Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Settler Entanglements from Citrus Production to Historical Memory — Poster by Henri Dormoy in 1930 for the centennial anniversary of French colonization of Algeria. Credit Coll. Galdoc-Grob/Kharbine-Tapabor.French government map depicting the similarities between California and Algeria featured in a study on fruit production published in 1933. Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF)Cartoon by the Algerian artist Dilem, December 6, 2021. Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune walks alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who asks, “What is it like living next to an Israeli colony,” with the Moroccan flag flying prominently in the background. The heading reads: “The Palestinian President on an official visit to Algeria.” Available on the artist’s Facebook page.

MER Article

Settler Entanglements from Citrus Production to Historical Memory

Although settler colonies are often depicted as unique and distinctive, Muriam Haleh Davis argues that analyzing settler colonialism in a global framework reveals their multiple commonalities. Here she examines the large-scale production of citrus in Algeria, Israel and California as one fascinating

Muriam Davis • 12 min read

France, a Settler Postcolony? — The official campaign posters of French presidential candidates Jean Lassalle of the Resistance party, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally and Eric Zemmour of the far-right Reconquest party (with his slogan “So that France remains France”), March 28, 2022. Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

MER Article

France, a Settler Postcolony?

With the French presidential election currently underway, Olivia C. Harrison's timely intervention explains the central role that the history and memory of French Algeria continue to play in the country's politics, culture and society. She shows how the perverse calls by nativist and right-wing grou

Olivia C. Harrison • 12 min read

Settler Colonialism in the Middle East and North Africa: A Protracted History — An 1837 watercolor depicts French forces advancing across cliffs and through a breach in the wall of the fortified city of Constantine in Algeria. Artist possibly Jean-Louis Gaspard of the 31st Regiment of Infantry. Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection at the Brown University Library/Library of CongressThe governor of Italian Libya, Italo Balbo, welcomes arriving Italian colonists in Tripoli in 1938. Courtesy of State Treasury of Poland, image in the public domain.

MER Article

Settler Colonialism in the Middle East and North Africa: A Protracted History

Settler colonial studies developed as a distinct field of research to address the particular circumstances of settler societies. Since its advent in the 1990s, this field has only marginally considered the Middle East and North Africa, focusing instead on the Anglophone settler societies of North Am

Lorenzo Veracini • 13 min read

Settler Colonialism’s Enduring Entanglements — The Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 25, 2020. Ammar Awad/Reuters

MER Article

Settler Colonialism’s Enduring Entanglements

The spring 2022 issue of Middle East Report, “Settler Colonialism’s Enduring Entanglements,” brings together a wide range of geographic and disciplinary perspectives on settler colonialism from the Middle East, North Africa and the metropole. While there are rich literatures that deal with the two m

The Editors of Issue #302 • 5 min read

Balancing Ideology and Responsibility in Iran’s Battle Against COVID-19 — An Iranian man takes a selfie with his vaccination card at a vaccination center in Tehran, Iran September 20, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA/ReutersFig. 1 Health advocates confronting COVID-19 juxtaposed with Iranian soldiers. ISNAFig. 2 “For protecting our health, spend this year’s holiday at home.” Tasnim News Fig. 3 The difference between Islamic-Iranian culture and the materialism of the West. Office of the Supreme LeaderFig. 4 “Cowboy Trump” stealing masks. Office of the Supreme Leader Fig. 5 The winding road of technological achievements. Office of the Supreme Leader Fig. 6 “Heroic Nation.” Khattmedia Telegram channel

Covid-19 Coverage

Balancing Ideology and Responsibility in Iran’s Battle Against COVID-19

Like all governments, Iran’s response to the coronavirus pandemic combines public health measures with ideological messaging. Schwartz and Gölz analyze Iran’s visual iconography and the politics of the state’s early narratives of self-reliance and resistance and why these shifted when vaccines becam

Kevin Schwartz, Olmo Gölz • 11 min read