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At the end of each class, I ask students what their one takeaway is from the course. Without fail, many say: the ability to critically engage with media. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that this skill is one the most important things we can cultivate as teachers.

Chihab El Khachab, whose forthcoming exploration of Egypt's Ministry of Culture I cannot wait to read, recently delivered a brilliant lecture on the relationship between ethnography and history. For a recording of it: echo360.org.uk/media/b41d69f0…

Still one of the most engaging introductions I have ever read. After introducing travelers who were mesmerized by Mehmed Ali’s eyes in Ottoman Egypt, Khaled Fahmy sets out to write a history “without being stung by the pasha or hypnotized by his gaze.”

An excerpt from Thomas Friedman's latest op-ed in the NYT that neglects how Palestinian photographers, reporters, and civilians have been documenting "the full horror of the destruction" in Gaza, before a global audience online, for well over a year now. nytimes.com/2025/06/10/opi…

Today, I’m thinking with “Midnight in Cairo,” where Raphael Cormack sets out to write an alternative history of Egyptian feminism, “the story of a parallel women’s movement, one that happened in the demi-monde, late at night after the high-class critics had gone to bed.”

Earlier today, the Fulbright board resigned in protest of political appointees at the State Department sending rejection letters to scholars the board approved "based mainly on their research topics." Policing the production of knowledge is a priority for Trump's administration.

Today, I’ll be thinking not with a text, but with a tape. This Shaykh Imam cassette has a story to tell, and will feature in an essay I’m currently crafting.

An account of what is happening in Gaza that is at once difficult and necessary to read. Mosab Abu Toha's latest essay for the The New Yorker. newyorker.com/news/essay/wha…

From #NoKings New Haven today.

A Saturday morning well spent.

To all Dartmouth graduates, whose commencement concluded moments ago, alf mabrouk! It was a great joy to work with so many of you. May you continue to learn, grow, and actively engage with the wider world around you.

On AI and the (re)writing of history. nytimes.com/2025/06/16/mag…

A review essay I would read.

في حد سمع عن شركة تسجيل "الشعب" قبل كده؟ أنا أفكر إنها كانت موجودة في لبنان.

One of the more direct headlines in a western news outlet I’ve recently read.

Today, I stumbled upon this letter that stopped me in my tracks: "To my newborn son: I am absent not out of apathy, but conviction." If you have a few minutes to spare, it's worth listening to. youtube.com/watch?v=WsRSLH…

“This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world,” President Bush said about Saddam in 2002. The US invasion of Iraq followed and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. This language of “civilized” and “uncivilized” is dangerous.

For anyone writing a book about music, you might find this invitation to present of interest! I participated in the "Popular Music Books in Process Series" a couple of years ago, and it was a wonderful experience. 🎵

"في المحصلة، يكشف كتاب إعلام الجماهير بوضوح أن أي سلطة، سواء كانت سياسية أو دينية، لن تكون قادرة على احتكار الفضاء الصوتي، فسبق للكاسيت أن صنع أرشيفًا شعبيًا مستقلًا، ووسّع دائرة تعبير المصريين عن ذواتهم كما هم، لا كما يُراد لهم أن يكونوا." manassa.news/stories/24822