History

By Alan Lester | (The Conversation) | – – The recent debacle of David Cameron’s filmed condemnation of Nigerian and Afghan corruption and the Queen’s remark on Chinese officials’ rudeness highlights the persistence of imperial thinking in Britain. There seems to be a continuing assumption within the British establishment that it sets an example for […]

Colonialism

100th Anniversary: What did the Sykes-Picot Agreement mean for the Middle East?

contributors

By Stephen Pascoe | (The Conversation) | – – To mark the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, we’ve got a package with an explanatory article about the secret accord (below) . . . The Sykes-Picot accord was conceived at a high point in Britain and France’s imperial power. Hammered out in the midst of […]

Europe

London’s Muslim Mayor is nothing New: 1300 yrs of Muslims who Ran Major European Cities

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | The press is declaring Sadiq Khan, victor in the electoral contest for mayor of London, the “first Muslim mayor of a major European city.” They mean of course, something like ‘the first Muslim mayor of a really big Western European city in the modern period (say the past […]

African-Americans

Top 7 ways Harriet Tubman is the most Badass Spy & Warrior ever to grace US Currency

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Despite US schools’ tendency to give students several years of American history, over and over again, most of us probably have only a foggy idea who Harriet Tubman, chosen to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, was. That she was an abolitionist and helped out […]

Colonialism

Beyond Victimhood: 5 Slaves Who Fought Back and Changed History

contributors

By Mohamed Hemish | ( TeleSur | – – March 25 marks the United Nations’ “International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery,” which aims to draw attention to the more than 15 million men, women and children who fell victim to the Transatlantic Slave Trade that lasted from the 15th through to the […]

Colonialism

Syrian Refugees: Colonial Legacy & the Responsibility of France & UK

contributors

David Peduto | (Informed Comment) | – – The Syrian war has resurrected uncomfortable colonial legacies for France and the United Kingdom. For the French and the British, whose policies in post-World War I Syria shaped the country and the region in profound ways, the 500,000 Syrian refugees who landed in the European Union last […]

Archaeology

Anti-Orientalism: Artists 3-D Scan looted Egyptian treasure in German museum

contributors

By Cory Doctorow | ( Boing Boing | – – Nora Al-Badri and Jan Nikolai Nelles, an Iraqi/German artistic duo, covertly scanned a famous looted Egyptian treasure, the Bust of Queen Nefertiti, from its contested perch in Berlin’s Neues Museum. The hi-rez 3D file is now free to download and print — the artists have […]

Archaeology

The Deep History of Iran – Arabian Relations (I)

contributors

By Khodadad Rezakhani | ( Mizan ) | – – This essay is an attempt at collecting some thoughts on an important historical event and its related historiographical questions. It is not written with the intention of providing definitive answers to the larger questions surrounding the Arab conquests or the specific case of the fall […]

History

Toward a New Islamic Golden Age through Science

contributors

By Nidhal Guessoum | (Project Syndicate) | – – SHARJAH – The Muslim world’s past contributions to science and education were extraordinary. The Islamic “golden age” – during which scholarship and learning flourished across the Muslim world – lasted many centuries, and included the establishment of the world’s first universities. Today, however, Muslim-majority countries lag […]