Body Politics
Muhammad and Middleton Two scandals have dominated the news, at least in Europe and America, over the week following the 9/11 anniversary. The first, which has yet to abate as I write this, is the...
View ArticleBetween the Rock of Ages and a Hard Sell
As the 2012 presidential election draws near, the debate thus far has been anything but civil. Attack ads from all sides have been fact-checked and found wanting. A recent Pew poll found that 17% of...
View ArticlePoster War on the New York Subway
In the late 19th century there was little doubt about the gulf between “civilized man” and the “savage,” as anyone reading John Lubbock or Edward Tylor or Lewis Henry Morgan would readily note....
View ArticleNo Olive Branch in Gaza
Civil unrest continues to grip the Middle East. Adding to the battle to remove Syria’s Russian-backed Assad and the political infighting following the ousting of dictators in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and...
View ArticleSelf-inflicted Wounds
The most potent symbol of the history of the Middle East, indeed of much of human history, is the stuff of life itself: blood. In the sacred history of the three major monotheisms enough blood has...
View ArticleDrone Strikes
The Error in the War on Terror In 1978 I arrived in the Yemen Arab Republic to begin 18 months ethnographic fieldwork. At the time North Yemen, as it was called, was in full development mode. A...
View ArticleRoads to and from Damascus
The roads to and from Damascus are drenched with blood these days. The political unrest that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen has yet to unseat Bashar al-Assad from his family-run...
View ArticleLife without Honor
“What is life without honor?” This is a question posed recently by the daughter of the Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the southern Philippine province of Sulu in response to the refusal of her uncle to...
View ArticleGender Jihad and Body Politics
The Arab Spring that began two years ago is still thawing out after decades of dictatorial rule in the Middle East. Pundits in the Western media have focused on the political rise of Islamic parties...
View ArticleSex beyond Sects
The civil strife in the wake of the unending Arab Spring has captured the attention of the world for its winds of political change and for the daily reports of bloodshed. But a different kind of civil...
View ArticleHezbullies in Syria
The bullet and bomb-blast battle of the bullies is raging in Syria. The biggest bully is Bashar al-Asad, son of Hafez al-Asad who in February, 1982, sent his troops into the city of Homs and...
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On Pharaohs, Pundits and Scholars
Egyptian Flag during the protests in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Photo courtesy Jonathan Rashad and Wikicommons The removal of Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt has generated a frenzy of talking head...
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Poison Gas, Cruise Missiles and Drones
As I write this post the media is awash with speculation that the United States will unilaterally punish the regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for his apparent use of poison gas in a Damascus suburb....
View ArticleSelf-inflicted Wounds
The most potent symbol of the history of the Middle East, indeed of much of human history, is the stuff of life itself: blood. In the sacred history of the three major monotheisms enough blood has...
View ArticleDrone Strikes
The Error in the War on Terror In 1978 I arrived in the Yemen Arab Republic to begin 18 months ethnographic fieldwork. At the time North Yemen, as it was called, was in full development mode. A...
View ArticleRoads to and from Damascus
The roads to and from Damascus are drenched with blood these days. The political unrest that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen has yet to unseat Bashar al-Assad from his family-run...
View ArticleLife without Honor
“What is life without honor?” This is a question posed recently by the daughter of the Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the southern Philippine province of Sulu in response to the refusal of her uncle to...
View ArticleGender Jihad and Body Politics
The Arab Spring that began two years ago is still thawing out after decades of dictatorial rule in the Middle East. Pundits in the Western media have focused on the political rise of Islamic parties...
View ArticleSex beyond Sects
The civil strife in the wake of the unending Arab Spring has captured the attention of the world for its winds of political change and for the daily reports of bloodshed. But a different kind of civil...
View ArticleHezbullies in Syria
The bullet and bomb-blast battle of the bullies is raging in Syria. The biggest bully is Bashar al-Asad, son of Hafez al-Asad who in February, 1982, sent his troops into the city of Homs and...
View Article