S7E5. Introducing Tatreez Talk in Arabic with Tasneem

IN THIS EPISODE, Lina and Amanne make a big announcement: Tatreez Talk is officially expanding into Arabic-language episodes, hosted by tatreez artist and educator Tasneem!

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

• Tatreez Talk is launching a new arm of the podcast recorded fully in Arabic
• Hosted by Tasneem (@tasneem.tatreez) — digitizer, cross-stitch educator, and researcher, and a familiar face from a past episode
• The goal: open up conversations with guests who have a wealth of knowledge but aren't comfortable interviewing in English
• Lina and Amanne will step back as listeners for these episodes — a first for the podcast

MEET TASNEEM

• Started her tatreez journey at the end of 2024, during the genocide, as a way to reconnect with Palestine and other Palestinians (check out her TT interview!)
• Went from hobby stitcher to researcher — digitizing traditional motifs, teaching cross-stitch and the tahriri stitch, and documenting stories
• Found community and friendship around the world through tatreez, and describes the practice as both therapy and resistance

WHY ARABIC EPISODES MATTER

• Creates space for stitchers and elders without a big platform, or without social media at all, to be heard
• Reconnects diaspora Palestinians to Arabic alongside tatreez itself
• Surfaces oral histories and shared struggles (fair pay, copyright, preserving heritage while making a living) that don't always come through in English
• Referenced Thread of Identity and Widad Kawar's work as inspiration for centering the women behind the thobe, not just the thobe itself
• Framed as a way to "stop the circle of regret" — recording elders' and stitchers' stories before they're lost

WHAT TO EXPECT

• Same spirit as Tatreez Talk, shaped in Tasneem's own voice and format
• English subtitles planned for YouTube so non-Arabic speakers can follow along
• A great excuse for diaspora listeners to practice their Arabic
• Episodes will be sprinkled into the season — no fixed schedule yet

SEND US YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS

• Know an elder, educator, or stitcher who teaches or speaks about tatreez in Arabic? Let us know!
• No social media following required — the goal is documenting stories, not follower counts
• Submit via email, the website, or DM @tatreeztalktatreez

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Follow us @tatreeztalk
Follow Amanne @minamanne & Lina @linasthobe

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:06

Hi, Stitchers. Welcome to Taltri's Talk, where we share conversations about Palestinian embroidery. Today, Amani and I are so, so, so thrilled to announce a new addition to Talfri's Talk. Amani, which which how should we reveal it?

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Well, I'll say we honestly, I think we first had this idea to do something like this after we talked to this amazing talented artist the first time. And I forgot what happened. I think it's just like we were so busy. And so it just like wasn't something that happened. Or maybe we, I forgot if we did reach out to her. Anyways, uh it didn't happen at that time. But as we know, everything happens when it's supposed to happen. Um and so we recently reconnected. Well, we've always been in connection, but we recently reconnected about this subject. Um, and so we're really excited that we are going to be giving you guys some Tathese talk episodes in Ottawa with our good friend Tasneem. Oh my goodness, yes, please. Applause.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Wow, okay, we're really digging this new platform. Are you no? This is so exciting because you and I both know it would be very, very sad if one of us or both of us attempted to record an episode in Autobi. I think it would take embarrassing. Nobody needs to be put through that pain. So we're gonna bring someone who speaks Aubby fluently um and who loves the trees and have some of these conversations because it's also been a lot of people who we've wanted to bring on board and they haven't felt comfortable doing the interview in English, but they have a wealth of knowledge, and so this is gonna this is gonna allow us to open up so many more conversations.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, yes. So without further ado, um, welcome to Tatriz Talk, our new co-host, guest host. Um, you know, obviously you know her from previous episodes. She is a Tatriz artist, a chess panel fanatic, a digitizer, and the educator behind the Instagram account. Tasne Tatriz. Welcome to Tatriz Talk. Yay!

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Hello, Tasne. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

I'm so excited as well as you. I cannot believe that this day come. I used to be someone who listened uh to the episodes, and now I'm part of it, so it's still a big deal for me.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah, baby. Oh sweet. That's so sweet. I think that's like really nice to hear and kind of full circle. And we made this podcast for the community, and so we always want the community to be involved. Um, so we're really excited to have you a part of the Tatriz Talk family officially.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yes. Um, Tasneem, we will link the episode that where we featured you in the show notes. But for those who maybe haven't heard of you, which is kind of hard to believe, but just in case they haven't heard of you or your work, do you want to like share anything else about how you got into Tatriz and how you created your account and like why you're doing this kind of work with Tatriz?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Okay, so uh hi everyone again. My name is Tasne, but most people on Instagram know me as Tasne Tatriz. I started my journey in the end of 2024, and then uh with the genocide uh continuing for more than two years, I Tatriz was the place where I did connected with Palestine again and uh other Palestinians, and it was about it ignited some passion about exploring and preserving Palestinian embroidery. And so it started as a hobby, but pet by pit, I became a researcher in that field, and my work first focused on digitizing traditional motifs, uh chess panel, and also learning about the stories and spreading them uh around. Uh, also teaching people other stitches and more recently the tahir stitch. So for me, it was a way where I can preserve Palestinian uh uh technique and stitches, and it's uh uh like a resistance, and in and it was for me a way to continue resisting, even especially in time. We felt we couldn't do anything to stop uh the genocide. And in that way, I gained so many friends all around the world, and that this type of friendship honestly I value it the most. And for me, I have not never been in my life that close to my heritage and Palestine as much as I am now. Uh, and so I'm so glad and I'm so thankful uh for Tatriz. And I'm so thankful for also Tatriz's talk because uh when I started, I didn't have any friends who speak who would speak to Patriz who did Tatriz. And uh and for me, like I was listening uh after work to Lina and Amani and uh learning new things while I'm doing uh embroidery at home. So I felt less alone by having other friends all around the world doing this, and I was like, I'm gonna do this for other people uh and spread the word of Tatris because it is really a therapy and a way to connect, and it is a resistance. So I'm so glad to be part of now the Tatris talk.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

That is so beautiful. That was like perfectly said, and I think a lot of us resonate with exactly what what you're talking about, and no matter where you are in diaspora, even if you're in Falstine, there is something about Falconese, I think, that connects you deeper um to Palestine, but also to people, and that's that's how the people and the land are one, and being able to be connected to the people on a deeper level when you're not actually connected to the land is just it's a very powerful thing. Um, and so balkanes is very beautiful. Um, you know, one of the things that uh we wanted to hear from you is why you wanted to do uh this as a as part of like providing this Arabic um option for people.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Uh honestly, what made me was um uh most wanting to do this is the people who I met through this Tatris journey. And I met Incredible Women uh through social media and through the workshop I've thought, and so many of them shared their personal journey with me. And I realized that each of them have like a story that's worth telling. And you know, in social media, usually, the people with the biggest platform uh who they are the people who get heard, but I've met so many talented and creative and inspiring women. I I they do not have a thousand of followers, but and even they some of them are not on the social media at all, but for me their voice mattered as much, and I wanted to create a space for them and for their story to be told. And I also noticed through you know that the trees uh like grooves, and and sometimes we complain about church uh thing. For example, we face similar challenges from like survey to the copyright issue to preserving our heritage while making a living, you know, out of it. And I hope through this episode in Arabic, uh, and through this honest conversation about this topic, that each of us will learn from this and maybe shine a light on these people and story that deserve to be seen.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

And that's so important because I feel like Amani and I are missing a huge population, a huge part of our people who have very, very beautiful stories and experiences and can share so much knowledge with us. Um, so I know like Amani and I are so excited about this. Um and I mean at the end of the day, like Falosseen, the the native language of Falasim is Harabi. The word Tatriz is an Arabic word. Like we would not be doing it any justice if we are erasing those roots of language, um, the in the literal sense, not just Tatriz as language. And so I'm I'm really, really excited because I think there's something that that we haven't been able to capture. And the other thing, also, as I was reflecting on this, um, was how a lot of the stories that we know as Palestinians in the diaspora and as Palestinians who have grown up under genocide, under all these things, is a lot of our history is told orally. Like a lot, a lot of it is not written down. And so this podcast was actually one, it came out of that in a way, right, Emmanuel? Like that was one of your ideas was that we want to capture Palestinian stories by Palestinians themselves. And sometimes talking and having it recorded is a really strong way to help share those experiences. And now we can tap into that in the Autobi, which would be incredible, especially for those of us like myself, hand-raised in the diaspora, whose Autobi is limited. Um, and we can have some some episodes where we can like listen and hear the language and have some subtitles, think about what it means. And I don't know, I I'm just I'm really, really excited. So thank you for for joining us and thank you for taking the time to explore this because I think some of these stories are gonna be completely invaluable. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Completely agree. And just to add to that, oh sorry, Tisneem. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Uh I I wanted to mention that uh some of the girls uh I met through uh the Tatriz circles were saying, I regret not recording this uh story about my grandma. I regret this and that. And I think this is a way for us uh to stop the circle of regret and document all of these stories. Uh, also with the book of thread of identity, uh the Miss Widow for her was uh the more than uh it's more important to talk about the story of the women who owned and made uh the thobe rather than telling uh more details about the thobe itself. And I think uh to spread the word and and make words and maybe document some of these stories that the incubation wanted to be erased, so maybe our episode is a way of resistance too.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yes, yes, that's beautiful. I love that, and I wholeheartedly agree. I think it's very important for us to record these stories, and you know, something that Lena had mentioned too, and you kind of touched on this as well, Tisne, and you guys both made me think of this, but like our our history is often oral. Um, and I think it's nice to have these stories told by Palestinians, but also hearing it from people's voices directly. Um, I think that's something that's really, really important. And, you know, we have lost so many elders whose stories weren't recorded. So while we can, we should be recording everyone's story, because inshallah one day we'll all be elders. Um, so it's really important to have that again. Like I'll say until I'm I can't say anymore, but it's so important to have Palestinian stories documented by Palestinians, plain and simple. So we're excited to be able to do that um in this kind of next chapter. And also, Tassim, you said this before we started recording, but I love how you put this. So I'm probably gonna butcher it, but so you please correct me. Um, but one of the things that we were talking about is obviously the need to have this in Ottawa, um, but also what the occupation has done and that kind of crack for a lot of us living in diaspora who don't necessarily have the perfect Arabic, um, and how that is kind of this further way of separation um that the occupation has like enforced on us. Um so I thought that was really interesting, and I don't know if you kind of wanted to talk a little bit about that from your perspective.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yeah, yes, honestly, even uh sometimes in uh in Jordan we say, oh, people who uh Bestinian people in US are different from us. They sometimes do this about this, they appreciate maybe Tatris more than us because we are this and that. But I think after the genocide, I felt a lot of Palestinians both in the Asian West, like in Arab countries and in the West, they connected more because of you know uh Tatris. But sometimes you know the language barrier is there, and I think a lot of people who uh uh do not speak Arabic but really want to speak Arabic, want to hear about uh tatriz in uh the slang language uh of uh like Palestinian who lives here, and maybe it's also a way, as you mentioned both, like to reconnect. And as Patriz is a language, also Arabic is the language of Palestine, it's a way to reconnect with Palestinians. Sometimes we have certain phrases and words we cannot even translate to English, but uh it is amazing to learn for other people to learn uh some of these uh slang languages or even proverb through these episodes.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, I totally agree. I s and and we talked about it before we started recording as well. Like I for once Amani and I won't be the hosts, so we can actually we'll actually be able to do tales while listening to the episode. And I'm really excited about that because okay, my Autobi is very broken, but I can follow along. And if there's like some English, yeah, there's some English subtitles, like it'll be fine, but it'll be good for me to like hear it being said and like hearing the pronunciation, hearing when certain words or certain phrases are used, like you said, Tesneem. Um, and hopefully start practicing. We'll have to figure out how to practice afterwards. That'll be Talfries Talk 3.0. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

You mentioned it, Lena. You mentioned the subtitles, so maybe we should talk a little bit about um what changes, what stays the same, and kind of the formatting of um these episodes.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Yeah. How should we tackle this?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Well, I think Tasneem, I know we when we first talked about this, obviously, um, we have a little format for um Tatturi's talk, but we also want to make sure that it's your own. So maybe if you want to kind of share with listeners like what they can expect um from Tatturi's talk, Bel Arabi with Tasne. Oh, I just named it.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I think the most important thing that you will uh hear about uh Palestine and hear stories that you will not find it anywhere in any book. And maybe you will reconnect with people that you never imagined that you would be friends with, and uh the fact that maybe you will have similar experiences as other people. Sometimes you lose lose some words to describe your uh like experience, but you maybe you find these words with other people, and uh maybe also it will fill some gaps in knowledge if you are a researcher as I, uh, because as we mentioned, some of the Palestinian heritage is oral and it is not documented. And maybe more about the heritage and uh tatriz will make more sense, inshallah, through these episodes. Uh, I'm so excited to share the stories of people who either a tatrizer themselves making a living out of it, people who are uh teaching the tatriz and maybe share with us some of uh the tips and struggle that they face, or maybe the most amazing experience and story that they face through the teaching. And lastly, maybe other people who works uh like to spread the knowledge of the Tatriz through uh creating books or even through creating uh some uh item that goes with the film itself. So I will keep the episodes uh like guests uh secret until we release them, but I'm so excited for them.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yes, I I am too. I like Alina said earlier, I'm excited to be a listener. Um, also for all of our diaspora friends, this is a perfect excuse to practice your odobe. Um so you can listen and you can watch on YouTube. Uh, and we're gonna figure out a way to do English subtitles. Um, so stay tuned for that. But definitely use this as an excuse to not just hear more Palestinian stories, but practice your Adobe because I know we all need it.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Always. I love it. And with that said, also, you know, we have mentioned it in previous episodes. We haven't only mentioned it in every episode, but we want you to send in your requests. Or if there are people, elders, educators, folks who you follow on Instagram who practice or teach tales, and you know, maybe they do their content in Autobi, or maybe when you've engaged with them, they speak in Autobi, or that's what they're most comfortable with. Let us know. We officially have an Autobi uh, you know, expert who will be hosting these interviews. So please, please, please send in your requests. You can do them in so many different ways. You can email us, you can now submit it via the website, um, you can DM the Talriz Talk Instagram, however, feels kind of natural for you, but we want to hear from our audience as well because we think that you probably have tapped into an incredible network of Talfresers out there. And this is the whole point is to capture as many stories as we can. Um, and now in both English and Daubi. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

And we've mentioned a number of times, this meme has also mentioned it today, but it doesn't matter if this person has a following. They don't need to have Instagram, they don't need to be on social media. A lot of people we connect with them because of social media, but we've definitely had people who don't have a following. That's not the goal. The goal is always to document stories of Palestinians and their connection to Tatriz. So, yes, if just reiterating what Lena said, please send us your recommendations. If you have someone you want us to talk to, we want to talk to them. Um, and again, Testini wants to talk to them bil Arabi. So well, we are really excited about this. Um, definitely stay tuned to this season because we will be sprinkling in um some Tatris Talk Bil Arabi um episodes here and there. Um, and we're really excited to hear what you guys have to say too. Not only are we excited about it being um out there and listening, but we want to hear what you guys have to say. Uh and yeah, I think that's it that we have to share, unless do you either one of you have anything else you want to share before we say bye to the listeners?

SPEAKER_02 20:49

I mean, I'll just say welcome Tessneem. We're so, so, so thrilled to have you. Um, I actually met Tessaneem in person for the first time last earlier this year. Yeah, and it was so much fun. Like she said at the very beginning, you know, Tatriz helps us connect with each other, and we had such a good time together. And I'm just so excited to have you as part of the team because yeah, I'm I'm just welcome. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Me too. Like uh couldn't uh I appreciate a lot of people who I met through Tatriz, and both of you have helped me uh through this uh journey, and I would have been so much alone without uh Tatriz. So I'm so glad for this Tatriz talk and for the whole kind of uh experience. And I cannot wait for other people who only speak Arabic to really join on with uh Patriz talk. Uh and uh hope all of these amazing uh stitchers uh will uh join us so we can speak tatriz together. Love it, love it.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

All right, well, thank you, Tasneem, again for being here and joining our family. Thank you all so much for listening to Tatriz Talk. Of course, we want to hear about your Tatriz journey, so share your stories with us at Tatriz Talk, and we might have you on an upcoming episode. Do not forget to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite listening platform and be sure to leave a five star review. You can follow me at Min Amani, Lina at Lina Stoeb, and Tasnim at Tasneem Tatriz. And of course, you could follow the pod at Tatriz Talk. We'll talk to you soon.