Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Ella Shohat

Ella Shohat teaches cinema and cultural studies at CUNY. SHe is the author of Israeli CinemaL East/West and the Politics of Representation (Texas University Press, 1989).

MER Article

Rethinking Jews and Muslims

“Your Highness completed the war against the Moors,” Columbus wrote in a letter addressed to the Spanish throne, “after having chased all the Jews...and sent me to the said regions of India in order to convert the people there to our Holy Faith.” [1] In 1492 the defeat of the Muslims and the expulsi

Ella Shohat • 11 min read

MER Article

Gender in Hollywood's Orient

From its very beginning, Western cinema has been fascinated with the mystique of the Orient. Whether in the form of pseudo-Egyptian movie palaces, Biblical spectaculars, or the fondness for “Oriental” settings, Western cinema has returned time and again to the scene of the Orient. [1] Generally thes

Ella Shohat • 10 min read

MER Article

Wedding in Galilee

Wedding in Galilee (Michel Khleifi, 1987).

Ella Shohat • 11 min read