Scholars Unravel Middle East
150 scholars (and counting) distill decades of research into an hour conversation, to unravel the misperceptions that divide East and West and clarify our common misconceptions about the Middle East - from its ancient past to its present developments. I am Adel Aali, your host. This program is a production of History Behind News podcast (now in its 4th season). Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@ScholarsUnravelMiddleEast?sub_confirmation=1
Episodes
►Are U.S. sanctions on Iran working?
►Are U.S. sanctions against Iran actually working against the United States?
►Have sanctions empowered and emboldened Iran's Revolutionary Guard… to the point that they were ready for war with the United States? ►Did sanctions help Iran's regime crush the Mahsa Amini protests? ►Are sanctions a one-way ratchet - easy to impose, hard to lift? ►Iran's economic decline - due to sanctions or mis...
►What is Armenian feminism?
►Was there such a thing as Armenian feminism without Armenian nationalism?
►Why did Armenian feminism flourish in Istanbul? And why after the Armenian genocide? ►Were Armenians more educated than their Muslim counterparts? ►Was the Armenian feminist movement similar to its Western counterparts? ►Why does the denial of the Armenian genocide persist in Türkiye? ►How was the past, with all its dark ch...
►Fear - fabricated and real fear, nd how it caused the Armenian genocide
►Was the Armenian genocide a Holocaust?
►Why didn't the Ottomans kill all Armenians? ►What are the three ways to "eliminate" a people? ►Would the Armenian genocide have happened without WWI? ►Why does the denial of the Armenian genocide persist in Türkiye? ►What is a Greater Armenia? What is the Wilsonian Armenia? ►Is it legal in Türkiye to study the Ar...
►What is Kurdish nationalism?
►What is Ottoman nationalism with Kuridsh colors?
►Were Kurdish people expose to European ideas of freedom, indepedence and nationalism?
►What is one major obstance to Kurdish independence? 🚩About my guest:
Dr. Djene Bajalan is a professor at Missouri State University. He is a historian of the Middle East specializing in the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question.
He ...
►Who are the Kurdish people? ►Is Kurdish related to any other Middle Eastern language? ►What religions do Kurdish people practice? ►Did Kurdish people ever have their own polity? 🚩About my guest:
Dr. Djene Bajalan is a professor at Missouri State University. He is a historian of the Middle East specializing in the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question.
He is the author and/or editor of the follo...
►Ancient theology vs. mythology ►How drunken gods created incapicitated people ►Humans were created to toil for gods ►Polytheism set the stage for monotheism ►Unlike monotheism, polytheism was tolerant 🚩About my guest:
Dr. Jillian Schwedler is a professor of political science at the City University of New York’s Hunter College and the Graduate Center, and also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Crown Center at Brandeis Uni...
►Before Monotheism, what were the big religions of the ancient Middle East? ►What are the 4 constitutive elements of religion? ►In polytheism, there is no individual choice or belief. Regardless, polytheism is tolerant. ►Does the term 'religion' make sense in the context of Ancient Middle East? ►Does the term God make sense in the context of Ancient Middle East? ►Monotheism is very much tide to the rise of empires - pa...
►Why do Jordanians protest about water? ►Does Jordan coordinate its budget with the U.S.? ►How do protests in Jordan compare to other countries, such as protests in Iran or the U.S.? ►Why does the government of Jordan promote images of stability and instability? ►Why are cartoonists getting arrests in Jordan for alleged terrorism? ►Is Jordan essentially a U.S. protectorate? ►Is Jordan forever on the brink of a revolution?
🚩...
►Were the Hashemite royal family foreigners in Jordan? ►Did Jordan’s Hashemites belong to a larger, transnational royal family? ►How does the Hashemite royal family’s history impact Jordan’s national identity and nation-building efforts now? ►Why Jordanian protesters and cartoonists poke fun of King Abdullah II’s Arabic ►How were tribal protests in Jordan during Ottoman and British rules different than now? ►If Jordan is not a d...
►Iranian women before the 1979 Revolution: rights in marriage, education and the right to vote ►Iran's society of two cultures before the Revolution ►The Shah's White Revolution and clergy's protest ►How everyone is having sex in contemporary Iran.
🚩About my guest:
Dr. Janet Afary is a professor of Religious Studies in UC Santa Barbara. She is the Mellichamp Chair of Religion and Modernity and the Director of t...
►pre-Islam hijab was a status symbol ►Islam adopted the norms of the civilized world - including the hijab ►Reza Shah of Iran forceably unveiled women ►Khomeini was against women's right to vote, until he realized their voice may help his revolution. ►Iranian love poetry was homoerotic, not heterosexual love. ►Iranian love poetry was homoerotic, not heterosexual love.
🚩About my guest:
Dr. Janet Afary is a professor of R...
►Did Christians see Europe differently than Muslims? ►Were Middle East Jews and Christians pro-"West" and Middle East Muslims anti-"West"? ►Are Muslims more tolerant of other religions than Jews and Christians are? ►How did Arab Christians fare under Muslim governments?
🚩About my guest:
Dr. Ian Coller is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine - UCI.
His research interests inclu...
►When did the "West" begin to perceive the Middle East as a troubled region? ►Have Sunni and Shi'a Muslims always been at war? How about Jews and Muslims? ►Why did France invade Egypt? Hint: it was not entirely about geopolitics. ►Have Europeans fought more wars than Middle Easterners? ►Can you think of any wars in the Middle East that match the scale of WWI or WWII? ►Was the de-Christianization of France somehow...
►Do Arab Americans have powerful political lobbies? If not, why not? ►Can Arab American impact the outcome of the 2024 election? ►Are Arab Americans united about the ongoing conflict in Palestine? ►Are Arab Americans loyal to America? ►What is the population of Arab Americans? ►Was assimilating into America's culture particularly difficult for Arab Americans? ►Did American politicians categorize Arab Americans as inferior...
►When did Arabs begin to immigrate to America?
►Were early Arab immigrants to America from wealthy families? Did they come here for economic, political or religious reasons? ►Did Arab immigrants to America have anything in common? Do they have anything in common now? ►Did Western politicians and historian believe Arab Americans have anything in common? ►When did Arab Americans begin to form political organizations to represent ...
►How could this possibly happen - Crusaders attacking a major Christian city?
►Why did Crusaders detour to Constantinople?
►Why did the Pope excommunicate the Cruaders?
►Was Constantinople the only Christian city sacked by Crusaders?
►What happened after the sack of Constantinople?
►What were European memories and later perceptions of this terrible event?
►Was there shame among Europeans?
►How was the sack of Constantinople ...
►Were the Crusades the Christian equivalent of Islamic jihad?
►Could the Crusades be explained as the battle of civilizations?
►What motivated Europeans to make the journey to the Middle East for war?
►Who were the Europeans that joined the Crusades? Were they rich? Poor? Middle class?
►What is the relationship between the medieval Crusades and the problems of the modern Middle East?
►Did Middle Easterners benefit from the Crusa...
►How much of the stories in the Bible about the Jewish people is myth and how much of it is real history? Are the two in conflict at times? ►Did Jews leave their homeland in stages and over time? ►Did Jews become refugees? ►Initially, how far away from their homeland did Jews settle? ►Assyrian Empire's massive invasion of the Levant and displacement of peoples, including Jews ►Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire
►Destru...
►Origin of the Jewish people, according to scholarship ►When did Judaism become a religion? ►Judah & Israel - how were these kingdoms different? ►How did Jewish kingdoms fit within the geopolitics of the region?
🚩About our guest:
Dr. Pytlik is a professor in Anthropology and Judaic Studies, Director of Judaic Studies, and Director of the Cis Maisel Center for Judaic Studies at Oakland, University, in Rochester, MI.
►Whos is Shulgi? ►What is so special about the 3rd Dynasty of Ur? ►Why did civilization start? ►Could ancient women exercise a different religion than their husbands? ►Why do have 60 mins in an hour? ►Can a king be in two places at once?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Tonia Sharlach is professor at Oklahoma State University. Her fields of research and expertise include Ancient history, Sumerian and Babylonian civilization and reli...
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