Description

Comprised of twenty-seven interviews with leading researchers, intellectuals, artists, and activists, Critical Voices explores the ways in which power and popular mobilizations manifest in the contemporary region, as well as the representation of key dynamics, experiences, and figures. Through their own unique perspectives and possibilities, the interviewees and interviewers challenge the ways in which the region is studied, discussed, and represented.

Contributors: Awad Abdel Fattah, Sarah Al Abdali, Talal Asad, George Azar, Asli Bali, Nar Photos Collective, Angela Davis, Wael Gamal, Justin Gengler, Nigel Gibson, Nile Green, Ahmad Habib, Bassam Haddad, David Harvey, Jim House, Sonallah Ibrahim, Matan Kaminer, Leila Khaled, Nancy Kricorian, Driss Ksikes, Haytham Manna', Nabeel Rajab, Eastern Province Revolution, Ella Shohat, Zaid Shuaibi, Tariq Tell

Author's Info

Edited by Ziad Abu-Rish and Bassam Haddad

Ziad Abu-Rish is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Ohio University. He is co-editor of The Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of An Old Order? (2012), and author of "Protests, Regime Stability, and the State Formation in Jordan" in the edited volume Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East (2014). In addition to his publications, Ziad serves as one of the senior editors of the Arab Studies Journal. Ziad is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine. His co-authored Jadaliyya articles can be found here and here. You can follow him on Twitter at @ziadaburish.

Bassam Haddad is Director of the Middle East Studies Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, and is Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011). Bassam is currently editing a volume on Teaching the Middle East After the Arab Uprisings, a book manuscript on pedagogical and theoretical approaches. His most recent books include two co-edited volumes: Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of an Old Order? (Pluto Press, 2012) and Mediating the Arab Uprisings (Tadween Publishing, 2013). Bassam serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal a peer-reviewed research publication and is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the critically acclaimed film series, Arabs and Terrorism, based on extensive field research/interviews. More recently, he directed a film on Arab/Muslim immigrants in Europe, titled The "Other" Threat. Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and serves on the Editorial Committee of Middle East Report. He is the Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute, an umbrella for five organizations dealing with knowledge production on the Middle East and Founding Editor of Tadween Publishing.

Reviews

Critical Voices is a truly unique collection of diverse perspectives on the Middle East and beyond. With incisive questions and a range of interlocutors, the interviews offer in-depth discussions that weave the political and social together with rich historical context and analytic nuance. This series of conversations brings forth ideas that exist on the margins yet are central to understanding the region. This is a perfect antidote to the misrepresentations so prevalent in mainstream media and facile think tank analysis.

- Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now!