MER Article Editor's Picks (Fall 2014) Amer, Sahar. What Is Veiling? (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2014). Baron, Beth. The Orphan Scandal: Christian Missionaries and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014). Brand, Laurie A. Official Stories: Politics and National Narrat (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Mahsa Shekarloo Mahsa Shekarloo (1970-2014), Iranian feminist, human rights advocate and MERIP contributor, lost her two-year struggle against lymphoma on September 5. She was laid to rest in Oakland, California, surrounded by numerous friends and her loving family, including her son Borna, 5, and her husband Sohra (Author not identified) • 5 min read
MER Article Contesting Welfare State Politics in Kuwait In October 2013, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Jabir al-Mubarak introduced his government’s agenda with a bombshell -- that “the current welfare state to which Kuwaitis are accustomed is not viable.” [1] Government projections estimate that expenditures will exceed oil revenues in only a few years if spen Rivka Azoulay, Madeleine Wells • 13 min read
MER Article Umm 'Abdallah There is a name whispered in opposition circles in Syria -- an insurance policy against what after three years of conflict seems inevitable. If you are injured very badly, there are two imperatives: Get to the Jordanian border. Then, get to Umm ‘Abdallah. “She’s the one,” says Muhammad ‘Ali Shambou Elizabeth Dickinson • 3 min read
MER Article Shadow Aid to Syrian Refugees A carpenter all his life, ‘Ala’ never imagined himself wanting for something like a chair or a bed. But today his blue plastic seat is a luxury. After fleeing war in Syria, ‘Ala’ and his family were homeless in Jordan for roughly 18 months. But since January, the father of three has lived with a doz Elizabeth Dickinson • 15 min read
MER Article Bread Is Life ‘Abd al-Qadir is tall, handsome and unassumingly stylish. With his well-cropped beard, Bob Marley T-shirt and Nike kicks, the young man would not look out of place on the gentrified streets of Brooklyn, the art scene of Belleville or the bustling beaches of his dream destination, Rio de Janeiro. Ins Jose Ciro Martinez • 17 min read
MER Article Haiku for the Headlocked We thrash, curse for air As our strangler declares, look How violent the Arab Zein El-Amine • 1 min read
MER Article Postcard from the Algerian Saharan Past In 1923, a crippling drought pushed the nomads of the Algerian Sahara as far north as Bou-Saada, just 150 miles south of the Mediterranean coast, in search of sustenance. The French colonial authorities worried that fighting would break out between the nomads and locals over scarce water. From their George R. Trumbull • 4 min read
MER Article Center-Periphery Relations in Morocco In Nador, a regional capital located on the Mediterranean Sea at the eastern end of the Rif Mountains in Morocco, coffee shop talk often turns to the relationship with the capital city, Rabat, a five-hour car ride or a nine-hour train or bus ride to the west. Nadoris are sensitive about their status David McMurray • 13 min read
MER Article Poverty Mapping At the spring 2013 meetings, World Bank President Jim Young Kim set 2030 as the target date for eradicating extreme poverty, defined as subsistence on less than $1.25 per day, across the globe. In line with this goal, the United Nations created a New Global Partnership to lift the 1.2 billion poores Mona Atia • 6 min read
MER Article Potholes in the Road to Revolution Nearly four years later, the dusty road between Sidi Bouzid’s main thoroughfare and the humble residential quarter where Mohamed Bouazizi grew up is still blemished with the same potholes. He was not known in his hometown by that name. Though international media outlets immortalized this moniker aft Michael Marcusa • 7 min read
MER Article Taking Back the Village On January 25, 2011, like most of the rest of the world I watched the uprisings in Egypt on television. I was struck by the consistent vantage point: a reporter speaking from a balcony or rooftop overlooking the masses in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. There was an occasional interview with a memb Lila Abu-Lughod • 14 min read
