In Conversation with Parisa Ayoubi: Creator of @frommaghrebtomashriq

7/4/2021

Tell us about the meaning behind the title of the handle @frommaghrebtomashriq?

in both arabic and farsi, maghreb means "where the sun sets" and refers to the western part of the middle eastern and north african (MENA) region, being libya, algeria, morocco, and western sahara. mashriq means "where the sun rises" and refers to the eastern part of the region, loosely being bahrain, egypt, iraq, jordan, kuwait, lebanon, oman, palestine, qatar, saudi arabia, sudan, syria, the united arab emirates and yemen, but because maghreb and mashriq are loose terms, my own definition in the context of my page has expanded upon the previous countries to include the entirety of the whole region. in that context, to go from maghreb to mashriq is to cover the whole region, and then journey beyond.

"in that context, to go from maghreb to mashriq is to cover the whole region, and then journey beyond."

Walk us through your creation process.

so it'll usually start with a random topic or thought that comes back into my brain for whatever reason throughout the day. once i sit down, i like to google a random phrase that's specific enough to get me what i'm looking for but broad enough to allow my independent exploration of the topic.
i personally love learning the history of our people, but i recognize that the west and western academics have written much of our history from their lenses shaped by patriarchy, heteronormativity, colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, classism, etc., so i try to work those nuances into my retellings of history. i think the most frustrating and difficult part of compiling a post is partially finding actual mena/swana people who have written about the topic and also finding mena/swana people who are anti-all-of-the bad-isms i mentioned above.

Who do you imagine to be your audience and how does that influence or shape your work?

when i was developing this page, my perceived audience was almost identical to what it is now. because a lot of my posts thus far have been mena/swana-centric (due to april being middle eastern north african heritage month and also my own identity as a mena woman), my audience is primarily mena people who individually and collectively align really well with my own ideologies, but i'm so happy to have like-minded people from different identities and walks of life active on my page as well.

"i strongly feel that advocacy shouldn't just be reserved for the issues that my community and i are detrimentally impacted by because all oppressors around the world have common ties."

it's easier to rise up in the millions to kill an array of oppressions than to rise up in the hundreds, so i'm incredibly eager to branch out and cover the empowerment, marginalization, and beauty of other oppressed peoples as well. :) i want all oppressed people to find this page a community space where they can individually or collectively explore both within and outside of the region, applying lessons that will better enable us to chip away at our oppressors' foundations.

What's something you think the readers of this interview should know?

that everything in this world will disappoint you. your parents will disappoint you, your partner will disappoint you, and the structures around you upholding the music, film, sports, etc. that you like will disappoint you. because they're all coming from a place inextricably entwined with the same oppressive forces you hate. that's by definition how those forces are supposed to work in order to be successful. so it's on every person to detangle it and sift through the damage done by capitalism, colonialism, colorism, ableism, classism, racism, etc. and to do that work every day.

"don't ever think of liberation as some unachievable distant ambition. your work gets easier when you realize that liberation is coming sooner than we all might think."

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Notes

In Conversation with Parisa Ayoubi: Creator of @frommaghrebtomashriq

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