A Portrait of James Joyce’s Lessons in a Kuwait English Class
What can Euro-American modernism mean to an undergraduate student of literature in Kuwait today? My students are much more focused on claiming identity than appreciating the power of not belonging. What this desire to identify forecloses, however, is contingency, openness, transformation — the possibility that things might be differently arranged.
Language Is a Powerful Weapon in the Israel-Palestine Conflict
The language used by those who wield power in Israel and the West reveals an overarching theme — the dissociation of Israeli violence from its lethal consequences. The normalization of violence is perpetuated through overlapping linguistic patterns that have emerged from the last 75 years of Israeli statehood and occupation.
A Controversial Irrigation Canal Is a New Symbol of Hope for Haiti
An irrigation canal is at the heart of a diplomatic standoff between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. For Haiti, which is beset by gang violence and facing a humanitarian crisis, this is about more than just a canal. It is about a country’s right to exploit its own resources.
How a Million-Dollar Viking Chess Piece Was Found in a Kitchen Drawer
A knickknack from a Scottish family’s kitchen drawer turned out to be a Viking chess piece from the celebrated Lewis hoard and sold at Sotheby’s for almost $1 million — testimony to the power of the mundane to mask the simply unimaginable.
The Emotional Fog of War — with Arwa Damon
In a conflict clouded by trauma, emotion and misinformation, the facts on the ground can be hard to make out. Former CNN correspondent Arwa Damon and New Lines magazine’s Faisal Al Yafai talk about how to see more clearly through the fog of the Gaza War.