In September 2015, I traveled back to Benghazi. I wanted to see what had happened to the city since the launch of Operation Dignity and why the fighting had been so protracted. I came in through a northern suburb called Kuwayfia, the only route open. Filled with date palms and …

The following is an excerpt from Andrew Hammond's chapter "Producing Salafism: From Invented Tradition to State Agitprop" in the volume Salman's Legacy, edited by Madawi Al-Rasheed and published by Hurst (2018).  Saudi foreign policy did not begin to play with Islamic themes until the 1960s. Wary of any scheme of meaningful …

Seib, P. (2017). As Terrorism Evolves: Media, Religion and Governance. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. USC journalism professor Philip Seib has done a great service for those who follow media-driven events connected with terrorism inspired by Middle East- and Africa-based terror groups that have, for many, become household names, such …

News organizations are tested in many ways during war. Journalists covering combat must be knowledgeable and possess courage and resilience. Executives must commit the necessary resources, financial and other, to ensure comprehensive coverage. Editors and producers must familiarize themselves with the political and cultural background of the conflict to ensure …

Most American journalists probably know little about covering Islam accurately, fairly, ethically and contextually amid rising levels of xenophobia, hate speech and “fake news” in the U.S., but help is on the way. In 1980, I arrived in Beirut as CBS News Middle East correspondent. My qualifications for covering this complex …

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, journalists, activists, and scholars coupled creative with revolution (or dissent, protest, resistance) to describe political graffiti, rap, art, and video. Distinguished institutions, from the Prince Claus Fund of the Netherlands to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, lend the concept gravitas. …

 Mention art, culture, and creativity and you’ve got Kuwait-based Nuqat’s seventh conference boosting innovation, promoting entrepreneurship, uncovering censorship, and serving as a teaching platform.  This year’s three-day conference entitled “The Seventh Sense: Powering the Creative Economy,” delved into the capacity of the brain to come up with new ideas through discussions …

Anna Rousillion’s feature documentary I Am the People follows Farraj and his family through four tumultuous years in Egyptian history, beginning just before revolution and chronicling their lives in its aftermath. Farraj, the film’s protagonist, is a wiry farmer in the southern province of Luxor, who earns a living tilling …

The field of comics scholarship has expanded radically in the past decade as the medium has entered into the realm of mainstream academic discourse, thanks to the contributions of scholars who are themselves comic artists, like Will Eisner and Scott McCloud, and others, notably Hillary Chute and Jared Gardner.[1] Comics …