SWANA APPRECIATION: Some Famous Faces of Palestinian Descent

May Calamawy / Saleh Bakri / Sanaa Abubkheet / Saint Levant / Bella and Gigi Hadid / Mo Amer / Elyanna / Hiam Abbass / Mousa Kraish

Some Ashura outfits bc dalish elf rights 

HEY YOU! Show me your SWANA bg3 ocs <3 (SWANA as in South West Asia and North Africa)

(inspired by my beloved @ysali dragon age post version of this)

I'll go first. Here's my girl Safaa Salhani, Turkish + Syrian bard and durge :)

Ima be real, im still disappointed in your hill pigeon essence redesign and i feel the need to get this off my shoulders

You could of gone an made culturally accurate outfits, you have internet on your hands, you can ASK people for feedback. Fucking genshin fans do those types of redesigns all the time and they look lovely

But what you did instead? Completely cut out the culture and replaced it with another European bullshit, as if we don't have enough of those. Don't take away bad representation, suggest ways it could be actually fixed

I get where you are coming from! And as a white person I should represent more cultures as well with proper criticism from the ppl belonging said cultures so it can come out accurate

thing is, most of my swana friends were already overwhelmed and also making their own designs, so I felt it was better to share and support the works directly from them who got affected (did mostly on twt since i wasn't active here). I didn't wanna take their place

When I saw the skins names before the poster was announced, I thought them all would be heavily bird based, so I drew mostly what I imagined from seeing the names

I will try my best at depicting accurately other cultures in the future and also always share and promote the works from ppl belonging to them, i appreciate the criticism

hi! i just want to clarify first of all that im pro palestine, but a lot of people in my life aren't. ive been looking for ways to convince them but tbh im kind of lost. ive tried showing reports from websites like al jazeera but that's been dismissed out of hand because they're a middle east jounral and thus must be biased (pointing out that stuff like cnn then must be biased too because they're american hasn't worked lol). so, do you know of more "unbiased" resources/journals/etc, or anything that can argue for palestine? sorry if this is badly worded its pretty late. appreciate everything you've done btw 🇵🇸

No worries, I totally understand where you're coming from.

I guess I wanna ask for clarification—do you know what resources they personally are willing to accept? I can provide from Jewish scholars/voices if that'll help.

The issue is, not many USAmerican/European sources are unbiased, and they often spout imperialist propaganda. So if they're looking primarily for those types resources, I'm afraid I cannot really give you too many.

Here's a segment from an Angela Davis interview from Democracy Now that I like: https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/28/angela_davis_25th_anniversary_taped_segment

Also her book Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Constant-Struggle-Palestine-Foundations/dp/1608465640

Angela Davis is often pretty vocal about the harms of imperialism throughout the world and specifically mentions Palestine in her activism. I suggest looking to her writings also.

Can't say I know too much about DemocracyNow! though.

Some other scholars/orgs are:

Jewish Voice For Peace: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

If Not Now: https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/

Ilan Pappe (he's specifically "Israeli", if that will help at all)

Frank Barat

Noam Chomsky: https://chomsky.info/

Modoweiss: https://mondoweiss.net/ Now I don't totally love Mondoweiss all of the time but if the people in your life are really against learning from non-Palestinian sources they might be ok to introduce them. They do have Palestinian writers and editors tho.

I guess if its more that they're unwilling to trust SWANA news sources, you could show them The Institute for Palestine Studies, which is associated with Columbia University.

This list was a little difficult because I can't say I'd always recommend these sources (except, well, Angela Davis—I really look up to her—and Institute for Palestine Studies), but it could be a good introduction if they're rejecting other places that have more reliable reporting. If they're willing to accept these places/people, then you could move on to more Palestinian led sources.

I don't know if this helps, but you could say that they should listen to the Palestinian's POV because you'd always asked the people directly involved in a situation what their viewpoint is? Might help shift their understanding.

There are more sources that I thought about adding, but I need to look into them a little more. I might add on to this list later.

Let me know if any of this helps at all or even if it didn't, I'm genuinely really interested to see what they have to say.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝑁𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 headcanons .ᐟ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ kento x swana gn!reader

content: fluff, non-specific relationship (it can be platonic or romantic) wc: 421

a/n: this is very self-indulgent, though, i tried my best to make it inclusive of all swana folk; hence it's rather general. for those who aren’t aware, swana stands for south west asia and north africa. it’s a more progressive term compared to “middle east”, the latter being rooted in orientalism.

banner credits:⠀@/dollienini + @/chilumitos

Fights over which type of rice is better — jasmine or basmati. He insists it's jasmine as it’s easier to cook and softer. You retort, claiming it's basmati as it tastes better with curry and stews than jasmine rice.

Introducing Kento to classic artists like Fairuz, Samira Tawfik, Sabah, and Warda (Al-Jazairia). Sometimes you catch him listening to these artists in his spare time whilst sitting at his home desk. Fingers tapping at the wooden table rhythmically whilst trying to mouth the lyrics.

Kento questions why you get onto your hands and knees, Cinderella-style, with an old t-shirt to mop the tiles. After seeing you do this once, he buys you an actual mop so you never have to bend over (or cause injury to your back).

Slowly building up his tolerance to the sweetness of SWANA desserts. He’s not used to it due to Japanese desserts being subtly sweet. Zalabia is the ultimate final dessert boss. However, his friend Satoru happily gobbles those up whenever he pops by your place for afternoon tea.

Teaching him words, phrases, and idioms in your native tongue or second language. Whilst he had trouble with certain letters or digraphs, you bet he randomly uses certain words around you, even occasionally saying them around his friends and colleagues who have no idea what he’s talking about.

One day, you give him a rundown of your family tree before taking him to his first family gathering. It’s all a bit confusing with everyone being your “cousin”, “aunt”, or “uncle”. Some of these people aren’t even related to you; they’re either your grandparents’ cousins or friends of the family from the homeland.

There’s a social gathering (or wedding) coming up soon, and he's your plus one, so you have to teach him how to dance. The poor man is stiff as a wooden board with two left feet. It takes a while for him to learn [insert dance name], let alone loosen his shoulders, but once he's on the dancefloor, he won't leave.

You best believe this man doesn't understand superstitions and why people still follow them. One day you chastise him for dropping silverware, explaining that now there would be a guest at the door of your apartment. There, in fact, was a guest; it was Satoru.

As Kento learns more from you, he soon understands there is more to the SWANA region, unlike what the world and media have taught him. It gives him a deeper appreciation of your culture and helps him rethink unintentional biases.

© 𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑙⠀ ─⠀ all rights reserved. seek inspiration, do not copy, translate, or redistribute my writing/content.⠀₊˚ෆ

Not to be that bitch that tells you what to do… but I am gonna be that bitch. Please stop apologising for your feelings and for being “snippy” to stupid anons. I don’t care how offended they are by whatever you might have said but they have no right to expect politeness from you when you’re literally going through the absolute most right now.

To those anons: fuck off. Why do minorities have to be polite to you? Why do oppressed and genocided people have to spare YOUR emotions? If you have a fucking brain, you’d be more considerate of Zaytoon and every fucking Palestinian + non Palestinian SWANA on this fucking app. They are not here to spare YOUR white emotions.

Again, fuck off.

P.S. Sorry for telling you what to do, but this is making me mad.

i love you so much. you're saying everything that i've been trying to say.

i guess i'm just afraid of playing into that "mean palestinian arab" stereotype and i'm trying really hard to fight it. i don't want people's experiences talking to an actual palestinian be shitty or anything. i wanna be nice because i am nice. i wanna show that we are a kind people, and that we're happy to talk to and educate others.

unfortunately that really has taken a toll on me and i just don't know how to keep being nice to every single person who talks to me anymore. i'm exhausted and so drained, and when i do respond a little snarkily, i feel bad about it later, and i'm always willing to apologize if someone calls me out on it. i'm just trying my best here.

i wish i had more self respect when it comes to stuff like this. i don't wanna be harsher or colder than i have to be. thank you for sticking up for me though, i appreciate it sm 🫶

how has the coptic community in general in Egypt responded to the gaza crisis compared to the muslim majority? are there any substantial differences in opinion or motivations for support? please dont feel pressured to answer this, im just asking out of my own curiosity! as a muslim myself non-muslim arab communities are something i so rarely hear about, in fact it's only recently i learnt more about the christian communities in swana. many people i know (including my own community) support palestine as a show of muslim solidarity, which rubs me the wrong way. is it similar in arab countries or does it lean more towards arab solidarity?

I made a post about this before, but I'm too tired to find it right now so if the post comes anybody's way, if you'd be so kind as to link it here for anon, I would appreciate it.

In a nutshell the Coptic church has historically been vehemently pro-Palestine. Pope Shenouda straight up banned Coptic people from supporting Israel monetarily, and he protested the president at the time for his normalization of relations with Israel. The current pope, Tawadros, has issued a statement condemning the Israeli occupation on behalf of the church. (Issuing a statement is... not very useful as far as dissident action goes, but it is a true reflection of the stance of the church, at the very least.)

I'm not active in any Coptic communities at the moment, but my brother attests that they all frequently discuss Palestine and what they can do to help, and participate in every boycott.

Worth mentioning that there's multiple Coptic churches in Palestine and that our churches have a huge overlap in culture and customs - It's not the reason for our support and I would sure hope everyone supports Palestine even if they have no personal connection to it, but I mention it because it might help you understand why "supporting Palestine is a purely Muslim cause" is not really much of an argument or cause for discourse within the Coptic community.

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir’s audacious feature melds fact, fiction and captivating figurines to lay bare a hidden personal and national history . Asmae recreates the events around a government atrocity using doll-like figures, akin to Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s 2013 Cannes winner The Missing Picture. But in this instance, the focus is Morocco’s 1981 Bread Riots. Asmae’s father helps construct the scene, crafting a replica of the family’s former home and environs, to creating models of family, friends and former neighbours. Asmae’s mother provides support with needle, thread and fabric scraps. The finely detailed miniatures, and amusing juxtapositions of scale, create a place where memories can roam and long-held secrets can be revealed. Asmae’s fearsome grandmother is mightily dismissive of the process, raging equally against her tiny replica doll and her granddaughter’s ever-present camera. As recollections surface and terrible truths are revealed, the old woman remains stubbornly determined to leave history undisturbed, as all those around her confront the trauma of the past.

The Mother Of All Lies (2023). Dir. Asmae El Moudir

sumeru

ok yall. lets get into this. im sorry if this isnt coherent, i’m angry and needed to ramble academically

i really don’t care what white people have to say about sumeru. i mean this, genuinely and truly, i do not care about your opinion on the matter. this is not something you should insert yourself in. i would, however, appreciate if you sat down and listened to south asian and swana people such as myself talk about this. fellow bipoc, feel free to join the discussion. 

to understand the racist caricature that is sumeru, lets talk about orientalism and the exoticization of west and south asians throughout the ages. the “middle east” itself is an orientalist creation, being named for its proximity to europe instead of its actual region of west asia, and continues to be referred to as the “middle east” to this day. the french and english also had a huge role in the geopolitical breakup of both south asian countries (the biggest example being india) and almost the entirety of west asia. a side effect of this was the commodification of asian women into sex objects, and asian men into several different unsavory categories (too feminine, too scary, or just downright dirty and undesirable) or oversexualize them too. 

 you can see this happening in western media constantly, and may have even noticed the repetitive portrayal of SWANA nations and people. women are always beautiful, but not free, because many white westerners refuse to believe that women can have rights within islam (read about islamic feminism here!). there’s always a camel or something, they’re in the desert, and there’s a snake charmer somewhere. it’s repetitive, boring, and lumps every swana country together despite regional, cultural, and phenotypical differences between people. 

so, what does all this have to do with sumeru? maybe it’s the fact that three out of five of the upcoming female characters are in bellydancing costume. or that they erased all culture and meaning from the names of certain characters, al haitham being the father of modern optics and tighnari an important botantist, author, poet, and physician.  or that literally every character, save for dehya, is white as snow. 

that, specifically, can be chalked up to genshin’s rampant colorism / racism and the constant whitewashing of darker skinned characters. in the most recent event, xinyan just had a slight tan, and kaeya gets lighter in every piece of art that’s drawn for him. 

if you’ve ever met an asian person, you know that we come in all sorts of shades, sizes, heights, etc., and this is just not representative of south and west asia at all. the north african elements have also been entirely scrubbed, leaving a glorified jungle mondstadt. 

the issue also lies in the amount and the size of the regions they chose to base sumeru off of. west asia contains 17 countries, south asia contains 8, and north africa contains 7. though there’s been a lot of cultural trade and some things are similar, there just isn’t enough homogeny to get a good feel of what sumeru is or will be. 

tldr; sumeru’s bad. its not just the orientalism (from a chinese company nonetheless?), the colorism, and the racism, but also the blatant disregard for SWANA and south asian people throughout the entire creation process. i’m sick of people chalking it up to ignorance. they could have looked anything up at any time, but they simply chose not to. hoyoverse is not innocent. sumeru is terrible, and i’m afraid that natlan will be worse.

Hey question to SWANA people here. There's something I have been really curious about.

I am wondering if the plate is only relevant to Northern Africa or if it's a more common thing so tagging your answer and country would be appreciated!!

On your post re the whole prédstrogen/ white blogger hypocrisy re banning issue, when you said white queers didn’t care re tumblr blocking bipoc blogs speaking abt palestine apart from anti Zionist Jewish people, did you mean the only white queers who cared were the anti Zionist Jewish people or white queers only cared about anti Zionist Jewish people? Have issues reading tone so was wondering

Honestly I thought about editing that part but that post is just out there now There are some yt ppl who care about Palestine and boost Palestinian and SWANA voices about it, and boost BIPOC voices--- generally, these people are anarchists but while that's what I expect of anarchists, anarchists aren't nearly as numerous as other kinds of anticapitalists (unfortunately). The main demographic I see of white antizionists, however, are Jewish people. Most of the yt "left" and "radical" accounts I've seen in the past few months since Al-Aqsa Flood have both-sidesed genocide because they cannot and will not break away from whiteness and admit the truth of the white supremacist theofascist occupation of Palestine is done by and for white people. The white people most likely to see that for the evil it is are those who reject supremacy culture and/or were raised Jewish and were taught the actual, true, lived history of Palestine and Jewish Palestinians. Outside that small group of people, white queers who should be silent and genuinely listening and learning and doing are instead doing just like most white people and defending genocide in some manner, while decrying the queer genocide that occasionally affects white people but primarily affects us BIPOC. I've seen hundreds of BIPOC accounts taken out for stances against genocide and it has been almost exclusively BIPOC accounts noticing our losses. I wasn't active on Tumblr before last summer but I've heard of how this happened during BLM uprisings and I'm not in the least shocked. It's very obvious that the majority of white queers only take notice of the oppression BIPOC queers face daily when those whites happen to get the occassional taste of it. And as you touched on, white queers will pick up causes popular with other white people-- so when white antizionists started posting steadfast support for Palestine, then I saw more white accounts support Palestine. These are the same people who refused to mask once mandates ended, and thus killed third spaces for us disabled people--and indeed, have literally killed us disabled people with their ableism. And their beloved shitposters feed this ableism constantly by refusing to speak of COVID, refusing to abandon eugenicist language like ableist & saneist terms, and as said, they remain silent on other genocides. There are good white people out there but finding them is fucking hard and keeping them almost as hard because of the pressures to conform to whiteness favoring implicit & explicit biases making it difficult to call in white friends but those who do the work and open themselves to criticism are truly cherished. And I hope that they know that. I certainly tell my white friends that I appreciate and love them.

(following previous ask) also now I remember I absolutely adored seeing in Xelara's codex page that the full version of her art has hairy arms!!!!! Thank you and your artist for doing such a great service to lady-likers everywhere

While I'm glad lady-likers everywhere can appreciate Xelara's hairy arms, my primary reason for doing so is because hair on women, particularly women of color, especially SWANA women who are stereotyped as hairier than other women, is judged harshly and we're made to feel disgusting for it.

Or, the inverse happens: I would caution people to be careful about leaning too far into the other direction to where it becomes a fetish. Obviously not saying you are doing this, but I've seen and been exoticized as a SWANA woman often enough to where I'm extremely wary of non-SWANA people fixating on our body hair as some sort of kink for them to play around with. Like we have body hair specifically to appeal to them or something, lmao.

It's a perfectly normal, neutral feature, and it should be treated as such!

All that to say: as an overall body hair appreciator, it totally, definitely, looks hot as hell on Xelara. I'm glad I asked for Gabby, the artist, to add it in 💖💖💖

project sekai fact it had their characters do blackface and fans like you keep excusing it and continuing to play and even monetarily support this game <3

I am aware of that and I do not excuse it at all; I am critical of those aspects of the game/expanded media even if I have not been very vocal about it on this account. I do not and have not ever put money into this game but I cannot control what others do.

I understand that the game has had Revival my dream, the Island Panic costumes, cosmospice, puchiseka episode 6 etc, and I understand the impact these had on Indigenous people, SWANA and Black people (I've read a lot of twitter threads/tumblr posts made by affected people as well as outside research). And I can totally understand why people no longer play the game. However people from the affected groups have said it is okay to continue playing the game and continue to play themselves so long as you are aware of the racism within it and are critical of it (obviously not everyone who has had their culture mocked in the game will want to continue playing it but some choose to while being critical of the negative aspects of the game). I know people irl who continue to play the game despite being part of one of the affected groups and they are fine with me continuing to play as well.

Is the game going to stop this behaviour? Honestly probably not due to racism within Japan (if you're familiar with other idol type gacha games you'll notice a recurring theme with certain card sets) and if we reach a point where people from the affected race/culture(s) are telling people that it is not okay to play the game anymore because they have crossed too far past the line (like whats happening with genshin as far as i'm aware), I will stop. I don't even know if this account will last until then.

I'm assuming you have me blocked already, so won't see this, but if you are not okay with this account or the franchise due to what it has done, I understand and respect that and suggest that you block me if you haven't already and block the project sekai tag. I know you haven't done the latter because you probably actively sought out this blog or found it in the tag.

Just to make it clear, I am white, and frankly my words mean nothing here. If anyone who follows this blog who has been affected by the racism in the game would like to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated. I sincerely apologise if I have said anything offensive/problematic here and ask for anyone to infom me if I have made any mistakes so I can learn and correct them.

Hi I’m sorry to barge in about this but these last few posts about feeling invalid in ethnicity hit home for me. My grandfather was Lebanese and died before I could meet him, and aside from my mother I have no other Lebanese culture in my life. I have always felt pride in my heritage (especially after learning about grandpas possible skirmishes against the IDF? Unclear) but I’ve always felt like an outsider because I don’t know many other Arabs/SWANA irl and wasn’t raised in a typical Lebanese home. Obviously there are major differences between these two situations, but I wanted to know if you had any more suggestions on how to find community? At least for someone to tell me if I’m appropriating a culture I am only a fourth of. Again Sorry, I know this isn’t what you do here and I understand if it’s wasting your time. Thanks for being on this stupid app regardless

hey your grandpa sounds badass! im sorry you've always felt like an outsider... i will say, i'm not sure if it's cultural appropriation if you have familial ties to lebanon and acknowledge your history there. if anything, i think you still have a right to interact with it as a way to investigate your grandfather's history.

something that really connects me to palestine is literature. books, poetry, essays, think pieces — these expose me to a wide range of opinions and understandings of the world around them. do you happen to know if your grandfather had any writings from back then? or if you can ask your mother for stories about him? i've been trying to get my own grandpa on the phone to hear about his experiences in palestine before the Nakba.

it also might help to look into different writers and artists online and interact with them. I share a lot of tweets from palestinians (doctors, artists, writers) because that's where i learn the most about palestinian culture in palestine and the diaspora. I know I recommended them earlier, but I'd look up Radius of Arab American Writers. Their vibe is something I think you'd appreciate.

if you're part of any distinct groups like medical care or environmentalists, i would google "Lebanese Doctor Association" or "Lebanese Archivists." That's how I found librarians and archivists for Palestine.

but literature is still my go-to either way. I don't know many lebanese writers, but I do know fairuz LOL and she's probably the most famous lebanese person. Khalil Jibran is also a famous lebanese writer you might look into.

if anyone else has any tips, feel free to add on. im sorry, i don't know if i helped too much. i hope that you can reconnect with your grandfather's heritage and learn more about him. good luck and, more than anything, have fun.