Fathi Ghaben and Art as Resistance
‘What matters are the needs which art answers.’ – John Berger Fathi Ghaben (1947-2024) was a Palestinian painter whose work played a dual role: at once witness to the struggles of his…
The Oxford Arabist
A student-run blog based in the University of Oxford covering news and articles on the Middle East and North Africa region
A White Man of the East? Edward Said and Orientalism
Spring, 1951. A young boy called Edward was expelled from Victoria College, a prestigious English boarding school in Alexandria, for troublemaking. Whatever commotion led to his expulsion, it could not have been…
Repression and Resistance: Re-evaluating Protest in Highly Repressive Environments in the Middle East and North Africa
Defining Highly Repressive Environments Davenport defines political repression as the state’s use of physical sanctions to deter ‘specific activities and/or beliefs perceived to be challenging to government personnel, practices or institutions.’[1] This helps…
Rebuilding After Assad: The Faces of Syrians in Exile
For decades, the Assad dynasty ruled Syria with an iron fist, first under Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar. The uprising of 2011 was crushed with brutal force, leaving more than…
That I May Make a Long Cast, and Surpass My Rivals: A Comparative Analysis of Poetic Performance in Pindar and the Arabic Qaṣīdah
The qaṣīdah poet is not simply a neutral observer—he is a character whose presence is felt. This character is not a reflection of his ‘authentic’ self in the modern romantic sense, but…
Scorched Earth and Silk Roads: Reconsidering the Mongol Legacy in the Islamic World
Prior to the turn of the century among both near-Eastern and Western scholars, the status quo narrative of Mongol conquest, expansion, and rule of Eurasia from the 13th to 15th centuries gives…
Lies and Disease: how colonialism distorts identity in al-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ’s ‘Season of Migration to the North’
“يا للغرابة. يا للسخرية. الإنسان لمجرد أنه خلق عند خط الاستواء، بعض المجانين يعتبرونه عبدا وبعضهم يعتبرونه إلها.” “How strange! How ironic! Just because a man has been created on the Equator…
Between Nationalism and Pan-Arabism: A Historical Examination of Arab Disunity
As an Arab, it’s a complete toss up whether you end up spawning as a Levantine Arab in war-torn Palestine, or a Gulf Arab living a life in London so lavish that…
Literature on trial: Kamel Daoud’s role in breaking the silence around the Algerian War
Can a writer give voice to the silenced without speaking over them? This question lies at the heart of the controversy surrounding Kamel Daoud’s Houris (2024), a brutal yet beautiful novel that…
What is Modern? The Pious as Modern in Shīʿī Beirut
Dahieh, in south Beirut, seems a typical, poor neighbourhood. It’s crowded and difficult to navigate. It’s mostly Shīʿī. It’s dotted with billboards showing pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini, Ḥasan Naṣrallāh and other Shīʿī…
We are still a Faculty of Oriental Studies
It is no secret that the history of Arabic studies at Oxford is inseparable from British imperialism. Our department’s name change in 20221 did not paint over its orientalist past – nor…
Does Tunisia need another Arab Spring?
Once a bastion of free speech, it is incontestable that Tunisia is regressing. From the small coastal town of Sidi Bouzid emerged the Arab Spring, the series of political uprisings and rebellions…
A Selection of Poetry
Tapestry of Life And if anguish is what provides inspiration, let it be No further and no clearer the whole truth you will see If you pull at the threads at the…
The Oxford Arabist 