الأبحاث والتعليقات

This piece first appeared as a Commentary on McClatchyDC.com, August 24, 2010

It is hard to imagine a government that faces more existential threats to its people, state, and democracy than the current civilian government in Pakistan.

This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed on Foreign Policy's AfPak Channel, August 18, 2010.

The desperate plight of over 20 million Pakistani citizens displaced and dispossessed by the most ferocious flooding in the history of the young state is heartbreaking. Nature is extracting a cruel price on a population already racked by debilitating poverty and a brutal insurgency.

*A longer version of this Policy Insight was first published in Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst on July 30, 2010.

Originally posted August 2010

Originally posted August 2010

Originally posted August 2010

The Middle East Institute is proud to host Rochelle Davis, professor of Anthropology at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, to discuss US military conceptions of culture and the war in Iraq.

This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed in The National, July 25, 2010.

After the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by United States and coalition forces, a short but sharp war, and the declaration of “Mission Accomplished” aboard an American aircraft carrier, Iran felt isolated and encircled on all sides by US might. Not so today.

Tehran has closely observed US travails in Iraq over the years, and watched with satisfaction as the US began withdrawing its forces in anticipation of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

This is the first of three volumes examining the internationalization of higher education and the Middle East. The 12 essays included in this volume explore some of the changes that are taking place and the challenges that lie ahead as Middle Eastern countries seek to build sustainable higher education systems and strengthen their economies. Within the dynamic global higher education landscape, is the Middle East a stagnant backwater or a center of creative initiative? What are, and should be the roles of foreign partners and providers?

This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed in McClatchy News, July 6, 2010.

The misuse and abuse of language is yet another obstacle to obtaining peace in the Middle East. In recent weeks the media, government officials and commentators have so garbled the use of the words “blockade” and “embargo” to describe events in Gaza that understanding what is occurring, the legal implications, and developing a reasonable policy are almost impossible.

Last year, I completed an hour-long documentary, Veiled Voices, profiling the role that women can play as religious leaders in the Middle East.  This essay briefly discusses my discoveries over the four years working on the project and the decisions I made regarding how to responsibly and visually represent these women on film.

In February 2010, Stockholm, Sweden hosted the Persian Hip Hop Festival: Voices of Change. Persian rappers came from around the world to call for changes in Iran through their rap music. Prior to her performance, one of Iran’s female rappers, Ghogha (Rebel), said to the audience:

I come from a place where music is a crime. New
ideas are crimes. They execute young people for
having new ideas. We have come together here to
remember the children of Iran.[1]

Originally posted July 2010

This edition of MEI Viewpoints features essays that shed light on the relationship between artistic production and changing societal conditions and norms. Clayton Keir discusses “rap” music in Iran – its integration of Western and Persian cultural influences, politics, and popularity. Brigid Maher reflects on the making of Veiled Voices, her award-winning documentary film that profiles three female Muslim religious leaders from Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.

Creative Arab Women is the sixth edition of the MEI Viewpoints series on the State of the Arts in the Middle East. The 14 essays in this collection offer a glimpse into the rich and varied cultural output of Arab women in the region and the diaspora. Partly reminiscences and partly calls to action, they are essays of survival and empowerment that add a deeply personal dimension to the subject of the role of Arab women as cultural producers. MEI is grateful to Dr.