The oeuvre of Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim chronicles his country’s political dramas from the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser. At 79, he is lifelong agitator, “a symbol of the independent intellectual,” as a major Egyptian paper put it. In the Spring 2017 issue of the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Ibrahim speaks to Fellow Jonathan Guyer about the “beautiful […]
Current ICWA Fellow Onyinye Edeh has a busy week in Seattle. Edeh appeared on a panel with Teen Vogue editor in chief Elaine Welteroth, actor Yara Shahidi, angel investor Jonathan Spostato, and other fantastic advocates for “[building] a healthier, more equitable future for people everywhere.” PATH’s celebrations had over 1500 people in attendance. Edeh also […]
Past ICWA Fellow and Trustee Pramila Jayapal was recently interviewed by The Nation Magazine on her commitment to political activism and change. Pramila was born in India and raised in Indonesia and Singapore. As an ICWA fellow, she studied social issues in India, involving religion, the status of women, population, and AIDS. Read her thoughts on […]
In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. One in nine is married under age 15. – [1] In Africa, Nigeria is expected to have the largest absolute number of child brides. The country has seen a decline in child marriage of about 1 percent per year over the […]
In a recent Newsletter (JVC-3), I shared the perspectives of Acehnese Muslims in an attempt to complicate singular notions of Islam. The Story of the Stick tuned in to the (dis)harmonies of Islamic belief and practice, and set the stage for a consideration of the role that religiosity and gender play in Banda Aceh’s political […]
The Century Foundation invited me to contribute a chapter on Egyptian cartoons and comics for Arab Politics beyond the Uprisings: Experiments in an Era of Resurgent Authoritarianism. This chapter builds on extensive fieldwork conducted during my two-year ICWA fellowship, offering the most comprehensive study to date of the challenges facing cartoonists in Egypt. I […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2017 Contact: Karla Strobel Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University karla_strobel@harvard.radcliffe.edu | 617-495-8608 JONATHAN GUYER SELECTED AS 2017–2018 RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FELLOW Cambridge, Mass.— Institute of Current World Affairs fellow Jonathan Guyer has been awarded a 2017-18 fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study […]
I presented a version of this paper in February at “Framing War and Conflict in Comics,” the second annual Symposium on Arab Comics at the American University of Beirut. When General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ran for the Egyptian presidency in the spring of 2014, the children’s magazine Samir published a stoic caricature of him its […]
Creative provocations shaped the 2011 revolutions that rocked the Middle East and North Africa. Six years later, repression and the absence of political freedoms have stunted opportunities for change. Yet, time and again, Arab visual artists and novelists offer the boldest critiques of resurgent autocracy. ICWA Fellow and award-winning journalist Jonathan Guyer has brought together […]
On the ocean, the horizon can feel crushingly wide. From the cockpit, we can only react to what the expanse reveals—and what it doesn’t, with frustratingly vague clues. As we sail through the tropics in rainy season—filled with towering thunderclouds and sudden, violent storms at any hour—we find ourselves often peering nervously into the horizon. […]