The eras of Abbas Pasha and Said Pasha in mid 19th century Egypt are usually perceived as somewhat of a dark age … stuck there between the powerful ambitious rule of their predecessor Mohammed Ali, and the glamourous modern state that Ismail Pasha, their successor, tried to project after he came to power.
Yet, Maha Ghalwash, our guest in today’s episode of Middle East Talks, argues that we should re-think the way we view this period. Her book “State, Peasants and Land in the mid-19th century Egypt” sheds a surprisingly positive light on the dealings of the state with al falaheen – the peasants who formed the overwhelming majority of the Egyptian populace at the time.

Guest: Maha Ghalwash, Associate Professor of Middle East History and Politics at the British University in Egypt
Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo
Researcher: Marta Asencio
Book: Ghalwash, Maha Ahmad. State, Peasants, and Land in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Egypt. New York;Cairo;: The American University in Cairo Press, 2023. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2rsfcp8.
Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music
This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin
Get in touch via email [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

As the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power 16 years ago, our guest in today’s episode warned of an “imminent nakba”… the Arabic term used to describe the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948. Gilbert Achcar, Emeritus Professor at SOAS, University of London, described the convictions of Netanyahu and his right-wing allies in 2009 as:

 “[It] is that coexistence is not possible with the Palestinians, and that Israel’s security will not be established without 'cleansing' most Palestinians of all areas close to where Israelis live, including Israeli settlers on the West Bank. This would be achieved by deporting the majority of Palestinians across the Jordan River and into the Sinai Desert after exterminating part of them to terrorize the rest in order to achieve that purpose.”

It is astonishing to contemplate how – 16 years later – this scenario seems to be unfolding to the letter in Gaza. In today’s episode of Middle East Talks we talk to Gilbert Achcar about this and more as we discuss his new book, “The Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective”.

Guest: Gilbert Achcar, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS, University of London

Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo

Book: Achcar, Gilbert. Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective. University of California Press https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-gaza-catastrophe/paper

Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music

This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin

Get in touch via email [email protected]

Disclaimer:

Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

The Revolution of 1919 is a key moment in modern Egyptian history. Pent up anger exploded after World War One, and Egyptians rose up demanding independence and an end to British occupation. But while 1919 is commonly seen to have achieved at best only partial success, it is revered as the moment when Egyptian national consciousness and unity reached their zenith. The prevailing narrative about 1919 is one where Egyptians from all walks of life (urban, rural, Muslim, Copt, men and women), are united in their struggle against the British and led by Zaghloul’s Al Wafd party. But how did this narrative develop and change over the years? This is the question that Dina Heshmat our guest in today’s episode of Middle East Talks, attempts to address in her book “Egypt 1919: The Revolution in Literature and Film”.

Guest: Dina Heshmat, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Arabic Literature at the Sheikh Hassan Abbas Sharbatly Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations, American University in Cairo

Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo

Researcher: Benjamin Fultz

Book: Heshmat, Dina. Egypt 1919: The Revolution in Literature and Film. 1st ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020;2022;. doi:10.1515/9781474458382

Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music

This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin

Get in touch via email [email protected]

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

The marshes of Iraq lie physically and metaphorically at the edge of the Arab world, and are quite under-studied and under-reported. Environmentally and culturally unique, the marshes and their people offer their own distinctive perspective on modern Iraqi history. “The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes: A History of Conflict, Tragedy, and Restoration”, offers a rare account of this story, and its co-author Steve Lonergan is our guest in today’s episode of Middle East Talks.

Guest: Steve Lonergan, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography, University of Victoria
Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo
Researcher: Kawthar Abdulwahid Ali
Book: Lonergan, Stephen C., Jassim Al-Asadi, and Keith (Geospatial scientist) Holmes. The Ghosts of Iraq's Marshes: A History of Conflict, Tragedy, and Restoration. New York;Cairo;: The American University in Cairo Press, 2023.
Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music
This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin
Get in touch via email [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

For decades, Egyptians have been complaining about a chronic housing crisis: there never seem to be enough homes to keep up with the rapid growth of the Arab world’s most populous country. Yet, surprisingly, Egypt is one of largest producers of housing in the world… in fact there are millions of empty homes in Egypt… defying the simple logic of supply and demand.
In his book, “Egypt’s Housing Crisis”, Yahia Shawkat, housing and urban policy researcher, attempts to explain this paradox. His account offers a rare documentation of the attempts and mostly failures of successive Egyptian regimes to resolve the housing dilemma. He discusses his book with Khaled Ezzelarab in this episode of Middle East Talks.
Guest: Yahia Shawkat is a housing and urban policy researcher who specializes in legislative analysis, data visualization, and historical mapping. He is research coordinator for 10 Tooba, a research studio he co-founded in 2014 that focuses on spatial justice and fair housing.
Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo
Book: Shawkat, Yahia, and David Sims. Egypt's Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space. 1st ed. La Vergne: The American University in Cairo Press, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2ks6zb8.
Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music
This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin
Get in touch via email [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.

Cairo, 1787. In the heart of a bustling market, a sudden explosion rips through the evening air. Gunpowder ignites, chaos erupts, and dozens are left dead or wounded. But what really happened that night? And what can this disaster reveal about the social and economic pulse of 18th-century Cairo?
Join us for the premiere episode of Middle East Talks, where we dive deep into this historical moment with Alan Mikhail, Professor of History at Yale University and author of the 2024 article Boom Cairo: Egypt in Disaster, 1787.
Middle East Talks is a podcast series produced by the American University in Cairo’s Middle East Studies Program in collaboration with the Arab and Islamic Civilizations Department. The podcast aims to foster a better understanding of the Middle East among a wider audience by exploring new and contemporary research in the region’s history, politics and culture. In each episode, a scholar is invited to discuss their work in a fashion that is accessible and engaging to listeners who are curious about the Middle East.
Guest: Alan Mikhail, Chase Family Professor of History, Department of History, Yale University
Interviewer: Khaled Ezzelarab, Associate Professor of Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Department, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program, American University in Cairo
Journal Article: Mikhail, A. (2024). Boom Cairo: Egypt in Disaster, 1787. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 56(2), 193–206. doi:10.1017/S0020743824000448
Intro Music: Festival of Eid Joy by Adiiswanto, licensed via Pixabay Music
This podcast was produced with the help of Nourhan Amer, Nouran Elian, and Judi Yassin
Get in touch via email [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this podcast series are those of participants and do not reflect the opinions of The American University in Cairo. Copyright is held by the appropriate AUC school, office or department unless otherwise stated. Requests for permission to quote or use any content should be addressed to the appropriate AUC school, office or department directly.