Language Issue

Language issue

About Ward In a classroom in Tabuk, an art collective aiming to highlight the talents of students was established this platform was ,2017 After two years, in .2015 in launched to include the works of all Saudi-based artists and to end the limitation of opportunities and spaces available for artists and their centralization in specific cities. Ward began as an e-magazine that is published online monthly. We believe that art includes all forms of creativity; hence, we welcome submissions by painters, photographers, writers and everyone in between and do not enforce limitations like censorship on their content. Aware of its social responsibility and the significance of art's role, Ward organizes events and other establishments including a book club, art exhibitions, workshops, spoken word events, and other.d

Our team Khaled Alqahtani, Founder and editor in-chief Abeer Alfarhan, Proofreader Sara Alnamlah, Graphic designer Fahda Alsuhaibani, Graphic designer Arwa bin Ghaith, Graphic designer Ahmed AlKhraisy, Translator Mohannad Jabrah, Translator Sara Wael, Translator Qusai Ghabrah, Organizer Saeed, Photographer Noor, Editor

On Language Humanity has been concerned with a variety of questions regarding existence and universe, and perhaps one of the most crucial ones were about language. What is language? How did it evolve, and what are its roots? Why did we use words, and not simply gestures? And many other questions that were the main interests of philosophers, linguists, and even scientists. In Language Issue, writers and artists with different age and scientific backgrounds gather to discuss and answer these questions from their personal perspective. Moreover, we interviewed the founders of writing platforms to highlight the exponential growth of these creative communities in Saudi.f

- Khaled Alqahtani

Founder and editor in-chief

‫ ـــــــ‬Table of content

Language f the Universe All of me With Dana Altoaimi Don›t fall Exaggeration Excerpts from the Alphabet book With Haifa AlOwain Typography I Typography II Shaker Kashagari Lost Enchanté With Dana Saif What happened here?

With Ahd Niazy

1 2 3 7 8 9 11 15 16 17 21 23 24 27 29

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Language of the Universe There is beyond this language, another language for us.f Therefore, I speak to you, my darling, I speak to you with the language of the universe. f I speak to you with the language of existence, yet I also speak to you with the language of nothingness. f I speak to you with the language of my sentiments, but I also speak to you with the language of my emptiness. f In my purest form, I speak to you. f I speak to you with the language of the universe. f A language that defines you. f The language she uses interprets three things; f who she is, who she was, and who she’ll become. f The philosophy of the universal language, f the language of wisdom, the langue folly. f The language of knowledge, the language of ignorance.

The language of emotions, the language of logic. f The language of love, the language of hate. f The language of the begging, the language of the end.

The universal languages are endless, and inevitable. f And as we move forward in life, we come to their existence, we may, or may not all speak the same. f Yet all the languages we speak, belong to the universe. f After the posterity of the universal creation, this language was formed. f It’s a language of illusion, and mystery. f Yet we, nonetheless, seek the answers. f

Basma Labani, a student of physics and a writer from Jeddah, you can follow her on twitter: @BA_8L ddd

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All of me With short and slim phrases like the turning of a dervish a godly language.f

Njoud Barki, is a graphic designer from Riyadh, to follow her account on instagram : @nxdbarki ffffff

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Dana AlToaimi

Dana Altoaimi is a high school senior currently residing in the pinnacle environment of social and political transformation: Riyadh. Her avocations are largely pervasive and barely related, ranging from astrophysics to journalism and everything in between. She co-founded Kingdom Gazette, an online newspaper, as a means of communicating critical global events in simple, nonchalant language free of the constraints of formal, old-fashioned journalism. She’s a firm believer in youth empowerment as a tool for achieving overall cultural prosperity and is overcome with pride when it comes to the contributions of Ward and similar establishments to the Saudi cultural scene. f

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Tell us more about Kingdom Gazette Kingdom Gazette is an online newspaper. It was created, founded, and lead by high school students who are passionate about journalism in general. Our objectives behind establishing this project include recruiting students who are in the same age group as writers or editors and having them involved by providing an outlet for their journalistic interests and abilities. Through this, we aim at helping students develop and improve their writing skills as well as improve their English language through first-hand experience and online-based publication.f

What inspired you to start this platform?

Personally, my aspiration behind establishing a project that is journalistic in nature started with an episode of one of my favorite shows, which is Last Week Tonight hosted by John Oliver. This episode was climate change debate, and it discussed the idea of bad scientific journalism, because of the lack of communication between specialized scientists and the general public, we find people who are doubting or delating about proven scientific facts, and this reflects badly and is often mis-utilized or taken advantage of by political figures in order to fuel their own agendas by creating lies “oh, climate change is a hook created by the Chinese (or whoever your enemy is.)” and this is this gap to me that can be cured or filled by providing a source of journalism that is unbiased and can reach people in an efficient manner- that doesn’t require knowledge in science in order to get what is going on. That’s why KG was born; to give a voice to young students my age who see this problem and other problems like this and would like to fix them through writing. f

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What are the obstacles Kingdom Gazette Why does it mainly has faced (i.e. censorship)? And how did you focus on the works of overcome them? dd high school students?

Because the Saudi Arabian culture and community are going through a lot of political and social changes that can be described as serine, it was difficult at times for us to agree on the sort of content that can be portrayed on the website. We did argue a lot of times, but we soon enough adapted to a whole other system where we would vote on the sort of content that could be portrayed online. There haven’t been many situations where this happened, but this democratic approach definitely helped us. And censorship is something that we are trying to avoid as much as possible, it is difficult at times because of different opinions and different point of views that are on the team, but this diversity of opinions is not only beneficial but also integral to who we are as a newspaper and media source because we are trying to portray different opinions and different point of views equally and fairly, so we are trying to represent each of these point of views when we are arguing or voting for pieces of writing.f

How significant is the role writing plays in our society now and in the future and why?

Again, because of the cultural, social, and political changes we are witnessing today within the Saudi community, it is becoming increasingly important to provide a medium in which people can voice their opinions and reflections on global events, so the shift that we see in our society today are moving towards and are focused on empowering youth, and to empower youth, we need to ensure that today’s youth are experienced and the sort of skills you need to become a journalist is important, and they are significant to leadership and many important roles one can hold in the future, and these include analytical and critical thinking skills, and many other skills that come hand in hand with journalism. f Kingdom Gazette :

Because KG was founded by high school students, our direct environment is one with high school students. And we found that media sources that are journalistic in nature often don’t have opportunities for students our age, so we wanted to provide students are age this opportunity, as well as the fact that we know that there is this lack and this gap in our age group, it is much easier for us to handle it and for us to communicate with them than it is to communicate with other age groups.

But, obviously, we are growing up and becoming undergraduate students, so in the future we are planning to expand and make room for other age groups.f

kingdomgazette.org

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Learning English is a privilege a lot of Saudi students may not have afforded. Do you think that Kingdom Gazette may not be accessible to them?

How can you describe the rapidly developing cultural scene, and what is the contribution of Kingdom Gazette to it?

The Saudi cultural scene has definitely shifted a total of 180 degrees within the past couple of years, it’s a very interesting shift, it’s a very critical one to the development of our country and as a new media outlet, we are trying to record these events as they happen and portray them as best as we could and as unbiasedly as we could. In social media, for example, we find that debates on social and political matters are happening between all sorts of social groups within our community. ,Hence, through KG we are trying to portray these debates in a positive manner, because we do believe that discussing these important matters as they occur is important for overall culture prosperity. f

We do believe that learning English is a privilege for a lot of Saudi students, and it’s definitely a concern of ours to help students improve their English language skills. When an article is submitted, it goes through an editing process, and the final version that is uploaded online is are shown to the writers so they could take notes of the changes, take notes of the edits that were made, and ensure that they learn from their mistakes, but we’ve also held a writing workshop that will open for the public for free online to help showcase basic English writing standards. It is one of our goals to improve the level of language within our writers, but then again, learning English and being capable of communicating in English remains a privilege, so in the future we might be looking into opening the doors for Arabic publications, these could help us overcome this barrier, and not have language be a hindrance to our progress and our goals and objectives.f

Is there criteria for eligible submissions? If so, what is it?

To begin, KG has 6 categories, and these are: business and tech, sports, lifestyle, news and politics, science, and history. As a KG writer, you have the choice and option to submit articles in any of the categories that you like, or you feel like writing in a specific issue. And to become a KG writer, you have to apply through our recruitment page by submitting a piece of your own writing in a subject of your choice and it isn’t limited to the categories that we have. When we receive these submissions, we don’t asses them on things like their level of English. Instead, we look at things like thought organization, formation, analysis, critical thinking skills regardless of language barriers.

Thus, there isn’t specific criteria. But, yeah, again, you need analysis and critical thinking skills; the things needed that are needed to do this properly.f Translated by Ahmed Alkhraisy

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Don't fall When we interviewed Raghad Alawaji in Issue 6 and asked her about graphic design and the use of language as a major element in an artwork, she said:j Graphic design – which is what I do in particular – is a field with endless artistic subcategories classified under it. Currently, however, I find myself very drawn to Typography – which is a class of art dedicated towards making written text aesthetically pleasing. To be more specific, I am interested in Expressive Typography, or as I like to call it: Visual Minimalism. This concept had initially been started by non-Arabs, hence why my earlier works involving it were in English. But, after

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Exaggeration time, I decided to integrate it with Arabic, because I wanted to introduce this concept to the Arab world. And although we might have professional calligraphers and artists skilled in writing the traditional Arabic fonts – ‘Deewani’, ‘Kofi’, etc. – it is very observable that we are lacking in what visual minimalism could offer to the world of Arabic typography. I have already started integrating this style with the Arabic language a long time ago, and thankfully, many have enjoyed such pieces.f Raghad Alawaji, a grapic designer from Jeddah, to follow her instagram: @rsawajy yyyyy

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Excerpts from The Alphabet book

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Raghad Alawaji, a grapic designer from Jeddah, to follow her instagram: @rsawajy yyyyy

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Haifa AlOwain

Co-founder & Project Manager Haifa is the power behind Kalimat. A Marketing graduate, who works in Corporate Communications.

She is passionate about effective social change. f

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How did Kalimat begin, and what does it However, you can’t talk about how sad you are aim for?

The story behind Kalimat is close to our hearts because it is an entire community, rather than just a book club. We officially started back in 2014, but the journey started long ago in 2012. Back when we were college students, the fact that we didn’t find anybody who’s passionate about reading, writing, discussions and knowledge as much as we did made us feel lonely.

That was really hard until Anfal (my partner in crime) told me about an on-going book club. When we joined, my views about the world completely changed! I used to leave the house or college looking for any activities to do, and I was amazed when I discovered that there are groups of people (especially women, despite the difficulties that they face in their lives) who would get together and discuss books. We’ve been a part of the group since then, until we started our own group in 2014. i Kalimat is not only a book club, but it’s also a writing club. As you might know, a lot of readers are complaining about the current literary product.

I’m not talking about the time of Ghazi Algosaibi’s publications; what I mean is that nowadays most people publish their works randomly. So, instead of complaining about that, we’d like to say: why can’t we start a new era where we can guide our writers and help them improve? That’s how we started this writing club! we’d meet up with the writers and discuss their projects every two weeks. Some of these writers have their own blogs and we help them with editing the content too! That way we would improve both our writings and our discussions. i We had some issues and obstacles along our journey, like the shortage of attendants (sometimes no one would even show up), or when girls show up and start talking about irrelevant things. That isn’t wrong ofcourse, because girls rarely have opportunities to discuss such matters, except during family gatherings and such.f

about finishing the book, or go on talking about how one of the characters is similar to you for twenty minutes straight.

This year we started Kalimat Philosophy where we study philosophy together, and sometimes during our discussions we’d come across some idioms or phrases that we don’t understand (because of the fact that some of the attendants are foreigners or people who were studying abroad). For example, someone would say “ Oedipus complex ” or “Hegel made a statement about this”, which aren’t expressions or ideas that we’re familiar with.

To us, Kalimat isn’t just a book club; it’s an entire community that helped us in disclaiming the stereotypes that we’ve limited ourselves to. Anfal and I’s lives have completely changed!we stepped outside our comfort zones and learned a lot because of Kalimat, even in the professional aspect of our lives.f f

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How does Kalimat’s community contribute to changing the stereotypes of readers in Saudi Arabia, especially when it comes to literature?

And how does literature help communities in facing their challenges?

I don’t believe that our aim is to change the stereotypes.

When we started a book club back in 2014, our aim was to promote reading. We used to set up reading evenings to get more people to read, and we were so enthusiastic about this idea! But after a while, we asked ourselves: everyone reads, but what are we getting out of this? Then Anfal, I and the rest of Kalimat’s community considered changing. f When it comes to novels (and literature in general) you’ll be able to understand a mother’s perspective, even if you’re not one. You’ll get an idea of how a mother feels when she’s supporting her sons during the revolution in Russia with everything, except food, like in Maxim Gorky’s novel; Mother. I’ll never understand someone’s perspective when they’ve been hurt or cheated on, except for when I’m reading it in a novel. These things don’t have to be written in a direct way, like non-fiction books. Personally, I prefer fictional novels because I get a better understanding of perspectives when there are multiple characters.f Currently, we are discussing Orientalism by Edward Said for the second time. We chose this book because Dr. Khadija Al-Ajawi -who’s very dear to us- studied Edward’s biography, and her doctoral thesis was about him. We didn’t quite understand Orientalism the first time, but after reading it for the second time we started understanding the references we’d hear about ”!the middle east and think “That’s what Edward said While reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (which was written from the perspective of a local citizen whose city has been colonized, and his struggles as a father) from an orientalist point of view, you’ll understand a lot of its details. There’s a great amount of information within this book! f Kalimat :

I strongly believe that if we read more, we’ll have a better understanding of eachother, and we’ll become a better society.

I can’t honestly say that our impact has spread across Saudi Arabia because we didn’t have any statistical data, and the girls who joined the club were only a few. However, we did reach a better understanding of ourselves and of eachother, and we also learned how to have better discussions. Discussions are handled in a very random manner in our society; nobody practices the art of conversations and sharing their thoughts and such.

One of the best things about our community is that you can have conversations that are significantly deeper than “How are you?” “How’s the weather?” “Did your daughter get married yet?” But you probably won’t be able to grasp the aesthetics and scenery descriptions of the book if it wasn’t written as a novel.f

www.kalimatliterary.com

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The discussions we have are some sort of a nourishing activity; we re-energize ourselves through them. f Kalimat’s community is truly amazing! Let’s say that one of our members is married, has three daughters and a supportive husband. Life can be too hard on her sometimes despite her supportive environment, and when she comes to Kalimat’s meetings she becomes able to share her thoughts with people who deal with the same struggles. f Our discussions aren’t necessarily about books. For example, we previously had a meeting about women’s mental health. The guest of honor was a Genetics specialist who gave a scientific talk about mental health, and how women deal with depression. At the end of that meeting, everyone started talking about their experiences and telling their stories about so many things like post-partum depression, even though we didn’t know eachother that well. Those simple gestures and action are exactly what makes this community a supportive circle. Literature itself isn’t a method for changing, but we make it into one when we read it and discuss it thoroughly. f

How does Kalimat’s community make sure that most segments of society are able to reach them through reading, despite the fact that a lot of people view reading as an elite activity?

We don’t see reading as an elite activity, although we would always hear the phrase “Read!’s nation does not read anymore”, we can say that we have a lot of readers within Al-Sharqiya’s community. On the other hand, discussions are something that we see as an elite activity, like discussing the current economic status, or how hard it is to find places to hold our meetings in. Some might find reading really hard because it’s a boring activity to them, or because they didn’t find the right book just yet. Actually, my brother didn’t even like reading until he started reading books about his favorite video game, and now he’s so obsessed with reading!f Translated by Sara Wael

What genre of books do you usually discuss?

And what type of literary texts do you help in publishing?

Most of the books we discuss are novels; sometimes philosophical novels like Milan Kundera’s novels, or poetry during our annual poetry night, and other genres like mythology. No one within the club has published their work except for Enas AlShuwayer, who wrote illustrated short stories for children. We also helped one of the members in performing a play that she wrote. We don’t like to go through the publishing process unless the author herself is ready; that way we can get her to do her best, and put as much effort as she can in her work.

The reason why we do this is that publishing has become an easy process now, which doesn’t make the outcome that great anymore. f

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Would my people abandon me to a language that does not connect to narritives? v Digital typography. A poem by Hafez Ibrahim That poem mainly acts as a teaser to reprimand the speaker of Arabic because of abandoning this beautiful language.fffffff

Ghada Albastaki, a graphic designer from Riyadh.

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Typography Characters were combined Ottoman architecture.d

with

Islamic

Ghada Albastaki, a graphic designer from Riyadh.

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Shaker Kashagari

Shaker Kashahari is an artist who began his passion for Arabic calligraphy at an early stage of his life. He has participated in several art exhibitions and he is also the founder of Beyond Design Studio.f

When did your when they are spoken”, Is there a message passion for Arabic Arabic calligraphy makes that you want to send the language more beau- behind using deferent calligraphy begin? tiful as I said before , beAt the beginning it was cause they’re only words types of Arabic fonts ? just curiosity , I was that you read , but words And do you think that curious to try it , then I that can also be a work each type can be used to send a deferent idea started to work on myself of art .f step by step.f Second of all , Arabic cal- or message ?

The Arabic language in it’s letters what does it mean to you personally besides art ?

First of all , as you know Arabic is an essential part of our daily lives , It’s also the language of the Quran , besides that Arabic calligraphy shows it’s beauty in language , and as they say : “ letters die

The types of calligram ligraphy for me is a getthat I used are very diaway from the pressures verse, I work in free font, of life , as I do if I ever AlWesam, and the mod. wanted comfort ern font, And usually the fonts that I use are deferent than other calligraphist’s direction, for example Alnaskh font and the Persian font are fonts that have existed before , but when I Work with them, you can look and say thats Shaker’s work.f

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When a new type of font is created, does the Is the Arabic language creator get something like a patent? deferent from other For example you have the calligraphist Wesam, who languages for the types is a well known Iraqi calligraphist, and is the creator of fonts that it has or of Alwesam font which is considered a modern font, well in the future? that was published in 2010. To create a font you have to learn the classic rules, after that you can control the fonts in your own way, but there is nothing such as a patent when creating a new font.f

As with painting, many schools were established through time, did that leap happen with calligraphy too?

It did happen with calligraphy but through many stages, the first type of font was Alkofi, which was used in the Quran back then, then it evolved and was written in Alqirawnai, then Alnaskh, after that the western font was used in western countries. So every islamic state had a deferent type of font, in the fatemi state we had Altoghraa, it was considered as a fingerprint or a logo for the sultan.f

All types of font can be improved, whether aArabic or latin. But arabic calligraphy is special because it’s beautiful in it’s own way, for example a calligraphist can create free forms, but there are general rules that should be followed, for example we have calligraphist who follow the classic methods, and dislike the modern direction, generally calligraphy is adaptable.f

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Shaker Kashagari's work :

/https://www.instagram.com/shakerkashgari

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Translated by Ahmed Alkhraisy

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Lost Shahd finds inspiration in the environment surrounding her, or from reading either poems or quotes, and language in general.f Shahd Almugren, a grapic designer from Riyadh, to follow her instagram: @shahdmu fffff yyyyy

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‫‪Language‬‬

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‫‪ -‬صبحي الصالح‬

‫رهن بمدى إسهامها‬ ‫انتشار اللغة‬ ‫ٌ‬ ‫في الواقع الحضاري‬

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music hted me to people nted nted I you, I hted et me excit enchme edto the consume to deligwantwould excit delig toanteet me hold et ed me music htedto the it ench hted ench me your you, ed the d you, et et to consume ante to people I encha ante hand excit etdeligexcit people hold want me d the meit nted d I ed ed the ench hted your to the delig et music delig I encha et delig would ench music ante to hand people hted hted hted want consume nted ante d me I the to it hold to to to delig ench d delig et your music me mewould consume hted encha delig hted me anteyou, et encha hold hand et it nted et to d excit hted to you, nted your I you, delig delig to me me ed would excit delig hand excit hted encha hted meet et ed nted hted to I to et you, ed delig to mewould me you, excit hted me et et excit ed et to you, ed the me people excit et ed the the people music the music

encha nted delig hted to me et

the people encha ntedthe music delig hted to me et

Enchanted, delighted to meet you excited, the people, the music, I want to consum it, too simple, this greeting, a ritual , a meeting, The first time impressions, your truest expression E n ch an t é , comment allez-vous? Très bien, merci et vou, Et vous

En.chan.té Fahda expresses the concept of encounterment through multiple languages and embodies its intersection through representing color, texture, and emotion.v Fahda Alsuhaibani, a grapic designer from Riyadh, to follow her instagram: @fahdasuh fffff yyyyy

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Dana Saif Dana Saif is a mosaic person made of writing, design, poetry, art. Her passions are diverse, but drive is one, to leave wherever she arrives, a better place. She majored in graphic design in her undergrad studies, while never missing a chance to attend writing workshops, journalistic seminars or lectures. Today, she is the founder of The Poetry Passport, a freelance designer and writer, and on her way to start her masters in Journalism. f

How did the Poetry Passport begin?

Basically, I grew up in Jeddah, and then I moved to Lebanon for university. There, I took part in a writing collective in Beirut. And when I moved back to Jeddah after graduating, I created that space (The Poetry Passport) to help individuals express themselves and develop their writing skills without having it be in a classroom setting. That’s when I started The Poetry Passport.f

What do you aim to achieve through this platform?

Mostly, it is to provide a space for people to just let go from all the stress they encounter throughout their everyday lives. They are constantly expected to put on happy, brave faces - even when they might not have all their sh*t together. But people walk into our writing workshops and feel comfortable enough to take that facade of a mask off their faces. They aren’t judged for being emotional, or for having cloudy days in their lives. We end up discussing a lot of personal topics that really prompts all of us to share personal pieces of ourselves; nonetheless, no one leaves the workshop feeling vulnerable or as a stranger. Instead, it is often more like, ‘I managed to connect with all of these people that I never saw before. So much so that I was able to tell them all of those personal things about me, because it has that really safe vibe that comes with it’.f

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What do the Poetry Passport’s workshops and spoken word events offer to both professional poets and poetry lovers?

Your workshops tackle a variety of topics, i.e. as motherland and anxiety. What inspires such broad topics?

Usually, at the end of each session I ask the participants if they are interested in discussing any specific topics. For example, in Anxiety, I did it for the first time and a lot of people came, but many were not able to make it, which is why I did anxiety part II. It mostly depends on what people feel like expressing. I try to have one different topic a month; for instance, we once had Hope and Ambition. We try to pick topics that elicit ‘intense emotions’ in our participants, or what’s called negative feelings.

There’s no negative feelings, however, they’re all just feeling that have stereotypes connected to them.f

Basically, spoken word in performance poetry is where you perform what you are writing. You do not just ‘read it’ out of the page. So essentially, everyone can do spoken word poetry, as it does not have to rhyme, nor does it have to be perfectly on point. It is kind of just like telling a story, and being really honest when you tell that story. It is where you are truthful with the words you say and the emotions that you are expressing. When it comes to professional writing, for people who come and who are writers they have that space to develop their writing and share it with a lot of people and get feedback on it. Then it’s also very acceptable for people who never write to just come. Some may think that to participate you have to be an expert and devoted creative writer, but it is not like that at all. In our sessions you write thoughts and ideas that we all have but never think to write down on paper. You have 20 minutes where all you have to do is write. Occasionally we are rushed while writing, and we are not given time to sit down and think for a minute about our ideas. But here, an entire 20 minutes are dedicated to just writing whatever you want. For instance, a lot of times people write things that are not entirely related to the topic or they simply do not follow the given writing prompt. That does not matter because it is not expected of you to just answer the point without expressing your reality and truth.

So, it does not matter if you do not follow the prompt, and it does not matter if you do not write. This is one of the times where people just think and write, or where they just listen to what other people share, and it makes TPP all the more important because it gives people the ability to express whatever they want.f

The Poetry Passport :

thepoetrypassport.wordpress.com

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Why does the first post on Instagram have And then I studied “There is no censorship!” in its caption, and to graphic design - also a great field, but not what extent?

To put it simply, as the founder, I do not censor anything. It goes back to participants themselves to decide what part of their stories they want to share.

Now, in terms of censorship, it’s also a very important point in TPP that you should not talk about. Because I struggled with how people receive my work and want to censor it. Having that option where you don’t have to share all of what you write provides participants with a safe space for sharing their written intricacies.

However, some individuals feel comfortable enough to indulge in complex topics that are often censored in society; for instance, some people share things that are generally not accepted from a societal viewpoint, such as mental health.fThere are other people that use their poetry to discuss race, atheism, agnosticism, or even their religious doubts. If you feel like talking about it, then you are willing to take the risk of sharing it with people; go ahead and do it, as I will not stand in your way. But, if you are going to share something very sensitive (in terms of surveillance and censorship), you have to be aware of what you are sharing.f

There are certain stereotypes surrounding creative writing and people who consider it as an occupation in our community. DO you think the Poetry Passport is capable of changing them?

I think we are capable of doing that in a certain sense.

A lot of people that come to our workshops for the first time are initially skeptical of it all; however, after giving it a chance, they usually find themselves starstruck at the end of the session. It makes them less skeptical of people who write and individuals who present themselves as writers. I, personally, have been writing since I was 6, I like to share. f

Translated by Mohannad Jabrah

writing - because I was worried about what I was going to do with a writing and literature degree, but eventually I kept coming back to this profession because I have always felt like a writer TPP provides a meaningful space for such individuals that want to delve and experiment with the art of writing, especially young people before they go to college.

It also caters to people who view writing as a passion.f

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"What Happened Here" Nothing can be more frustrating than entering into a theatre after the performance has ended. The stage, the props and even the actors are still there.

Except, at your arrival, they are all dead. The dust of thousands of years blows over the stone seats where the spectators watched the performance. The stage itself is only partly visible. Half of it is buried under the copper sand. The rest, only barely standing on its disintegrating foundations. The actors have been reduced to skeletons, some of which are crushed to pieces. You come upon a theatre like this and the one question that possesses your mind is: what happened here?

Not only have you missed the performance, but there is no one around to tell you what it was about.

You decide to walk down the steps of the theatre, cautiously avoiding the crumbling stone. You step up center stage and look back at an imaginary audience.

No matter how perceptible you are of human nature or how creative your imagination can be, it’s impossible for you to know what this architectural structure might have served for humans thousands of years ago. You only imagine it to be a theatre because it looks similar to ones you have seen in your lifetime.

How similar are we to our ancestors?

Did they care about fashion? or put on makeup? Did they have their own wall art? Did they ever speculate about how humans in the future—humans like us— might be living?

As a matter of fact, we know a lot about our ancestors, because a few of them—a very few—have decided to preserve their story, their history and their point of view of the world through language.

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Language is the way we tell our story. From sketching shapes on clay tablets to painting rows upon rows of intricate drawings inside pyramids to weaving letters on paper that is bundled and bound inside a book, this is the way we live beyond our own bodies.

Yet even language can seize to mean anything once the last person who understands it dies. It remains interesting to look at but conveys nothing more.

What is language but an abstract photo album of who we used to be and what we aspire to become? As we continue to use language, we are rewriting our past, connecting ourselves with our ancestors, and feeling that, as long as we speak and write as they did, that they are still a part of us. And we crave this as humans.

We crave to identify with our ancestors because they make us feel proud and their achievements become our achievements. What’s more, language can answer the crucial question: “what happened here?” in this theatre where performers came and went. The answer will come through a narrow lens colored with the subjective point of view of the storyteller…but you will have a story. What’s more, with the gift of language, you can write your own story. You can reimagine your identity. You can choose to be an extension of your ancestors. Or, you can choose to be different.

Whatever you choose, choose wisely, in the language that you intend to bequeath the future generations.

You’re are not only molding a picture of yourself. You are molding the point of view for future generations.

Afnan Alobaidli, is a writer from Makkah, to follow her instagram: @afnan_obaidli and Twitter: @afnanObaidli fffff yyyyy

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Ahd Niazy She is the founder and editor of Infernal Platform. Ahd travels between Jeddah and Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she completes her PhD in Middle Eastern Studies.

Her academic work focuses on writing women and gender in the Middle East. To follow her on Twitter: @ahd_hn and on Instagram: @ahdniazy ff ff

today How did Jahanamiya take off? And does its perpetuated through storytelling name have any particular significance?

I’ve always been drawn to discussions surrounding women and the role they play within society, and particularly within Arab culture. I’ve also always been a fan of reading and writing; I often wrote short and simple pieces when I was younger. Writing was an outlet for me. I majored in creative writing and cultural studies when I went to college, and it was there that I first confronted the concept of orientalism through a class I took. This was an important moment for me, as learning about orientalism opened my eyes to the biased lens through which the West historically viewed and represented our region of the world (the Middle East). I became obsessed with the question of representation, and I was deeply concerned with the representation of Arab women in particular,f who had long been haunted by unrelenting stereotypes as a result of orientalist art and literature that hyper-sexualized and objectified them. Such stereotypes continue to be

platforms like the entertainment and news industries who often only cirulcate the same simple narratives about Arab women that reinforce the biased orientalist perspective presented in colonial works of art and literature.fGiven all this, I felt compelled to create a space where Arab women could represent themselves – sharing their narratives, opinions, and experiences in their own words – as opposed to being represented by others. I decided to

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make the space specifc to Saudi women given my first-hand knowledge of the harsh stereotypes and contradictions that come with being a Saudi woman. I wanted to work specifically to empower the women of my home country, as well as to be .part of the development of Saudi Arabia as a whole As for the name of the magazine - it is something I am very proud of. We named our journal after the Bougainvillea plant, which is a plant that grows locally, thriving in even the harshest of Saudi temperatures.

The plant grows by itself, not needing much external tending or care, and it sprouts bright and beautiful flowers that add vibrant color to Saudi streets. Most importantly, no two of its flowers are the exact same, just as is the case with Saudi women. Jahanamiya finds that Saudi women are embodied in this floral representation, as Saudi women are also incredibly resilient, bright, and no two will ever be identical – despite what the many simplified narratives and stereotypes may present. This is precisely why we value individual storytelling and exploring Saudi culture by way of women’s stories. f

One of Jahanamiya’s goals is to challenge the various stereotypes surrounding Saudi women.

How can writers and artists contribute to such a cause in society? And are their efforts sufficient to create a difference?

Simply put: how did these stereotypes come to exist in the first place? Through art and literature. Through the narratives circulated by way of orientalist works of writing and art, narratives that benefited colonialists in achieving their goals – not narratives that looked to truly capture the essence of our lives, region, or culture. As such, it only makes sense to counter such stereotypes by telling and owning our own narratives.

By telling our stories with our own pens, paintbrushes, and voices. As for the second question, no; artists and writers can’t create cultural change all on their own. f

The issue of breaking stereotypes and cultural norms and expectations must be tackled from multiple angles, not solely from a creative one. Nonethless, art and writing remain incredibly important instigators of such conversations and wider change in society. f

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What does Jahanamiya look for in terms of Jahanamiya works not works submitted to it? And what topics do its only to break western sterotypes, but to make issues explore?

I don’t look for anything particular in our submissions; the only ‘requirement’ is that the submitted work follows the issue’s theme in one way or another.

I simply can’t describe the feeling of pure joy that I get whenever I read a surprising submission for an upcoming theme; I truly relish in those moments. We, as Saudi women, don’t really tend to share our personal stories in a public sphere. This is part of why we at Jahanamiya strive to encourage the sharing of these personal narratives and experiences. This is also is why we don’t restrict submissions, and prefer works that reflect the writer’s views and experiences, even if they only loosely fit the designated theme.f We try to make our issues pivot around cultural topics that generally concern Saudi women. Our upcoming issue revolves around Women Leadership (Qa’idat) in Saudi Arabia. The changes in the Kingdom that we are curently witnessing, including women driving for the first time in history, are historical events. Jahanamiya is striving to feed off of the energy and ehnthusiasm in the Saudi air as a gateway into the stories of Saudi woman leaders and pioneers – Saudi woman drivers of change. f

Do you believe that writing plays a role in developing the Saudi feminist movement? And how does Jahanamiya contribute to this?

Writing and art have played crucial parts in shaping several societies’ cultures and social developments and norms over the course of history; this is certainly not a phenomenon limited to our society. Storytelling lies at the core of every society and culture. It it through our stories that we pass our traditions, values, and experiences on to oncoming generations. It is through stories that we develop cultural identities and values in the first place. And it is also through our stories that we challenge said cultural values and traditions.f Jahanamiya :

the Saudi community more familiar with the various cultures existing within its different factions. Saudi society is extremely diverse, and Jahanamiya aims to explore said diversity through the experiences of Saudi women.

Jahanamiya is committed to culturally enriching the Saudi community by explicitly publishing Saudi women’s narratives.

Why? Because societies – globally – have often stifled women’s voices, depriving them of the opportunity to make their thoughts, opinions, and experiences publically known in the same way as those of men.

Historically speaking, the vast majority of celebrated authors, artists, and filmmakers have been men (thus the vast majority of the works that have influenced culture have been created by men). d

http://jahanamiya.com

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This reiterates the importance of Jahanamiya existing as a space exclusively for the creative expression of women.

We strive to amplify the voices of Saudi women,f sharing their words and stories with the rest of the Saudi community and the world.f

What is Jahanamiya’s next step?

Our next issue’s theme is ‘Women’s Leadership,’ and we are currently accepting submissions for that issue until the end of September. Beyond that, we are actively working on expanding Jahanamiya’s reach in the the Kingdom, and specifcally on engaging the voices of women from all across Saudi.

Since my base in Saudi is in Jeddah, many of the people I’ve worked with and who have written for the magazine have come from Jeddah, too. f

I want to work hard to expand our reach and to make sure that we include the voices of all kinds of different Saudi women in our publication – women from different regions of the country, women from different social circles and socioeconomic groups, women of different professions and fields, etc. Furthermore, we are also in the process of looking for volunteers who may be interested in helping us further diversify, build, and expand Jahanamiya. We’re looking for indivudals who are filled with energy and who are passionate not only about the work Jahanamiya does, but also about the development and growth of Saudi Arabia as whole. f

Some may view the acts of reading and writing to stem from a place of elitism. As such, how can you ensure that Jahanamiya - and other similar platforms - reaches as many people in the Saudi community as possible?

When asked this question, two responses came to mind. First off, I truly hope that this ‘elitism’ mentality no longer exists in our current day and age. It’s simply no longer the case, statistically speaking. Saudi Arabia has an extremely high literacy rate, and beyond this, many Saudi youth pursue higher education as well. Saudi women constitute about 50-60% of annual college graduates. We’re no longer living in the age of illiteracy. Secondly, someone may not be particularly interested in the acts of reading or writing, but they may enjoy watching movies. Movies are are just another form of storytelling. The same applies to artwork. Regardless of the extent to which someone likes the activity of reading, he or she is bound to participate in the exchange of stories within society. One way that we try to cater to those indivduals who may not be huge readers, is by investing in our social media accounts and posts – keeping the posts simple and focusing on visual ways of telling our stories there.f

Translated by Mohannad Jabrah

‫‪33‬‬

‫"‬

‫‪Language‬‬

‫فهــي لغــة تمتــد جذورهــا‬ ‫فــي الماضــي‪ ،‬و تمتــد‬ ‫فروعهــا فــي المستقبـــل‬

‫"‬

‫فففففف‬

‫‪ -‬عبدالوهاب المسيري‬

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Reading has always been an inspiration to both writers and artists. Hence, this book club was es-tablished to rediscover books from all over the world, with an emphasis on Saudi-based authors' works. Moreover, we want to build an environment that motivates and encourages critical think-ing and constructive criticism, which loathes indoctrination. f

٢٠١٨ /١ ٠ /٣ ١ Language

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Art and Science issue Art and Science intersect in points that we may not see. These world are strongly bridged and complete each other. Discuss this relationship through your work in our 4th themed issue.

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Eligible works: Text: Includes poetry, short stories, articles, plays, etc.

Accepted file types: Sent as text or in doc or .docx Visuals: Includes all types of art, and must be scanned and sent 300 dpi resolution.

Accepted file types: pdf, .png, or .jpg.

Required info: First and last names Short bio (Career, current projects, interests, etc.)

Submission's title City Description of the work and it correlates to the theme Social media accounts (optional) By submitting your work, you accept us minor editing text (typos, grammatical, spacing). Submissions and required info must be sent via email: wardemag@gmail.com under the title Art and Science by 31/8/2018