Culture Archives | Middle East Politics & Culture Journal

In the bull’s eye: Turkish, not Saudi schoolbooks

21 March 20210120 James M. Dorsey

Turkish Schoolbooks Replaced Saudi Texts in Muslim Majority World

In a sign of the times, Turkish schoolbooks have replaced Saudi texts as the bull’s eye of criticism of supremacist and intolerant curricula in the Mu

7 March 20210137 James M. Dorsey

Papal Visit to Iraq: Breaking Historic Ground Pockmarked by Religious and Political Minefields

When Pope Francis sets foot in Iraq on Friday, he will be breaking historic ground while manoeuvring religious and political minefields. So will his f

24 February 20210166 James M. Dorsey

Myanmar: Exploiting Lessons Learnt in the Middle East

Demonstrating for the third week their determination to force the country’s military to return to its barracks, protesters in Myanmar appear to be lea

20 February 20210148 James M. Dorsey

Saudi Schoolbooks: What Does It Take to recontextualise Islam?

Two decades of snail pace revisions of Saudi schoolbooks aimed at removing supremacist references to Jews, Christians, and Shiites suggest a willingne

8 February 20210206 James M. Dorsey

Saudi Islamic Moderation Put to the Test

Saudi Arabia’s combustible mix of religion, nationalism, and tradition as well as contradictions in the kingdom’s projection of itself as a driver of

8 February 20210164 Beenish Ashraf

Iran’s Use of Death Penalty Continues Despite International Outcry

On 12 December 2020, Iranian authorities had executed Ruhollah Zam, an Iranian dissident and journalist who was living in exile in Paris since 2009, o

6 August 20200631 Nadine Gerber

Egypt Imprisons Tiktok Influencers on Charges of Insulting Public Morality

Within the space of a week, an Egyptian court has sentenced six social media influencers to several years in prison, and imposed heavy fines on each

Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron – © Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen. Israel and the U.S. waged intensive diplomatic efforts to thwart the Palestinian resolution; Israeli ministers accuse of UNESCO denying history and being anti-Semitic

11 July 20170585 Belkebir Boumediene

UNESCO Recognizes More Palestinian Heritage Sites

UNESCO voted Friday to recognize Hebron's Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian heritage sites. (more…)

13 June 201701943 Sarah Ribbert

Were the Ancient Egyptians Black or White? Scientists Now Know

Egyptologists, writers, scholars, and others, have argued the race of the ancient Egyptians since at least the 1970’s. Some today believe they were S

It was once the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, and a series of stunning postcard images now reveals what life was like on its streets. The ancient architecture of Constantinople, in Turkey, is shown in the pictures, taken in the last years before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and carefully restored to add colour.

28 February 201702431 Hakim Khatib

Final Days of Ottoman Empire’s Istanbul in Coloured Pictures

It was once the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, and a series of stunning postcard images now reveals what life was like on its streets. The anc