Middle East Talks

S1 E11 To Stand With Palestine - with Karam Dana

Our guest in this episode of Middle East Talks is the Palestinian American academic Karam Dana, to talk about his new book To Stand with Palestine: Transnational Resistance and Political Evolution in the United States. Dana offers a thorough examination of how and why Palestinian voices were for long marginalized (and demonized!) in American political discourse, but he also argues that the Palestinian issue is increasingly taking center stage in struggles again the status quo, from college campuses to digital activism. Guest: Karam Dana, the Alyson McGregor Distinguished Professor of Excellence and Transformative Research and the founding director of the American Muslim Research Institute at the University of Washington Bothell. Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo Researcher: Kate McMahon Book: Dana, Karam. To Stand with Palestine: Transnational Resistance and Political Evolution in the United States. Columbia University Press, 2025. Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin Get in touch via email mesc@aucegypt.edu Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

S1 E10 Sex Work in Colonial Egypt - with Francesca Biancani

The British occupation authorities drafted the first law regulating sex work in Egypt, merely 6 weeks after British forces defeated the Egyptian army and occupied the country in 1882. The era of regulated sex work would last until 1951 when it finally became criminalized – just a few years before the end of British occupation. But the story of “Sex Work in Colonial Egypt” – the title of the book whose author is our guest today – is not merely a story about imperial and nationalist approaches towards prostitution. Francesca Biancani tells a much more fascinating and complex story about modernity, Egypt’s place in the global economy, migration, urbanization, gender and labor politics, during this era. Guest: Francesca Biancani, Associate Professor, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Bologna University Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo Researcher: Wafaa ElSaid Book: Biancani, Francesca. Sex Work in Colonial Egypt: Women, Modernity and the Global Economy. Edited by Francesca Biancani. vol. 72., I.B. Tauris, 2018. Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music Get in touch via email mesc@aucegypt.edu [mesc@aucegypt.edu] Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

S1E9 Recovering Palestinian Lives - with Andrea Stanton

Qudsiyya Khurshid belonged to the first generation of Palestinian broadcasters, joining the Palestine Broadcasting Service shortly after its launch in 1936. An educator and writer, she was among a small but expanding circle of women shaping Arab intellectual life in mandate-era Palestine. Afterleaving in 1948, she settled in Pennsylvania, where she remained active in civic and community work. What can her life tell us about gender, media, and everyday experience in the decade before the Nakba? This question is explored by our guest today, Andrea Stanton, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Denver, in her article “Recovering Palestinian Lives: Qudsiyya Khurshid from Mandate Palestine to Postwar Pennsylvania,” published in the International Journal of Middle East Studies. Guest: Andrea Stanton, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Denver Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo Article: Stanton, Andrea L. "Recovering Palestinian Lives: Qudsiyya Khurshid from Mandate Palestine to Postwar Pennsylvania." International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 56, no. 4, 2024, pp. 627-644. Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music Get in touch via email mesc@aucegypt.edu [mesc@aucegypt.edu]Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

S1 E8 Social Media and the Politics of Ironic Belonging in Dubai - with Sonali Pahwa

What’s it like to be a 2nd generation migrant to the United Arab Emirates who is also a social media star? How can you express your identity within the constraints of its legal and political system? My guest today Sonali Pahwa, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts & Dance at the University of Minnesota, looks at the examples of two famous content creators in Dubai… an Egyptian woman and a Syrian man. Through their comic performances, argues Pahwa, they practice “belonging” in a nation where they lack a path to citizenship. While doing so, they also challenge conventional perceptions on national and gender identity. Guest: Sonali Pahwa, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts & Dance, University of Minnesota Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo Article: Pahwa, Sonali. "Social Media and the Politics of Ironic Belonging in Dubai." International Journal of Middle East Studies 56, no. 4 (2024): 569-584. Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay MusicGet in touch via email mesc@aucegypt.edu [mesc@aucegypt.edu]Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

S1 E7 Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza - with Peter Beinart

Our guest today in Middle East Talks is Peter Beinart, American writer and professor at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, to discuss his new book Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. The book has caused a sensation ever since it was published earlier this year. Coming at a time when the American Jewish community is increasingly divided over Israel, the book served as an important contribution to the debate. It’s an attempt to grapple not just with the horrors that the Israeli war machine has brought upon Palestinians in Gaza, but also with what Peter calls the “kind of moral, cultural, even theological wreckage that Jews now have to face”. While its subject is depressing, the book ultimately offers a hopeful note… perhaps even too hopeful, as we’ll discuss today. Middle East Talks is a podcast series produced by the American University in Cairo’s Middle East Studies Program in collaboration with the Arab and Islamic Civilizations Department. The podcast aims to foster a better understanding of the Middle East among a wider audience by exploring new and contemporary research in the region’s history, politics and culture. In each episode, a scholar is invited to discuss their work in a fashion that is accessible and engaging to listeners who are curious about the Middle East. Guest: Peter Beinart, Journalist and Writer, Professor at the Graig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, City University of New York Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo Book: Beinart, Peter. Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. First Edition. Alfred A. Knopf, 2025. Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin Get in touch via email mesc@aucegypt.edu Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.