VJ Um Amel

Arabic for Video Jockey (VJ) "Mother of Hope"

Laila Shereen Sakr is a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project. Known for creating R-Shief software and performing as VJ Um Amel, she is a professor and artist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she co-founded Wireframe Studio for creative media production with investments in global social and environmental justice. In 2021, she launched VJ.Live, a platform for live broadcasting and interactive experiences.

  • Digital Arts
  • Media Theory + Practice
  • Feminist Technology
  • Middle East Studies
  • Interaction Design
  • Worldbuilding

Featured Video

Reviews

All Reviews

Reviewed in Danish news, Globalynt

Thank you for the lovely interview in "Glem Silicon Valley. Avantgarden for tech-til-forandring taler arabisk" (February 2, 2024).

Podcast on New Books in Middle East Studies Series

"Laila Shereen Sakr, ‘Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives’ (Stanford UP, 2023)" New Books in Middle East Studies, December 18, 2023.

Book Review in German Online Journal: Rezension ‘Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives’" dis:orient, October 6, 2023

Mende, Tugrul. "Rezension ‘Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives’" dis:orient, October 6, 2023.

Laila Shereen Sakr, Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives (New Texts Out Now)

Interview: "Laila Shereen Sakr, Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives (New Texts Out Now)" Jadaliyya, September 21, 2023.

The Arab World, the real Silicon Valley? MEMO in Conversation with Laila Shereen Sakr

Thank you for the interview with London's Middle East Monitor, August 23, 2023.

Digital Activism in the Arab World

Thank you, Afikra, for the invigorating conversation with Mikey Muhanna on “The Arabic World and the Digital Age,” episode 357, 2 August 2023.

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Publications

See a full list of publications here