Status/الوضع

Dr. Kristian Petersen is Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies. He is the author of, "Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab", published by Oxford University Press, 2017. He is currently working on a monograph entitled, "The Cinematic Lives of Muslims". He is the host of the New Books in Religio...

A dialogue with Inas Hakki, a Syrian director, about motherland and alienation. Inas has directed several Syrian TV drama series, but now she lives with her husband, writer Ghasan Zakaria, in France. They were forced to leave Syria, and now they are trying to build a new life in France. Interviewed by Raghad Al Makhlouf July 23rd, 2018 | Arabic

Between Damascus and London, Hamsa Mounif, a rising Syrian singer, has established a lot in a short period of time. She participated in several concerts both in Syria and around the world. She left Syria to England looking for better opportunities. She is trying to survive there, despite nostalgia and homesickness. Interviewed by Raghad Al Makhlouf July 23rd, 2018 | Arabic

On this episode of In Their Own Voices, Status host Osama Esber speaks with poet Amarji (Rami Youness), a poet and translator who lives in Syria. August 25th, 2018 | Arabic

Assistant Director of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at Northwestern University, interviews author Gilbert Achcar on the subject of the continuing consequences of the Arab Spring and Achcar's most recent book, Morbid Symptoms. Recorded July 10, 2018 at After-Words Books in Chicago. Courtesy of Midwest Socialist and Northwestern University.

In 2017, Dr. Ahmad Dallal published a primer on ISIS, entitled The Political Theology of ISIS: Prophets, Messiahs, and the "Extinction of the Grayzone." In August 2018, Tadween Publishing's managing editor, Kylie Broderick, spoke to him about the ongoing significance of the book, the study of ISIS and its animating principles, whether such studies remain relevant given ISIS' loss of territoriality...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

This conference was organized by CNES faculty affiliates James Gelvin, Aomar Boum and Kevan Harris together with CNES faculty director, Aslı Bâli. The conference was conceived to assess the changes in the Middle East from the Iraq invasion through the Arab uprisings that have altered the regional balance of power, called into question the viability of some existing states and led to the emergence...

Ali is currently camped outside the Bahraini embassy in London protesting the “slow killing” of his father who is serving a life sentence in Bahrain. On the second day of Eid al-Adha Status host Mohamad-Ali sat with Ali Mushaima on the sidewalk outside the embassy. By the 22nd of August Ali had been on hunger strike for twenty-two day but no one from the Bahraini embassy had made any contact with...

Bassam Haddad spoke with Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, about Israel’s deportation order against him and the challenge HRW mounted in Israeli courts to this decision and the draconian law it is based on. The two also discussed Israel’s passage of the Nation State Law, enshrining Jewish supremacy over Palestinians as a constitutional mandate, and how shifting regi...

Rapper and Producer Hani al-Sawah (aka Al-Darwish) talks about his first complimentary rap battle, against Synaptik, that took place in The Arena ME Beirut. Tracks sampled in this interview: اسامينا زمن المسخ Interviewed by Mohammed Ali-Nayel June 16th 2018 | Arabic

Rapper and Producer Nasser Shorbaji (aka Chyno) unpacks the Middle East's 1st official Rap Battle League in Beirut.

Status host Raghad Al Makhlouf speaks with Lubana Al Quntar, a Syrian opera singer from Suwayda (a Druze stronghold south of Damascus), who had to flee the country because of her political opinions. Al Quntar has lived in the United States since 2011 and describes the difficulties and challenges she faced both personally and professionally in this transition.

Award-winning journalist Rania Abu Zeid has made countless trips inside Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Washington, and several European towns and cities to cover the Syrian uprising and the deadly civil and proxy war that ensued and destroyed tens of millions of lives. Rania Abouzeid joins Status and VOMENA host Malihe Razazan to talk about her new book, "No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in...

Fighting for freedom and justice in Syria, Jihad Abdo and Fadia Affash had to flee their country and start from scratch in the United States. Jihad, a well-known actor in Syria, began as a pizza delivery man, but was soon recognized for his talents as an actor and landed leading roles in films such as "The Queen of the Desert" and "A Hologram for the King". Fadia Affash, a painter and activist, re...

The interview is a dialogue with Ahmad Kiki, a Syrian young actor, who graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus, Syria. Two years after his graduation, Kiki found himself in a prison, arrested because he stood up for freedom and justice in Syria. In this interview, Kiki recounts a painful story about fleeing from Syria to Turkey in a dangerous trip he had to make by sea. Ev...

In a conversation with Status host and Jadaliyya editor Kylie Broderick, Dr. Dina El Khawaga speaks to 20 years of the Asfari Institute for Civil Society & Citizenship's initatives in the Middle East and North Africa. "[...] Usually we talk about civil society as a victim, and we want to do the contrary. We want always to underline the fact that there are a lot of success stories that we forget to...

What were the primary concerns of Iraqis in the run up to the election and who were the main protagonists contending for power? What does the outcome mean to both regional and international actors? To answer these questions, Vomena’s Shahram Aghamir spoke with Loulouwa Al Rachid, who has been conducting research on Iraq and the Gulf region for the past 20 years. She argues that the elections highl...

Jadaliyya Co-Editor and Status Host Noura Erakat spoke to British Radio about Israel's violent and lethal response to demonstrations and protests by Palestinians in Gaza, as the US Embassy in Jerusalem opens. "We are 70 years ongoing of this same cyclical story and, in order to break that cycle, we need to take an unequivocal and brave stance that everybody deserves freedom. Everybody deserves equ...

In this interview, the managing editor of Tadween Publishing, Kylie Broderick, sits down with Professor Sunaina Maira (UC Davis) to discuss her book, "Jil Oslo: Palestinian Hip Hop, Youth Culture, and the Youth Movement." March 15th, 2018 | English Interviewed by Kylie Broderick Summary of "Jil Oslo": Based on ethnographic research in Palestine, primarily during the Arab uprisings, this book explo...

A conversation with Gaza based writer Rawan Yaghi about daily life in Gaza. In her recent op-ed in the New York Times, titled “Gaza Screams for Life,” Gaza-based writer Rawan Yaghi describes her visit to the site of the Great March of Return protest at the border two days after Friday’s massacre. She writes, “I left the protest thinking of the rest of Gaza — shellshocked for years, its borders clo...