij explores an often-overlooked issue in the Arab world; racism towards Black Arabs. In...

Word on the Street
February 11, 2021

As 2020 brought us countless examples of injustice and pain, it brought remembrances that we...

Operation Nemesis
February 4, 2021

After the Armenian Genocide, in which over 1.5 million Christians from the Ottoman Empire were...

The K-Pop Wave
January 28, 2021

Since 2012, Korean pop culture has captured the imagination of people across the Middle East:...

This season on Kerning Cultures…
January 21, 2021

We’re excited to announce that season 2 of Kerning Cultures starts next week. Each Thursday,...

Presenting al empire: Jad Abumrad, Radio Host
April 23, 2020

While we’re working on the upcoming season of Kerning Cultures, we wanted to share with...

Lockdown Diaries
April 8, 2020

All of our lives have changed. In this unprecedented time, we wanted to make something...

Introducing: B’Hob | بِحُبْ
March 13, 2020

The Kerning Cultures Network has a new Arabic show we’re excited to share with you....

In Depth: Alex on the Da Miri Podcast
February 14, 2020

While we’re working on our summer season, we’re going to be dropping some bonus episodes...

We’re going seasonal
January 23, 2020

This year, we’ll be switching to a seasonal release schedule, rather than one episode every...

Update: Faraj
December 31, 2019

Today, an update on a story from the Kerning Cultures vault. The little-known, intertwining of...

Collateral Damage
December 18, 2019

In 1942, Lebanon’s National Museum opened in Beirut, celebrating the country’s golden age and inside,...

Update: To Oslo With Love
December 4, 2019

Today, an update on a story from the Kerning Cultures vault. Elie was a journalist...

Our Women on the Ground
November 24, 2019

Asmaa al-Ghoul was an ambitious young journalist when she started reporting on Gaza – her...

All of Them Means All of Them
November 9, 2019

On October 17, people in Lebanon hit the streets to call for a new government....

Presenting al empire: Bassem Youssef, Comedian
October 15, 2019

A special feature of Kerning Cultures Network’s newest podcast, al empire. Episode 4 features comedian...

A Tale of Two Inventors
October 6, 2019

His whole life, Walid Waked had been told that his great grandfather invented the Arabic...

Presenting al empire: Hamed Sinno, Mashrou’ Leila Singer/Songwriter
September 15, 2019

A special feature of Kerning Cultures Network’s newest podcast, al empire. The season kicks off...

In Case of Death
September 3, 2019

What happens when somebody dies in a country that’s not their home? This week on...

Trailer
August 19, 2019

Stories from the Middle East, North Africa, and the spaces in between. Support this podcast...

Mother Tongue
August 15, 2019

How do you preserve a language when your government is actively trying to erase it?...

Bonus: Our new show
July 31, 2019

Stay tuned for our new show, al empire, which features exceptional Arabs, and their journeys...

The Fishermen
July 16, 2019

Ramchandra Tendel arrived to Abu Dhabi from India in 1989, when he was 20. Since,...

The Baklava Challenge
June 15, 2019

We asked you, our listeners what you wanted to hear next, and you said, “Baklava!”....

Loving Lynn
June 2, 2019

Lynn left behind her hometown village in the Philippines for a housekeeping job in Lebanon...

We’ve got news!
May 1, 2019

Kerning Cultures is now the first venture-funded podcast company in the Middle East. Which means...

Misfits, Volume I
April 2, 2019

Two bite-sized stories from the Kerning Cultures vault. First, is there really Halal Cart drama...

KC Short: Break the Cycle
March 17, 2019

We asked women to tell us about their first periods and how it set a...

The Perfect Renaissance Man
March 2, 2019

In the 1930s, the architect Nasri Khattar tried to completely overhaul the Arabic script –...

Lebanon, USA
February 16, 2019

In 2016, Fadi Boukaram planned to visit 47 American towns named Lebanon by road. Then,...

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