James Ryan
James Ryan is the Executive Director of the Middle East Research and Information Project
The MERIP Podcast Episode 17: Niema Alhessen
Today’s episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with Niema Alhessen, a Sudanese researcher based in Cairo who is focused on urban conflict and displacement. She is the author of “Burri Under Siege—How War Remade Everyday Life in a Sudanese Neighborhood” in our Winter 2025 issue ofThe MERIP Podcast Episode 16: Iman Ali
In today’s episode Iman Ali talks about her recently published article, “Repair Amid Ongoing Ruination—Rebuilding Dahiyeh Once More,” which appeared in our Winter 2025 issue, “Reconstruction and Ruin.” Iman Ali, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Cornell University, has been conducting fieldwork in Lebanon to investigate the impactsThe MERIP Podcast Episode 15: In the Archive with Brahim El Guabli
On this episode of our In the Archive series, MERIP’s Executive Director, James Ryan, speaks with Brahim El Guabli about his essay, “The Sub-Saharan Turn in Moroccan Literature,” which appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of Middle East Report, “Maghreb from the Margins.” El Guabli speaks about how migration
NEW: MER 317, "Reconstruction and Ruin"
Dear Friends and Comrades, Today we are releasing our Winter 2025 issue of Middle East Report, “Reconstruction and Ruin.” This issue includes essays, dispatches and interviews that offer a grounded examination of the impact of war and reconstruction efforts (or lack thereof) on everyday people across the region. From GazaThe MERIP Podcast Episode 14: The MERIP Roundtable, On Iran's Protests
In this installment of the MERIP Roundtable podcast, we discuss the latest wave of protests in Iran. The protests began on December 28, 2025, as merchants and bazaar workers reacted negatively to new budgetary measures announced by President Masoud Pezeshkian. The protests snowballed in the first week of January, reachingMERIP's Top 10 of 2025
Dear Friends and Comrades, Today we’re sharing with you the 10 most-viewed articles we published in 2025. Each of these pieces provides crucial, current analysis of regional dynamics driven by Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza: from the impacts of AI as both a technology of war and toolThe MERIP Podcast Episode 13: Ned Leadbeater
Today on the podcast we have an interview with Ned Leadbeater, a researcher and analyst based in Britain who recently wrote an article for our Summer/Fall double issue on the material politics of normalization titled, “Fiber Optics and the Hidden Politics of Connectivity.” His article explores the politics surroundingThe MERIP Podcast Episode 12: Honoring Joe Stork, Live in DC
Featuring Sarah Leah Whitson, Lisa Hajjar, Mouin Rabbani, Joel Beinin, Zachary Lockman, Rick Reinhard, Joan Mandell and Joost Hiltermann
James Ryan,
Lisa Hajjar,
Mouin Rabbani,
Joel Beinin,
Zachary Lockman,
Joan Mandell,
Joost Hiltermann
•
1 min read