Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Usman Butt
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The Making of Foreign Policy in Iraq: Political Factions and the Ruling Elite
Zana Gulmohamad‘s new book, The Making of Foreign Policy in Iraq: Political Factions and the Ruling Elite, takes on the mammoth task of exploring and explaining how Iraq has formulated its foreign relations since the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation. Iraqi politics are often quite difficult for outside observers to…
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China’s Muslims and Japan’s Empire: Centering Islam in World War II
Kelly A. Hammond’s book China’s Muslims and Japan’s Empire: Centering Islam in World War II is published at a time when Islam in China is under intense scrutiny with regards to the ongoing persecution/”re-education” of the Uyghurs. While primarily dealing with Chinese-speaking Hui Muslims who are distinct from China’s non-Chinese-speaking…
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Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula
Laleh Khalili’s book Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula is a surprisingly seductive read. A cross between history, geopolitics and economics, with a bit of a travelogue thrown in for good measure, Sinews of War and Trade… is neither a specialist tome nor too…
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MEMO in conversation with Nasser Weddady
MEMO conversation live caught up with Mauritanian opposition activists, Middle East and North African consultant and entrepreneur Nasser Weddady. We opened with a discussion on the prosecution of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz who, after stepping down in 2019, has faced charges of corruption. As Weddady explains, the former…
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UAE: The scramble for the Horn of Africa
Since the 2011 Arab Spring the United Arab Emirates has been taking an active role in a number of hotspots from Egypt, Libya to Yemen. The Gulf nation has spent $26 billion annually on its defence budget since 2016 and this is expected to increase to $37.8 billion by 2025,…
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Deep Knowledge: Ways of Knowing in Sufism and Ifa, Two West African Intellectual Traditions
Deep Knowledge: Ways of Knowing in Sufism and Ifa, Two West African Intellectual Traditions by Oludamini Ogunnaike is a sweeping and ambitious book that operates on multiple levels with the aim of getting us to think differently about the foundations of knowledge itself. Through the traditions of Tijani Sufism and…
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MEMO in conversation with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi
Dr Reza Zia-Ebrahimi is a historian of nationalism and race at King’s College London with a particular interest in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and French and Iranian national identity. The conversation was prompted by French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments about Islam being in “crisis” and policies proposed in France which appear…
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The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions
It is almost a year since Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani (11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was killed in a US drone attack near Baghdad International Airport. His final months were apparently characterised by his growing arrogance and unshakeable power: “Soleimani now often spoke in a threatening…
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The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia
Social anthropologist Madawi Al-Rasheed’s new book The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia looks at the conflicts taking place in the desert Kingdom both historically and under the de facto rule of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the eponymous Son King. The author examines the central issue of…
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A History of Jeddah: The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Ulrike Freitag’s A History of Jeddah: The Gate to Mecca in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries is a seductively charming urban history of the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, popularly known as the “Bride of the Red Sea” or the “Gate to Mecca”. While cities such as Baghdad, Damascus and…
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Revolution and Its Discontents: Political Thought and Reform in Iran
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi’s Revolution and Its Discontents: Political Thought and Reform in Iran takes us on an intellectual tour of post-Islamism and Islamic left thought in Iran. The early 1990s were hugely significant for global politics with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the First Gulf War. The decade transformed…
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Remembering the birth of the Republic of Turkey
What: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk declared the birth of the Republic of Turkey and became its first president. Where: Ankara, Turkey. When: 29 October 1923 What happened? “Gentleman! We shall declare the republic tomorrow,” Mustafa Kemal Ataturk told lawmakers at a dinner party on the eve of 29 October, 1923. At…
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Forgiveness Work: Mercy, Law and Victims’ Rights in Iran
Arzoo Osanloo’s Forgiveness Work: Mercy, Law and Victims’ Rights in Iran takes us through a little discussed feature of the Iranian legal system, which has implications beyond the country itself. The system looks peculiar to outsiders; human rights reports paint a harrowing picture of justice within the Islamic Republic and…
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On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist
“Under these circumstances, talking to a Western reporter could be a death sentence. And yet here in Douma, as soon as people saw that I was a journalist, they wanted to tell their story.” Thus begins the extraordinary autobiography of Clarissa Ward, On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist.…
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Rape, power and corruption: Is this Egypt’s MeToo moment?
“I was sexually harassed…I was sexually harassed…I was sexually harassed,” a powerful video featuring a cross section of actresses, activists, business women and influencers repeating the same sentence over and over again, an echo of what has shaken the Egyptian elite over the summer of 2020. The problem of sexual…
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MEMO in conversation with Sarah Hunaidi
Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have claimed consistently that if he leaves power minorities in Syria could be eliminated, and that only his rule can protect the country’s mosaic of religious and ethnic communities. However, Hunaidi argued, this argument is deeply flawed and untrue. “Assad’s rhetoric from the start…
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Arabic Shadow Theatre 1300-1900: A Handbook
Li Guo’s Arabic Shadow Theatre 1300-1900: A Handbook is a sweeping survey and interesting introduction to all things shadowy and theatrical. It is rare to say that an academic study is a joy to read, but this book certainly proved to be the case. Shadow theatre is rooted deeply in…
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Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi
Ulf Laessing’s book Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi is published at a time when it has never been so important to know what is happening in Libya, but few outside the country and diaspora actually appreciate and comprehend events there. Libya post-2011 conjures up an image of chaos and disappointment at…
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Remembering Bashar Al-Assad becoming President of Syria
On 17 July, 2000, Bashar Al-Assad assumed the office of the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic. A shy and largely unknown figure, in his inaugural address to parliament Al-Assad called upon all Syrian citizens to participate in the “development” and “modernisation” of the country. However, hopes that the new…
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Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment and Mourning in Syria
The nature of authoritarian rule in Syria remains little understood outside the country. As a notoriously closed society with limited access to the outside world before the 2000s, with few journalists and academic venturing into the Arab republic, a substantive knowledge gap has developed. However, the 2011 Arab Spring uprising…
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Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition
Ahmed El Shamsy’s Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed An Intellectual Tradition takes us into the story of how seminal works of Islamic philosophy, theology, poetry, sciences and other disciplines from 700-1400 AD were revived, adapted and changed in the 19th and 20th centuries. The author…
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The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought
The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought by Andrew F March comes to us at an interesting time. The 2011 Arab Spring led many across the MENA region to aspire to a new democratic and pluralistic political order, but the counter-revolutions led by the UAE, the Egyptian…
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Political Quietism in Islam: Sunni and Shi’i Practice and Thought
Events in the Arab world and beyond over the past decade have ignited an intense debate about Islam, Muslims and political engagement. A common theme of western historical research situates Islam’s scholarly tradition to be on the side of obedience to the ruler, and encouragement to avoid political disagreements. A…
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Ilan Pappe: Netanyahu may start a civil war in Israel to save himself
Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted by the country’s attorney general on charges of corruption and fraud. While this does not mean that he has to resign as PM — Israeli law only requires convicted Prime Minister’s to resign — many are wondering if we are finally…