Courtesy: The Counter Academy for Arab Journalism

Co-founders of the Counter Academy for Arab Journalism, Lina Attalah and Hala Droubi, will be joined in discussion by Christina Varvia (Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths) and Samaneh Moafi (Forensic Architecture, Goldsmiths), moderated by Omid Montazeri (Journalist, BBC), to reflect on the urgent need for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to knowledge-making. The conversation will trace the evolution of the Counter Academy, which was established in 2018 in response to the growing demands of independent newsrooms in countries like Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon over the years following the Arab Spring. Today the Counter Academy trains a new generation of journalists and researchers working at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, and journalism. Students learn how to recognise when an event comes crashing into a pre-established history, and when the self meets the other in the vast and chaotic fields of reporting. They also learn how to critically approach tools of truth-telling, from reconstructive technologies and archives to testimonials and the simple act of witnessing. 

The discussion will draw connections between the pedagogical and investigative practices of the Counter Academy, the Centre for Research Architecture, and Forensic Architecture, all of which blend, reappropriate, and expand upon methods from diverse fields in order to confront official narratives and critically examine the social and political conditions of our time.