Mona Harb, Marc Lynch, and Jillian Schwedler Urban politics has received growing attention in the anthropology, sociology, and political…
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The Politics and Economics of Urbicide: Why Were Syrian Cities Destroyed?
Munqeth Othman Agha, University of Trento Dozens of buildings in Deir-ez-Zor were marked for demolition in February 2023 on…
Continue ReadingTehran’s Nightlife and Spatio-Temporal Configurations
Abbas Jong, Humboldt University of Berlin The transformations in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime of power in the…
Continue ReadingWānās, Henna, and the City: How Sudanese Henna Artists Navigate Greater Cairo
Gehad Abaza, University of California, Santa Barbara Nawal began drawing henna when she was a child growing up in…
Continue ReadingReinstituting Sectarianism Through Everyday Forms of Resistance: The Case of the Informal Transportation System in Beirut
Carine Assaf, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Introduction I grew up in Beirut in the late 1990s witnessing chaotic traffic, smoke,…
Continue ReadingMastering Heritage: Reconstruction of History and Space in Post-Conflict Diyarbakır
Ronay Bakan, Johns Hopkins University In summer 2015, the 30-year civil war between the Turkish state and Kurdish guerillas…
Continue ReadingAutomation Zones: Expanding the Digital “Frontier” of Labor and Trade in Aqaba
Zak Tobias, Queen Mary University of London Introduction The multiple narratives surrounding the Aqaba Digital Hub (ADH), the self-proclaimed…
Continue ReadingCheckpoint as Paradox: Notes from Baghdad
Omar Sirri, SOAS University of London wayn rayah? For the better and worse part of two decades, security checkpoints…
Continue ReadingThe Politics of Arbaeen: Transcending Militarized Urbanism in Iraq’s Shrine Cities
Alex Shams, University of Chicago “As we got closer to Karbala,” Zaynab explained, her voice tense with emotion, “the…
Continue ReadingWomen and the Algerian Hirak: Resistance and Negotiation
Seréna Nilsson Rabia, University of Bergen Introduction In February 2019, Algerians started taking to the streets every Friday to…
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