Maria Kastrinou and Salam Said: How to kill a country: Feeling history in scenes of pillage
We write at a time of genocide, war, and the feeling that whoever has the more guns can do whatever they want. We ask how different forms of…
Tag: Syria
Zoya Masoud: Of Exclusive Victimhood and its Competitive Narratives in Post-Assad Syria
Alawite communities in Syria have been associated with the regime of Assad as the latter’s family itself is of Alawite descent. Consequently, Alawites have frequently faced accusations of…
Charlotte Al-Khalili: Transitional Justice from Below: Demands for Truth and Social Reparations
What do transitional justice aspirations look like a year after the downfall of the Assad regime for Syrians in the country? What can transitional justice mean for a…
Thomas Pierret: The Sunni Ulama: Syria’s Parliamentary Era as a Golden Age
One might intuitively assume that the Syrian Sunni ulama (religious scholars) would valorize periods emblematic of Islam’s bygone grandeur, such as the Umayyad or Ottoman empires. In practice,…
Christine Crone: Constructing post-Ba’athist Syria through Cultural Heritage: the role of the Syrian Arab News Agency
In the years leading up to the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and the downfall of the Syrian Ba’athist state, the Syrian state propagated what I referred to in…
Kræn Kielsgaard: Rewriting Syria´s history – the case of Israel in Syrian schoolbooks after December 8, 2024
This post examines how the new Syrian state seeks to reconstruct public memory through revisions of public-school curricula in a period of profound political and social transformation after…
Birgitte S. Holst: Introduction: Uses of the past in the post-Assad political transition in Syria
Since Bashar Al-Assad was overthrown as President of Syria in early December 2024, the political situation in the country has been volatile. Although a new group of powerholders…
Pigeons over Damacus
The Undimmed Passion of Damascus’ Pigeon Fanciers The centuries-old tradition survived wartime’s rooftop snipers, but is struggling to inspire the young Alex Martin AstleyAlex Martin Astley…
What makes politics in the Middle East so unstable?
In The Great Betrayal, Fawaz Gerges examines the reasons for consistent political instability in the Middle East since the early 20th century. Examining Western intervention, domestic authoritarian ru…
Maria Kastrinou: Looking at ethnic cleansing in Palestine from the occupied Syrian Golan
The unfolding genocide in Palestine today is a continuation of Israel’s 75-year-old occupation and ethnic cleansing. This article provides a perspective on the ongoing tragedy from the vantage…
The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires – review
In The Golden Passport: Global Mobility for Millionaires, Kristin Surak investigates how selling citizenship to the uber-rich has transformed from an anomalous activity offered by a handful of microst…
Mamluk Studies Conference
For details, click here.
The Syrian Mark Twain
Read the article here.
Loti on Palestine
First English translation of ‘La Galilée’, an account of Pierre Loti’s travels in the Holy Land from Jerusalem to Beirut, via Damascus and many other interesting places, in…
Egypt in 1876
The British diplomat Sir Valentine Chirol (1852-1929) wrote a memoir entitled Fifty Years in a Changing World (New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1928). Among the areas in the…
Online Books in Halle
At least 337 Books published in Germany on Islam and history of the Middle East are available to read online or download. Most are in German but a…
Damascus Heritage
For an impressive website devoted to the heritage of Damascus, check out “Damascus Heritage.” There are several Youtube videos accessible from the website. I especially like the im…
Images from the 19th century “Bible World”
There were many books written by Christian missionaries and clergy during the 19th century. While the text itself has long since been outdated, the engravings are still fascinating…
Animal Displacement from Syria: A Story Yet to be Written
During the Syrian war, which has now raged for a decade, the attention of scholars, media commentators and activists has primarily focused on human displacement. More than 60%…
A different perspective on “child marriages” among Syrian refugees in Jordan
By Marina de Regt For years, humanitarian organisations in Jordan and Lebanon have been concerned about the increasing number of “child marriages” among Syrian refugees. While early marriages…
In the Journals – Conflict and Captivity
POW release to UN authorities was the first step in repatriation. Here, communists turn over UN troops at the POW receiving center at Panmunjon, on the border of…
Ep #49: Intolerable Ads, Introvert Anthros, Irrevocable Ties & Indigenous Symbols: This Month on TFS
This month, Kylie [0:50] kicks off our conversation by reflecting on our blog about racism in sport and asks us about the ethics of ad targeting on social…
“It’s a lot of sand”: An anthropological take on Trump’s Syrian withdrawal
That Syria has “a lot of sand” is meant to stand in for its lack of value. As a place that is sandy, it is not worth US…
Girls, Groupies, and Grim Reapers: The Religious Politics of Mass Response
Following a week at the UN and ensuing climate change “protests” (state-sanctioned, party-approved, media-praised, university-endorsed, “protests”), in which we were yet agai…