Middle Eastern Studies

Middle Eastern Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of the Middle East about their new books.

Avi Shlaim, "Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew" (Oneworld, 2024)

November 3, 2024

Three Worlds

Avi Shlaim
Hosted by Marshall Poe

In July 1950, Avi Shlaim, only five, and his family were forced into exile, fleeing from their beloved Iraq into the new state of Israel. Now the r…

Toni Alimi, "Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics" (Princeton UP, 2024)

October 28, 2024

Slaves of God

Toni Alimi
Hosted by Michael Motia

Augustine believed that slavery is permissible, but to understand why, we must situate him in his late antique Roman intellectual context. Slaves of G…

Arash Azizi, "What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom" (Oneworld, 2024)

October 23, 2024

What Iranians Want

Arash Azizi
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

On Tuesday 13 September 2022, all Mahsa Amini has planned is a day shopping in Tehran. Her birthday is next week. But she is arrested as she comes out…

Emrah Yildiz, "Zainab's Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others Across Borders" (U California Press, 2024)

October 22, 2024

Zainab's Traffic

Emrah Yildiz
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Emrah Yildiz's new book Zainab’s Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others Across Borders (University of California Press, 2024) is a masterful ethno…

Eran Ortal, "Battle Before the War: The Inside Story of the IDF's Transformation" (Dado Center, 2023)

October 20, 2024

Battle Before the War

Eran Ortal
Hosted by Yakir Englander

A critical challenge for militaries is preparing for future, not past, wars. History shows that success often depends on accurately interpreting and h…

E. L. Gaston, "Illusions of Control: Dilemmas in Managing U.S. Proxy Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria" (Columbia UP, 2024)

October 19, 2024

Illusions of Control

E. L. Gaston
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Over the last two decades, the United States has supported a range of militias, rebels, and other armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Critic…

Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller,  "Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture" (Saqi Books, 2024)

October 18, 2024

Daybreak in Gaza

Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

This is Gaza – a place of humanity and creativity, rich in culture and industry. A place now utterly devastated, its entire population displaced by a …

Joseph John Viscomi, "Migration at the End of Empire: Time and the Politics of Departure Between Italy and Egypt" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 18, 2024

Migration at the End of Empire

Joseph John Viscomi
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

How has migration shaped Mediterranean history? And what role did conflicting temporalities and the politics of departure play in the age of decolonis…

Oumelbanine Nina Zhiri, "Beyond Orientalism: Ahmad Ibn Qasim Al-Hajari Between Europe and North Africa" (U California Press, 2023)

October 16, 2024

Beyond Orientalism

Oumelbanine Nina Zhiri

The first in-depth study of the collaborative intellectual exchange between the European and the Arabic Republics of Letters. Beyond Orientalism: Ah…

Simcha Gross, "Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 15, 2024

Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity

Simcha Gross
Hosted by Michael Motia

From the image offered by the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish elites were deeply embedded within the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). The Talmud is replete wit…

Christopher Paul Clohessy, "Half of My Heart: The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of Alî" (Gorgias Press, 2020)

October 6, 2024

Half of My Heart

Christopher Paul Clohessy
Hosted by Adam Bobeck

Today I talked to Christopher Paul Clohessy about Half of My Heart: The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of Alî (Gorgias Press, 2020). As Abû ʿAbd Allâ…

Fazil Moradi, "Being Human: Political Modernity and Hospitality in Kurdistan-Iraq" (Rutgers UP, 2024)

October 6, 2024

Being Human

Fazil Moradi
Hosted by Yadong Li

In the contemporary world, political violence has been an unavoidable issue for everyone. It is therefore essential to criticize political violence in…

Faisal Devji, "Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea" (Harvard UP, 2013)

October 4, 2024

Muslim Zion

Faisal Devji
Hosted by Amal Hashim

Pakistan, founded less than a decade after a homeland for India's Muslims was proposed, is both the embodiment of national ambitions fulfilled and, in…

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Search for Identity in a Post-2013 Context

October 2, 2024

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Search for Identity in a Post-2013 Context

Lucia Ardovini
Hosted by Radio Reorient

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Lucia Ardovini to discuss the Brotherhood’s search for identity in a post-2013 context. This episode was origin…

Julia Caterina Hartley, "Iran and French Orientalism: Persia in the Literary Culture of Nineteenth-Century France" (Bloomsbury. 2023)

October 2, 2024

Iran and French Orientalism

Julia Caterina Hartley

Today I talked to Julia Caterina Hartley about Iran and French Orientalism: Persia in the Literary Culture of Nineteenth-Century France (Bloomsbury. 2…

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom, "Desert Ascetics of Egypt" (ARC Humanities Press, 2020)

September 30, 2024

Desert Ascetics of Egypt

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom
Hosted by Michael Motia

Egypt is revered as the home of the famous Desert Ascetics, who first embraced a monastic life and established homosocial communities on the borders o…

Samuel J. Hirst, "Against the Liberal Order: The Soviet Union, Turkey, and Statist Internationalism, 1919-1939" (Oxford UP, 2024)

September 28, 2024

Against the Liberal Order

Samuel J. Hirst
Hosted by Reuben Silverman

In the aftermath of the First World War the Western great powers sought to redefine international norms according to their liberal vision. They introd…

Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza, "Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an: A Patronage of Piety" (Oxford UP/Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2023)

September 26, 2024

Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an

Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza
Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani

In their book Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety (Oxford UP/Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2024), Karen Bauer and…

Steve Tibble, "Crusader Criminals: The Knights Who Went Rogue in the Holy Land" (Yale UP, 2024)

September 24, 2024

Crusader Criminals

Steve Tibble
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Crusader Criminals: The Knights Who Went Rogue in the Holy Land (Yale University Press, 2024), Dr. Steve Tibble presents a vivid new history of the…

Hannan Hever, "Hebrew Literature and the 1948 War: Essays on Philology and Responsibility" (Brill, 2019)

September 22, 2024

Hebrew Literature and the 1948 War

Hannan Hever
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Hebrew Literature and the 1948 War: Essays on Philology and Responsibility (Brill, 2019) is the first book-length study that examines the diversity of…