Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians — A post on the Collective for Black Iranians Instagram page. Art by Mina M Jafari.Art by Mina M Jafari.Produced by the Collective with Sahar Ghorishi, from the Black is Beautiful series.Produced by the Collective with resident artist Mina Jafari.Produced by the Collective with artist Sahar Ghorishi.

MER Article

Writing Ourselves into Existence with the Collective for Black Iranians

The groundbreaking work of the Collective for Black Iranians is the first and only effort of its kind in Iran that brings together the voices of Black and Afro-Iranians, sharing their stories and experiences to foster greater racial consciousness and combat the anti-Black racism endemic to the Irani

Beeta Baghoolizadeh, Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda • 13 min read

Remembering Slavery at the Bin Jelmood House in Qatar — Inside the Bin Jelmood House museum, Doha, Qatar. Photo from the Bin Jelmood website.A wall panel at the Bin Jelmood House museum. Photo courtesy of the author.

MER Article

Remembering Slavery at the Bin Jelmood House in Qatar

Memories of enslavement are often silenced and yet suffuse everyday life in the Gulf. As governments across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries memorialize a maritime, pre-oil Indian Ocean past as part of their nation-building projects, the Bin Jelmood House—a museum in the heart of Doha—st

Nidhi Mahajan • 10 min read

Who is “Indian” in the Gulf? Race, Labor and Citizenship — An Indian worker sells Indian fritters to Emiratis during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in the neighborhood of Al Quoz in Dubai, UAE, 2019. Satish Kumar/Reuters

MER Article

Who is “Indian” in the Gulf? Race, Labor and Citizenship

How do race and racism operate in the Gulf? Neha Vora and Amélie Le Renard closely examine how the term "Indian," as it is used in the United Arab Emirates, refers to much more than national origin. They trace the role of colonialism, capitalism and the state in creating "Indian" as a racialized cat

Neha Vora, Amélie Le Renard • 11 min read

Coexistence, Sectarianism and Racism — An Interview with Ussama Makdisi — Ussama Makdisi

MER Article

Coexistence, Sectarianism and Racism — An Interview with Ussama Makdisi

Alex Lubin interviews Ussama Makdisi about his work on sectarianism and coexistence in the Middle East, the subject of his most recent book. Makdisi also addresses the role of race and colonialism and explains the importance of seeing these ideological formations in historical and geopolitical conte

Alex Lubin • 12 min read

MER Article

Racial Formations in the Middle East

But what exactly do these terms of race and racism, so omnipresent in the public realm today, mean in the context of the Middle East and North Africa? This question does not have a single answer. Race and racism may seem like universal categories that unite people globally, but they are instead deep

The Editors of Issue #299 • 5 min read