Tatjana has found her passion for the WANA-region over a detour of Anglo- and Latin American studies. She has gained experiences in the Middle East by living in a big Jordanian family, with the Bedouins in Wadi Rum desert and a shared flat with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Together with Svenja and her backpack she has now discovered and learnt to love the Gulf region as well. By now she works in Berlin music business – after work she is a huge fan of documentaries, acryl painter or spotted running at the Teltow channel.
Focus: Gulf region, Nomadic Cultures, Diaspora, Lebanon, Jordan, Afro-Asian cooperation
Katrin has studied art history, archeology and political science in Freiburg, Jerusalem and Lebanon. In the frame of her master thesis she has dealt with the inner Kurdish conflict in Iraqi Kurdistan and travelled several times to the autonomous Kurdish region to this end. Nowadays she works and lives in Berlin. She likes to do perception walks (and thanks to Carlotta she knows this terminus), mostly accompanied by one of her cameras.
Focus: Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, economic and security policies, conflict research and migration in the region Iraq and Al-Sham
Julia has studied journalism, politics, history and sociology of the Middle East, among others in Morocco and Lebanon. For her master thesis she was researching in Egypt, where she did not only eat a lot of Koshari, but also interviewed correspondents and their mediators about their work. She is now living in Beirut and reports independently for taz and Deutschlandfunk – especially about urban culture, gender and matters of social justice in Lebanon and the WANA-region.
Focus: Gender, social justice, journalism, constructive reporting, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco
Svenja has studied history and cultural anthropology in Mainz and has been to Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia. During her stays in the Middle East she has particularly grown fond of regional cuisine, which she has tried out herself many times. By now she can make a Fatteh al hummus that has earned the label “really good” by some Syrian friends (the highest title achievable!). By now, she tries to pass on these experiences and curiosity about the WANA-region as intercultural trainer in the Rhine-Main region.
Focus: colonialism, Gulf region, Iraq, Afghanistan, reception history, intercultural communication
On the Corniche in Alexandria or in Tunisian Gabes, hiking in the Algerian mountains or strolling along the narrow streets of Beirut and Istanbul – Carlotta’s favorite way of discovering places in daily life or on vacation are walking and biking. After a study of urbane culture, she fell in love with the Arabic language and since then follows her from North Africa to Westasia up until the streets of Neukölln. And there is a whole lot to experience and question: be it lived practices, civil engagement or the role of art and culture in societies.
Focus: cities & other spaces, North Africa, queer & feminist activism, theater & networks of culture
Linda’s love for the WANA-region was sparked some years ago with an Arabic language course during her anthropology studies. At this time, she realized the beauty of the language, but also how less she actually knew about the cultural realm. Since then, she tries to grab every opportunity to gain a better understanding of the region’s history and diverse cultures. This way led her to the Middle and Far East to Erfurt, Beirut, Jerewan and the Kirgisian Osch. She now lives in Berlin and researched on Syrian Exile art in the frame of her master thesis. In her freetime she is a big fan of Arabic Ramadan series – even without fasting.
Focus: migration and exile research on Syria and Lebanon, media anthropology