Middle Eastern Studies

Middle Eastern Studies

episodes

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

Beth Derderian, "Art Capital: Museum Politics and the Making of the Louvre Abu Dhabi" (Stanford UP, 2026)

April 3, 2026

Art Capital

Beth Derderian
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

Museums often served nationalist and imperialist interests in the past, but the primary force in the 21st century is the market. Museum franchising—ex…

Michael Allan, "Cinema before the World: The Global Routes of the Lumière Brothers" (Fordham UP, 2026)

March 29, 2026

Cinema before the World

Michael Allan
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

Cinema Before the World: The Global Routes of the Lumière Brothers (Fordham UP, 2026) investigates the transnational origins of filmmaking by focusing…

On Our Continuing Age of Oil with Journalist Stanley Reed

March 28, 2026

On Our Continuing Age of Oil

Stanley Reed
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Stanley Reed has been covering energy and the Middle East from London for more than three decades, most recently for The New York Times. With the war …

James McDougall, "Worlds of Islam: A Global History" (Basic Books, 2026)

March 27, 2026

Worlds of Islam

James McDougall
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. In Worlds of Islam: A Global History (Basic Books, 2026), James McDougal…

Craig Perry, "Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt: A History" (Princeton UP, 2026)

March 21, 2026

Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt

Craig Perry
Hosted by Marc Katz

What did slavery actually look like in the everyday lives of Jews in the medieval Middle East? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with histori…

Paul Kohlbry, "Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine" (Stanford UP, 2026)

March 20, 2026

Plots and Deeds

Paul Kohlbry

The emancipatory potential and limits of land justice, when land is at once home, property, territory, and homeland. Peasant farming was once an inte…

Zainab Saleh, "Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq" (Stanford UP, 2025)

March 17, 2026

Political Undesirables

Zainab Saleh

Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq (Stanford UP, 2025) considers the legal making and unmaking of citizens…

Jake Nabel, "The Arsacids of Rome: Misunderstanding in Roman-Parthian Relations" (U California Press, 2025)

March 16, 2026

The Arsacids of Rome

Jake Nabel
Hosted by Michael Motia

At the beginning of the common era, the two major imperial powers of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East were Rome and Parthia. In this (open acce…

Jeff Knopf et al., "Coercing Syria on Chemical Weapons" (Oxford UP, 2025)

March 14, 2026

Coercing Syria on Chemical Weapons

Matthew Moran, Wyn Q. Bowen, and Jeffrey W. Knopf

In 2012, US President Barack Obama stated that the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons on its population would cross a red line that would req…

Understanding Iran Under Attack: A Discussion with Author Vali Nasr

March 12, 2026

Understanding Iran Under Attack

Vali Nasr
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Eleven days into the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, starting on Feb. 28, 2026, I speak with Vali Nasr, a renowned analyst of Iran. He…

Mai Serhan, "I Can Imagine It for Us: A Palestinian Daughter's Memoir" (American University in Cairo Press, 2025)

February 21, 2026

I Can Imagine It for Us

Mai Serhan
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

I Can Imagine It for Us: A Palestinian Daughter's Memoir (American University in Cairo Press, 2025) is a young woman’s search for connection with her …

Eray Çayli, "Earthmoving: Extractivism, War, and Visuality in Northern Kurdistan" (U Texas Press, 2025)

February 20, 2026

Earthmoving

Eray Çayli
Hosted by Ronay Bakan

Extractivism—exploiting the earth for resources—has long driven racial capitalism and colonialism. And yet, how does extractivism operate in a world w…

David Frankfurter ed., "Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic" (Brill, 2019)

February 19, 2026

Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic

David Frankfurter
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In the midst of academic debates about the utility of the term “magic” and the cultural meaning of ancient words like mageia or khesheph, this Guide t…

Sary Zananiri, "Photographing Biblical Modernity: Frank Scholten in British Mandate Palestine" (I.B. Tauris, 2026)

February 12, 2026

Photographing Biblical Modernity

Sary Zananiri
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

This open access book offers the first in-depth appraisal of the photographic archive of Frank Scholten (1881–1942), a queer Dutch photographer and Ca…

Najati Sidqi, "Memoirs of a Palestinian Communist: The Secret Life of Najati Sidqi" (U Texas Press, 2025)

January 30, 2026

Memoirs of a Palestinian Communist

Najati Sidqi
Hosted by Ibrahim Fawzy

In the public eye, Najati Sidqi was known as a journalist and writer, a translator of Russian classics, and an outspoken opponent of Nazism. However, …

Yossef Rapoport, "Becoming Arab: The Formation of Arab Identity in the Medieval Middle East" (Princeton UP, 2025)

January 29, 2026

Becoming Arab

Yossef Rapoport
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Today, much of the Middle East is “Arab”—an identity that now extends across North Africa and up through the Near East to Syria. Yet how did this regi…

Adam Bursi, "Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)

January 26, 2026

Traces of the Prophets

Adam Bursi
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Adam Bursi’s Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam (Edinburg University Press, 2024) uses writings by early Muslims to map a…

Donna Stein, "The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected and Rediscovered Modern Art" (Skira, 2020)

January 26, 2026

The Empress and I

Donna Stein

In the 1970s, American curator Donna Stein served as an art advisor to Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi, the Shahbanu of Iran. Together, Stein and Pahlavi g…

Gershom Gorenberg, "War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East" (Public Affairs, 2021)

January 26, 2026

War of Shadows

Gershom Gorenberg
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

As World War II raged in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel was guided by an uncanny sense of his enemies' plans and weaknesses. In the summer of 1942…

Zainab Saleh, "Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq" (Stanford UP, 2025)

January 24, 2026

Political Undesirables

Zainab Saleh
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

Political Undesirables: Citizenship, Denaturalization, and Reclamation in Iraq (Stanford UP, 2025) considers the legal making and unmaking of citizens…