Ana Hebra Flaster was six years old when her working-class family was kicked out of their Havana barrio for opposing communism. Once devoted revolutionaries themselves but disillusioned by the Castro government’s repressive tactics, they fled to the US. The permanent losses they suffered—of home, country, and loved ones, all within forty-eight hours—haunted ... Show More
Jun 30
Paul R. Beckett, "An Anatomy of Tax Havens: Europe, the Caribbean and the United States of America" (de Gruyter, 2023)
Tax havens in offshore lands like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas were once considered a rarity, the preserve of the super-rich. Today, they are big business available to the masses. Their goal? To avoid any form of accountability. Own nothing. Possess everything. ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 25
Maya J. Berry, "Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and the Black Corporeal Undercommons" (Duke UP, 2025)
In Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and the Black Corporeal Undercommons (Duke University Press, 2025), anthropologist and dancer Maya J. Berry examines rumba as a way of knowing the embodied and spiritual dimensions of Black political imagination in post-Fidel Cuba. Histori ... Show More
1h 31m
May 29
Maya J. Berry, "Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and the Black Corporeal Undercommons" (Duke UP, 2025)
In Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and the Black Corporeal Undercommons (Duke University Press, 2025), anthropologist and dancer Maya J. Berry examines rumba as a way of knowing the embodied and spiritual dimensions of Black political imagination in post-Fidel Cuba. Histori ... Show More
1h 31m
Mar 2025
My guest appearance on ‘Gems of Arabia’ about Arab Representation in Media with Becky Anderson, Faisal Abbas & host Hatem AlAkeel
I’m excited to share a special episode from the podcast, Gems of Arabia about Arab Representation in Media. The episode, hosted by WIDN alum Hatem Al Akeel, was recorded a few weeks ago at the CNN Academy in Abu Dhabi in front of a live audience of the Academy’s latest cohort of ... Show More
1h 14m
Feb 2025
Season 4, Episode 5: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History
Send us a textJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Eugene Rogan, professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford, as they delve into the complex history of the Arab world, from the Ottoman conquest in 1516 to today’s geopolitical crises of the modern Middle East. Throu ... Show More
52m 39s
Sep 2023
Ussama Makdisi: Narrating our Middle Eastern History
In this episode, Rafeef, Tayla, and Tom are joined Dr. Ussama Makdisi, Palestinian-American scholar and academic, currently a Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California Berkeley. Dr Makdisi is the author of several books and publications on sectar ... Show More
49m 17s
Oct 2023
You ain't a leftist if you haven’t left yet w/ Mohammed El-Kurd
*Editor's note: This episode was recorded on 9/25/23* Jen, Demetrius, and Kiley sit down with Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) to discuss what is happening in El-Kurd’s hometown, Al Quds, settler colonialism, and the Palestinian/Native connection. You can learn more about our guest h ... Show More
1h 26m
May 19
S2 Ep 10: Islam and the Indian Ocean
For centuries, the Indian Ocean has been a vast crossroads of cultures, goods, and ideas - but what role did Islam play in weaving this intricate web of connections? Arab, Berber, Persian and Indian merchants spread Islam from the seventh century onwards across the vast geographi ... Show More
1h 7m
Apr 18
The Egyptian Revolution & Nasser's Era w/ Ahmad Shokr (AR&D Ep. 7)
With this episode of Guerrilla History, we roll into our next case study in our series African Revolutions and Decolonization. Here, we turn our focus to Egypt, and particularly the 23 July Revolution in 1952 and the rise of Nasser. However, to tell this story, we turn back to th ... Show More
1h 42m
Feb 2025
Yuval Ben-Bassat and Johann Büssow, "Late Ottoman Gaza: An Eastern Mediterranean Hub in Transformation" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Today, when we think about Gaza we think about the war, the destruction of the city and the constant movement of its population. In contemporary public discourse, Gaza tends to be characterized solely as a theatre of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Howev ... Show More
1 h