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Arab, Australian, Other - Stories on Race and Identity

Thu, 22 Aug

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Upstairs at Better Read Than Dead

Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity is an anthology that smashes the stereotypes of Arabs in Australia that too often proliferate in mainstream media. Join editors Randa Abdel-Fattah & Sara Saleh, and contributors Paula Abood, Rooan Al Kalmashi & Amani Haydar.

Arab, Australian, Other - Stories on Race and Identity
Arab, Australian, Other - Stories on Race and Identity

Time & Location

22 Aug 2019, 6:30 pm

Upstairs at Better Read Than Dead, 265 King Street, Newtown NSW, Australia

Guests

About The Event

Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity is an anthology that aims to smash the stereotypes of Arabs in Australia that too often proliferate in mainstream media. 

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Join editors Randa Abdel-Fattah & Sara Saleh, and fellow contributors Paula Abood, Rooan Al Kalmashi & Amani Haydar for a mind-expanding, heartfelt and entertaining discussion. 

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About the Book

Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity is an anthology smashes the stereotypes of Arabs in Australia that too often proliferate in mainstream media.

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Although there are 22 separate Arab nationalities representing a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences, the perception of Arabs in Australia has largely ranged from a homogenising one (at best), to one that plays on pop-culture caricatures of a deviant, hyper-masculine, uncivilised, savage Arab. 

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Edited by award-winning author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah and activist and poet Sara Saleh, this collection explores being a member of the Arab diaspora in Australia and includes stories of family, this country, times past, grief, belonging, identity, confusion and isolation.

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Contributors to the anthology include Ruby Hamad, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Miran Hosny, Farid Farid, Mohammad Awad and many more. 

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About the Panellists  

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University where she is researching the generational impact of the war on terror on Muslim and non-Muslim youth born into a post 9/11 world. She is a prominent anti-racism and Palestine advocate and a multi-award-winning author of eleven young adult and children’s books published in over sixteen countries. Randa is currently working on the film adaptation of her novel Does My Head Look Big in This? and is keen to use her intervention into popular culture to reshape dominant narratives around race. 

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Sara Saleh is a poet and activist. A campaigner for refugee rights and racial justice, she has spent the past decade working with Amnesty International and CARE International in Australia and the Middle East. She is currently completing her Juris Doctor, developing her debut novel and is a proud Bankstown Poetry Slam ‘Slambassador’. 

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Dr Paula Abood has worked with diverse communities across Western Sydney for three decades and has written, directed and produced theatre and performance, literary publications and film over that time. In 2007, Paula completed a doctorate on race, gender and representation of Arabs in Australia. Paula received the Ros Bower Award in 2013 and an Australia Council Fellowship for Community Arts and Cultural Development in 2018.

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Rooan Al Kalmashi completed her High School Certificate in 2018 and is currently undertaking an undergraduate degree of Law, Arts in International Studies at the University of Technology. Rooan has been a Youth facilitator for the Global Refugee Consultations (GRYC) working group, a Youth Ambassador for the 20 Voices Leadership program and an ongoing member of the Youth Collective Steering Committee, under Settlement Services International (SSI). Through these roles, she has contributed to a number of advocacy initiatives within the multicultural sector. 

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Amani Haydar is an artist, lawyer, mum and advocate for women’s health and safety based in Western Sydney. Amani’s writing and illustrations have been published in ABC News Online and SBS Life and her self-portrait Insert Heading Here was a finalist in the 2018 Archibald Prize. Amani uses visual art and writing to explore the personal and political dimensions of abuse, loss, identity and resilience. 

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