Arab Parenthood and Genocide (E226)

Last time, I sat down with Shui-yin Sharon Yam to talk about ambiguous loss, diasporic parenting and grieving the what-ifs. Thank you to those who sent me nice feedback about that one. As you might imagine, it wasn’t an easy one to record, but it felt necessary after I realised that we all experience ambiguous loss in one way or another.

Today I’m talking to Heba Gowayed. She is a writer and associate professor of sociology at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center. Her research and writing centers the lives of people who migrate across borders and the unequal and often violent institutions they face.

I wanted to have Heba on to talk about a piece she had written for In These Times called “On Parenthood and Genocide,” which was republished in the book “We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition” edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson. Heba, like me, has a kid who is roughly the same age as mine. We’re both raising them in mixed Arab/non-Arab families in the diaspora in the West, and we have both been deeply impacted by what it all means in the context of a genocide against our people, especially as both of our kids were born end of 2023. In fact, this episode will be out not long before the third anniversary of the ongoing Western-backed Israeli genocide against Palestinians, which itself started about a week before my own kid was born. So it’s all been a bit much to be honest with you, but I hope you’ll find something in this episode regardless of whether you’re a parent or not. The monstrosities unleashed by the Israelis have contributed to an acceleration of the decline of whatever is left of international human rights, a decline that authoritarian governments everywhere are enjoying. I believe that part of how we fight back is through understanding what is actually happening, and the stories we talk about here – mine and Heba’s – are only a part of a much wider trend that is affecting millions.

Heba’s Recs:

Anything by Tayari Jones
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
On Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

Elia’s Links

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Credits:

Elia Ayoub (host, sound editor, episode design), the rosa artist (TFTT theme design, 2026-), Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics) and ⁠⁠⁠Antidote Zine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Transcriptions).