Category Archives: Blog

My latest Huffington post piece, The Future of the Middle East, offers a different glimpse of life in Beirut than the one usually presented in the news…

A new Al-Jazeera piece, The Forgotten Pyramids of Sudan, shares the majesty of Sudan’s archaeological heritage with beautiful photographs and a list of historical facts. Since I spend time every year excavating near the Royal Pyramids of Meroe, it’s a bit strange to see them described as “forgotten.” Forgotten by whom? Forgotten why? Though the site is accessed from a major roadway, it’s described as “secluded.” The area around the pyramids is labelled as “inhospitable,” yet the house where my archaeological colleagues and I live is just down the road–and we’ve never found living in the surrounding desert a challenge. In fact, I feel most at home in our modest mud abode surrounded by sand and many friendly Sudanese neighbors. If you’re interested in exploring Sudan’s rich cultural heritage for yourself, I’m planning on leading a trip there next year–stay tuned!

In his Easter message on Sunday, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said that Lebanon has reached the peak of suffering–as a result of widespread poverty, the refugee crisis, and the presidential vacuum. At Easter mass in Bkirki, Rai noted that “one-third of the Lebanese people are currently living under the poverty line.” He also called for peaceful solutions to the many armed conflicts in the region.

Today I enjoyed learning about Ethiopian Easter traditions, while teaching African migrant workers English in Beirut…

While the framework of the developing nuclear accord with Iran appears promising, there are still many gray areas that need to be worked out. Though there were celebrations last night in the streets of Tehran, not everyone in Iran is celebrating. For example, hardline Majlis MP Ahmad Tavakoli wrote a letter to President Rouhani demanding that this “historic” agreement be ratified by the Majlis. Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. are demanding a say on any final agreement. Fars News quoted Kayhan‘s Hossein Shariatmadari as saying: “we gave them a fully saddled horse and in return we got the horse back with only a piece of torn tether.” Many analysts and commentators in the U.S. and Iran, such as Fars News commentator Yasser Jebraeili, are wondering: “Which should we believe? Zarif’s press statement or the US State Department’s Media release on JCPA?” In fact, in one of Ayatollah Khamenei’s latest statements, the Supreme Leader maintained that these current negotiations are solely related to Iran’s nuclear program, and he insisted that Iran “would have no negotiations with the US over regional, domestic and armament issues because America’s policy in the region is to cause instability and insecurity and to affront the nations of the region and the Islamic awakening.” Though the tentative nuclear agreement with Iran will usher in some much-needed sanctions relief, such relief will likely be slow to affect the oil sector. While this new framework provides a solid foundation for a finalized nuclear agreement, negotiations will undoubtedly remain heated in the months ahead…

Students taking my Semitics class in Beirut have been enjoying our study of Hebrew–even more so than Syriac. In fact, a number of them have chosen to do their final projects on topics related to Hebrew, such as the Cairo Geniza, the Dead Sea scrolls, Maimonides, and Judeo-Arabic. I’m looking forward to them sharing their scholarly adventures in Hebrew when they present their research in the final weeks of class…

For the past few weeks, I’ve been discussing Sufism and the spiritual evolution of al-Ghazali with my students in Beirut. Our recent class discussions on gender, authority, and ritual in Sufism reminded me of an upcoming documentary focused on three female Sufi leaders teaching Sufism on three different continents. As I’m very lucky and grateful to know all of these teachers personally, I’m really looking forward to seeing this film…