Silver Stories from Artist Micaela Amateau Amato
Artist and writer Micaela Amateau Amato uses art and words to create unique ways of transmogrifying the world.
Baba Karam Lessons: Artist Amitis Motevalli
Iranian American artist Amitis Motevalli performs “baba karam” dance lessons, in a caricature of the street tough dance called “jahel,” often performed by women in drag as a commentary on gender and class constrictions.
L.A. Artist: Rachid Bouhamidi
The Moroccan, French and American artist Rachid Bouhamidi shares his love of portraiture as he peels back the layers of his friends with oils on wood.
Fadi Zaghmout’s banned-in-Jordan “Laila”: a TMR Valentine
In this excerpt of the banned Jordanian novel “Laila,” introduced by Rana Asfour and translated by Hajer Almosleh, readers get a sense of Fadi Zaghmout’s prose and purpose.
(G)Hosting the Past: On Michael Rakowitz’s “Reapparitions”
Arie Akkermans reviews an Iraqi American’s exhibitions as they attempt to recreate missing and destroyed artifacts taken from the National Museum of Iraq after the American invasion in 2003.
“The Translator” Brings the Syrian Dilemma to the Big Screen
Jordan Elgrably reviews the recent feature film from directors Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf.
Censorship, Book Burning and Abu Dhabi Orientalism
Abu Dhabi-based professor Deborah Williams contrasts the new American censorship of “Maus” and Harry Potter book burning with her own potentially inflammatory syllabus.
The Conspiracy to Conceal Conspiracies
Every warm-blooded Arab loves a good conspiracy theory — so, it turns out, do many Americans, observes cultural critic Mike Booth.
Poetic Justice: 70+ Contemporary Poets of Morocco
Amazigh Moroccan poet El Habib Louai reviews a recent anthology that has warmed the hearts of English-reading Moroccans during the pandemic.
Hananah Zaheer’s “Lovebirds”? Don’t Be Fooled by the Title
Mehnaz Afridi reviews the new book of short stories by a Pakistani American writer determined to disrupt her readers’ expectations.
Arabic and Latin, Cosmopolitan Languages of the Premodern Mediterranean and its Hinterlands
Justin Stearns, a scholar of the pre-modern Muslim Middle East, reviews the new book by Karla Mallette on the fascinating history of two of the world’s great languages.
Mapping an Escape from Cairo’s Hyperreality through informal Instagram archives
Even as the despotic rulers of post-revolution Egypt attempt to remake greater Cairo, hoping to gloss over the regime’s dismal human rights record, one writer sees through the smoke and mirrors.