Middle Eastern History

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6
Dec
2022

Thinking about Muslim Sects and Schools

The Muslim community, known as the umma, is meant to be united. The Qur’an, in chapter 29, verse 92, states that “Indeed, this your umma is one umma, and I am your Lord; so worship Me.” Yet Muslims,...
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15
Nov
2022

Modern Islamic Thought Through a Different Lens:...

On November 17 my latest book is finally published and I just wanted to give a brief outline here of what it’s about. Titled Late Ottoman Origins of Modern Islamic Thought: Turkish and Egyptian...
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8
Sep
2022

Why Ottoman Architecture? A Research Journey

Architecture and Material Politics in the Fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire stems from my research on Ottoman architecture, which I began in summer 2014, shortly before the publication of my first book,...
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1
Dec
2021

“Buried in the Red Dirt”: Thinking about...

As I was conceptualizing a project on death in early 2016, a friend and colleague I was visiting in Jerusalem mentioned a sloppy online essay that had drawn the ire of Palestinian feminists. The piece...
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11
Aug
2021

The Misreading of Mid-Century Turkey

How complicit is the field of Middle East studies in helping Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan consolidate his authoritarian rule? It’s a completely unfair question, of course. But, having lobbed...
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15
Jul
2021

Situating the Natural Sciences in Early Modern...

During the socially and politically turbulent seventeenth century, Moroccan scholars studied the natural and mathematical sciences throughout a network of rural and urban institutions of learning that...
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20
Apr
2021

Islamic Art and Architecture at Turbat-i Jam, Iran

The decorative work on the iwan, sponsored by Shah ʿAbbas I, Safavi Photo © 2021 Shivan Mahendrarajah ...
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20
Aug
2020

Wonder in the Time of COVID or What Arabic...

There are not many good things about this COVID-19 era we are living in. One of the few positive side effects one might celebrate, though, is that it has permitted many of us to rediscover the joys of...
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