Culture

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Here’s a Christmas entry. The Mughal dynasty, originating in what is now Uzbekistan, ruled India from 1526 until the 18th century, though the dynasty continued under British rule until 1857. Some of the members of the royal family were remarkably open-minded about religion, being a Muslim minority in a sea […]

Archaeology

Israeli Archeologists find Christian Ring with Image of Christ as Shepherd in Shipwreck from era of Constantine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A marine unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority diving off the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea Maritima has announced two spectacular finds in the form of two shipwrecks. One was from the Muslim Mamluk era, around 1400. The other was an early fourth-century Roman ship from Italy. The […]

African-Americans

bell hooks will never Leave Us – She lives on through the Truth of her Words

The Conversation

By Karsonya Wise Whitehead | – I was introduced to the work of bell hooks for the first time when I was 14 years old, sitting on my Nana’s porch, complaining about the mosquitoes and the heat. My Nana, who was probably frustrated by my endless complaints about being bored, stuck a copy of “Ain’t […]

Culture

An Iranian festival, Yalda, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, with pomegranates, poetry and sacred rituals

The Conversation

By Pardis Mahdavi | – As the days become shorter and the nights become longer and darker, we are reminded that indeed winter is coming. As a child I would dread this time of the year. Not only was there was less time to play outside, but there was a string of holidays that my […]

Books

You heard that Right – “Peace Movements in Islam” – Juan’s new Book Challenges Stereotypes

Juan Cole

Today is a special day for me. In 2015, at the height of the ISIL cult’s influence in Iraq and Syria and during a time of extreme bigotry toward Muslims in the United States, I conceived a project on “Islamic Peace Studies.” The point was not to deny the violence of cult-like movements such as […]

Authoritarianism

House censures defiant Rep. Gosar for Video in Which he Murders AOC, strips Committee Posts

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Ulysse Bex | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – The House censured Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, Wednesday and stripped him of his committee assignments as punishment for a violent cartoon he posted that appeared to show him killing a liberal Democratic member and threatening the president. Gosar, speaking to the full House, said […]

Entertainment

Justin Bieber and Others Should Speak Out on Human Rights at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix

Human Rights Watch

Jason Derulo, A$AP Rocky Also Among Celebrities Slated to Perform

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian resistance poetry by Mahmoud Darwish

Middle East Monitor

By Sayid Marcos Tenório | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Mahmoud Darwish is the most internationally-renowned Palestinian poet and writer, although still little-known in Brazil. He is the author of 30 poetry books and eight prose books, translated into more than 40 languages, and winner of the Cultural Freedom Prize, the Lannan Foundation […]

Africa

Dune – a prophetic tale about the environmental destruction wrought by the colonisation of Africa

The Conversation

By Oli Mould | – Director Denis Villeneuve’s most recent sci-fi epic is the latest attempt to tell the story of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed 1965 novel, Dune. The film is set millennia in the future when the galaxy is ruled by a class of family Houses. Each house battles for control over the most valuable […]