Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast features interviews and roundtables with MERIP authors and editors, and recordings from events. You can listen to all episodes here, or on your preferred podcast service.

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 26: The MERIP Roundtable, On the World Cup 2026

On today’s program we have another installment of our MERIP Roundtable, where MERIP’s executive director, James Ryan is joined by past and present members of our editorial committee, along with recent contributors, to discuss current events. This edition focuses on the 2026 World Cup, now in its final

James Ryan, Paul Silverstein, Sabiha Allouche, Nabil Al-Tikriti • 2 min read

MERIP updates

The MERIP Podcast Episode 25: Iran in Context Part II

Politics and Counter Politics in Contemporary Iran

James Ryan, Naghmeh Sohrabi, Mohammad Ali Kadivar, Paniz Musawi Natanzi • 1 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 24: Iran in Context Part I

Gender and Revolution

James Ryan, Sabiha Allouche, Nazanin Shahrokni, Paola Rivetti • 1 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 23: Ayça Alemdaroğlu

Today’s episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with Ayça Alemdaroğlu about her article, “The Capture of Turkey’s Universities Under the AKP,” in our Spring 2026 issue, “Campus Politics–Palestine and the New University Order.” MERIP executive director James Ryan spoke with Alemdaroğlu about the efforts of

James Ryan, Ayça Alemdaroğlu • 1 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 22: Aslı Bâli and Darryl Li

Today's episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with two contributors to the spring issue of Middle East Report, “Campus Politics—Palestine and the New University Order.” Since the beginning of world-wide campus protests in the wake of October 7, 2023, there has been a tremendous

James Ryan, Aslı Bâli, Darryl Li • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 21: Susann Kassem, Lara Deeb and Habib Battah

Today on the podcast three MERIP contributors discuss Lebanon’s tenuous, one-sided ceasefire with Israel. Even as officials in the Lebanese government have entered into negotiations with Israel, an unprecedented diplomatic move with questionable legal status under Lebanese law, Israel has violated the ceasefire numerous times and has continued

James Ryan, Lara Deeb, Susann Kassem, Habib Battah • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 20: The MERIP Roundtable, On the Iran War Part III

Today’s episode is the third installment of our MERIP Roundtable discussing the war on Iran, instigated by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, and its regional reverberations. This episode focuses on Israel’s expanded war on Lebanon. Following the assassination of Ali Khamanei, supreme leader of

James Ryan, Rima Majed, Ali Musleh • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 19: The MERIP Roundtable, On the Iran War Part II

On today’s episode of the MERIP Roundtable our discussion focused on people’s experiences of the war on Iran and throughout the region two and a half weeks in. Much of the discussion of this war in the western media has centered on the strategic calculus of the United

James Ryan, Naghmeh Sohrabi, Toby Jones, Kaveh Ehsani • 2 min read

MERIP updates

The MERIP Podcast Episode 18: The MERIP Roundtable, On The Iran War Part I

On the social impact and regional politics of the US-Israeli war on Iran

James Ryan, Ida Nikou, Arang Keshavarzian, Sean L. Yom • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

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 of

James Ryan, Niema Alhessen, Deen Sharp • 1 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The 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 impacts

James Ryan, Iman Ali, Najib Hourani • 2 min read

The MERIP Podcast

The 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

James Ryan, Brahim El Guabli • 1 min read