MERIP updates

Call for Pitches—Visual Art & Cultural Production in the Middle East and North Africa

MERIP is seeking pitches for our Summer 2026 issue exploring visual art and cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa. We invite submissions that center artistic practices and cultural histories while attending to the political, social and material conditions in which art is made and experienced. We welcome

The Editors • 1 min read

MERIP updates

NEW: Governing Crisis–Sanctions, Austerity and Social Unrest in Iran

New analysis on the protests from Ida Nikou

Ida Nikou • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The 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, reaching

James Ryan, Asma Abdi, Kaveh Ehsani, Maziyar Ghiabi • 1 min read

MERIP updates

MERIP'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 tool

James Ryan • 3 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The 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 surrounding

James Ryan, Ned Leadbeater • 1 min read

Palestine

Palestine 36 and the Hard Facts of History

Annemarie Jacir’s epic portrayal of the revolt that never ended.

Lori Allen • 13 min read

MERIP updates

NEW: Dirty Work—The Hidden Machinery and Human Toll of Europe’s Broken Recycling Trade

By Adnan Khan

Adnan Khan • 5 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The 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

MERIP updates

Support MERIP on Giving Tuesday

Dear Friends and Comrades, Two weekends ago, friends and colleagues gathered in Washington, DC for the annual Middle East Studies Association conference, where we reflected on and honored the memory of our co-founder and longtime editor, Joe Stork, who passed away a little over a year ago. At the conference,

James Ryan • 3 min read

MERIP updates

NEW: ‘We Want to Breathe’ – Dispatch from Tunisia

By Dhouha Djerbi

James Ryan • 2 min read

MERIP updates

The MERIP Podcast Episode 11: In the Archive with Beshara Doumani

Today we have a very special episode, part of a new occasional series that will highlight some of the truly great work MERIP has done over the last 50-plus years, all of which is free to read in our archive. In the first of this series, we’re featuring the

James Ryan • 1 min read

MERIP updates

Dick Cheney Dead

An Archival Remix on the Neoconservative Legacy

James Ryan • 3 min read