Second Workshop | 2023
Second Workshop 2023 – Gender, Environment & Podcasting II
- 15th to 18th of June
- Tunis/Hybrid
Twelve participants offline, six online gathered for four days in Tunis to explore empowering stories of resistance for gender and climate justice in the West Asia and North Africa region. The pivotal point for the podcasters from eleven countries was, of course, how their podcast productions can give a voice to people who tend to get lost in the mainstream discourse in order to show new perspectives.
Since this work only works in collaboration, we invited great guests from the Mediterranean region to discuss, record, edit, and plan the next podcast productions together.
Day 1
Day 1 started with settling in as a group (in English and Arabic), exploring the workshop location in Sidi Bou Said and reflecting on the past round of podcast production. As usual, we were supported by the great facilitation duo Stella Saliari and Rula Asad.
We had the great opportunity to talk to the translators of the first episodes; the production team and the translator came together in an online session. This gave us the opportunity to get an insight into their work because a translation process is much more than just copying word by word, it requires a lot of background knowledge to make the podcast enjoyable in the three languages it is released in.
In the evening we watched the film “Fuel Fishing” by the Tunisian filmmaker and environmental journalist Mabrouka Khedir from Cosmos Média. It tells the story of the environmental pollution on the island of Kerkennah caused by the international oil lobby and the local resistance against it.
Cosmos Média itself works as our local partner in Tunisia producing podcasts for adults and children on environmental education.
Day 2
The day started with the surprise of a new workshop location.
A little insight here 👇
No problem for our professional experts. In the morning, climate activist and lawyer Ichrak Klai gave an introduction to the legal framework of the climate protocols and their (non-)implementation in practice, or how she discusses these issues in the context of a production of the Tunisian Radio Misk in her program Éco Friendly.
The afternoon was dedicated to audio editing and podcast techniques. With our Tunisian partner organisation, the podcast platform Inkyfada, we worked practically and theoretically on podcast production techniques. We also got to know their work in Tunisia better. Our online participants did/got their training at the same time by the musician and sound expert Feras Arrabi.
In the evening we listened to the reading and discussion by Amal Khlif Claudel and Siwar Douss from the feminist authors’ collective Chaml and their translator Leonie Nückell in German and Arabic.
Their credo, which the Aswatona participants also agree with: “We decided to counter the common clichés about women: the eternal lover, rebel and revolutionary, liberated or victim.”
Day 3
After two days of theory and practice, it was slowly time to decide on the topics for the upcoming podcast production and to find the respective transnational groups of three people each from at least two different countries.
The first step was to reflect on one’s own perspectives and points of view. These can then be used critically to open up to other perspectives, being aware that not all people in this world have the same access to speak and be heard.
In the afternoon, the group explored the city of Tunis and looked at local places of feminist happenings in the past and present.
Day 4
Feminist research and storytelling, what exactly does that mean?
On the last day of the workshop, feminist researcher and podcaster Stella Saliari discussed this question with the participants in her interactive workshop and introduced them to the concept of intersectionality.
On the last day of the workshop, feminist researcher and podcaster Stella Saliari discussed this question with the participants in her interactive workshop and introduced them to the concept of intersectionality.
At the end of our workshop days, our mentors joined us again. They will also accompany their mentees in this round and support them in the production.
These eventful days were rounded off with a musical backdrop by the feminist podcast and womxn-DJ collective of the FeMena network docked with the Tunisian organisation La Fabrique Art.