Current Analysis

Animating Sudanese History—An Interview with Leila Aboulela, Author of River Spirit

Historian Marie Grace Brown speaks to Leila Abouleila about her new novel, River Spirit.

Marie Grace Brown, Leila Aboulela • 14 min read

MER Article

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

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

Current Analysis

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

MER Article

Mauritanian Activists' Struggle Against Slavery

In the late summer of 2001, thousands of delegates from around the world gathered in Durban, South Africa for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances (WCAR). For two weeks, the Durban air resounded with the slogan: “Zionism is apartheid.” The US and Is

Alice Bullard • 9 min read