Numerous alternative digital media outlets have been emerging recently in Lebanon in response to the country’s established traditional media that is highly partisan with editorial agendas often serving the Lebanese political and economic elites.  Many of these outlets have been launched initially by independent researchers or civil society activists with …

On Tuesday, December 7th, 2021, Arab Media & Society hosted a virtual panel discussion titled “Arab Media Between Conflict & Peace.” Following the panel, Managing Editor Sarah El-Shaarawi spoke with panelist Dr. Sahar Khamis about her co-edited volume Arab Women’s Activism and Socio-Political Transformation: Unfinished Gendered Revolutions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). The …

In light of the changes taking place in the United States, Arab Media & Society asked Dr. Sahar Khamis her thoughts on how the Arab and Muslim communities in the US have been affected.  1) What was the most notable effect of Trump’s policies on the Muslim community in the …

The suspension of the Twitter account of former U.S. president Donald Trump after violating the platform’s publishing policies brought forth significant controversy and aroused many questions about the right to freedom of expression and its boundaries, not only in the United States, but across the globe. In the Arab region, …

For a region that has had to deal with the aftermath of decades of U.S. intervention, occupation and punishing sanctions under the banner of democracy and human rights, the live pictures of American pro-Trump rioters storming the U.S. Capitol were nothing short of astounding. Public ridicule and scorn came fast …

On October 17, 2019, protests began in Lebanon with angry and largely disenfranchised citizens calling for a complete overhaul of the country’s unique political system. In the year that has followed, Lebanon has suffered through one disaster after another, with seemingly unending political shifting. On October 22, 2020, former Prime …

Abstract: This article tackles the complex struggles faced by Arab women, including multiple layers of invisibility, marginalization and inequality,[1] all of which have significantly worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. This examination includes a special focus on how and why the “digital divide,” defined as the gap between the technological haves …

Since 2011, the Kuwaiti telecom company Zain Group, one of the largest in the Middle East, has produced a series of popular ads broadcast annually during Ramadan. The ads are songs, usually featuring celebrities singing and dancing with children. Since 2015, the ads have become noticeably more political. In 2016, …

Abstract This essay, based on the author’s fieldwork on Palestinian music and oral history, examines the position of singer and Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf in relation to the contemporary Palestinian struggle and the wider play of power in the Arab world. The issues discussed gravitate towards three main themes: …

While a post-Brexit United Kingdom continues to struggle with xenophobia and anxieties about the Arab/Muslim diaspora, a new hero has emerged in the country’s most popular sport. He’s wildly talented, he’s from Egypt, and he’s Muslim. Known as “The Pharaoh”, “The Egyptian King”, and even the “Egyptian Messi”, 25-year-old Mohamed …