Public History and Arts, interview series

Public History and Arts is an interview series, conducted by Dr. (Postdoctoral researcher at the 8xav�� of Luxembourg) and Nada El Shabrawy (Ph.D. candidate at the 8xav�� of Connecticut). With their backgrounds in arts, public history and literature, Dalal and El Shabrawy, discuss how arts and history can communicate and work together.

This series is supported by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) and the Public History and Outreach research group.

Patrice R. Green

Curator for African American and African Diasporic Collections at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, April 2025

Cassandra Marsillo

Cassandra is a public historian, artist, and writer, based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), telling and listening to stories about immigration, identity, collective memory, food, and folklore, particularly in relation to the Italian-Canadian experience and traditions from my family’s region, Molise. More about her .

Bu Nasser

Bu Nasser is a Lebanese writer and rapper whose work amplifies the voices of a silenced and marginalized society. Since his start in 2009 he has become a leading voice in revolutionary music, with solo releases and collaborations that fuel protest and resistance. He has performed widely, from major shows in Lebanon to sold-out concerts across Turkey and Europe, including the 2024 Safari Euro Tour. His 2025 album Limbo blends raw lyricism with regional and international sounds, capturing both present turmoil and historical trauma.

Also a writer, Bu Nasser has independently published two acclaimed novels, Al-Harayek (2016) and Al Qushnood (2018), both showcased internationally.

Muthoni Mwangi

Mũthoni Mwangi (pronouns she/xe/xir/they) is a multidisciplinary artist-researcher working at the intersection of African philosophy, Cultural heritage, and community development. Her approach is mostly experimental and grounded in the spirit of Community building and community care. Xe is a cultural worker in a space and time when cultural erasure is rampant; she is a memory worker in a space where histories and epistemologies are obfuscated and strategically erased.

You can follow Mũthoni’s work on , and check the African Digital Heritage foundation’s projects .

Nitya Sankhe

Nitya Sankhe is a visual designer and researcher from India. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on South Asian indigenous art forms, environmental justice, and the role of Adivasi visual culture in decolonial design education. She is currently a graduate student of Global Arts & Cultures at the Rhode Island School of Design, USA. Through her practice, Nitya explores how art, design, and community-led approaches can regenerate cultural memory and shape more equitable futures—particularly for Adivasi communities in India. Rooted in fieldwork and storytelling, her work investigates how craft practices serve as living archives of memory, resistance, and ecological wisdom.

You can follow Nitya’s work on , , and . You can also check the or where she currently works.

Khalid Albaih

Khalid Albaih is a Sudanese, Romanian-born Qatari raised award-winning artist based between Oslo and Doha . He has founded influential platforms including : Sudan Artist Fund and Sudan Art and Design Library and , an independent political cartoon magazine.

His work has been commissioned by organisations such as Amnesty International and exhibited at Documenta and many museums around the world he is 2025 Georgetown Qatar Artists in Residence .

Albaih’s writing has been featured in leading publications such as CNN, The Guardian and Aljazeera where he has a show discussing Sudan. He is the author of “Khartoon!” and edited “Sudan Retold”, a collection of works by 31 artists exploring the history and future of Sudan.

You can follow Khalid’s work on Instagram: and

The book ‘Sudan Retold’ book can be purchased through .

Fayrouz Karawya

Fayrouz Karawya is an Egyptian indie singer, songwriter, writer, and researcher. She has released six albums and 120 singles since 2006, collaborating across music, theater, and film. Karawya has led research projects on gender, musicology, and Arab popular culture. As a cultural researcher and critic, she has authored two books: Constructions of Chaos (2010) and Kol Da Kan Leih (2022). The latter explores the cultural history of Egyptian mainstream music, spanning from the late 19th century to the present.

Fayrouz has a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the American 8xav�� in Cairo, focusing on Egyptian cinema and its socio-political contexts, and a PhD in cultural studies at Sorbonne 8xav�� (Paris 4), focusing on the evolution and transformations of Egypt’s digital memosphere post-2013 within its socio-political and post-revolutionary contexts.

You can follow Fayrouz’s work on , , , , or .

Her book “Kol Da Kan Lei” can be purchased on .

Nina Parish and Daniele Rugo

Nina Parish is a Professor of French and Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the 8xav�� of Glasgow. Much of her current research is in Memory Studies with a focus on representations of difficult history, the migrant experience and multilingualism in the museum. She is also an expert on the interaction between text and image in the field of modern and contemporary French Studies and has published widely on this subject, in particular, on the poet and visual artist, Henri Michaux.

Daniele Rugo is an award winning filmmaker. His latest film, ‘’ (2023) explores the clandestine graves from Lebanon’s Civil War. He’s currently a Visiting Fellow at the 8xav�� of Oxford. His work focuses on conflict and sustainable peace. He is the author of three books and several journal articles.

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