Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast
Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast is produced by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Through conversations with scholars and practitioners encompassing a variety of disciplines and perspectives, each episode debunks key misconceptions about the contemporary Middle East. Counter/Argument is committed to a balanced and dispassionate approach to the region and to making scholarship more widely accessible.
Episodes
10 episodes
Sudan’s Conflict Is Not Just a Civil War
Since April 2023, Sudan has been in a state of conflict driven by a power struggle between two rival military factions that has devastated the country. Over three million people were displaced just in the first 100 days, thousands killed, and m...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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32:31
Not All Salafis Are Jihadis
In the United States, Salafism has become synonymous with Islamic fundamentalism or Jihadism. But what do we really know about Salafism? Join host Naghmeh Sohrabi as she speaks with Raihan Ismail, author of
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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37:48
The Egyptian Revolution Is Not a Failed Revolution
Almost as soon as there was an Arab Spring, there was talk of an Arab winter. In Egypt, mass demonstrations in January 2011 led to the end of Hosni Mobarak’s 30-year presidency. But only two years later, the military removed the elected preside...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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35:14
Not All Palestinians Think the Same
For over 30 years, Dr. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, has been conducting public opinion polls of Palestinian and Israeli views on a wide var...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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34:03
Protests in Jordan Are Not Mundane
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan may look like an island of stability in the Middle East. Yet, hundreds of protests take place in the streets of Jordan’s towns and cities every year. What are people protesting? Why does the regime tolerate it? A...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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29:33
Not All Prisoners Are Political Prisoners in Iran
In part one of this two-part episode of Counter/Argument, we spoke with Golnar Nikpour, assistant professor of history at Dartmouth College and former Neubauer Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center, about the expansion of prisons ...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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34:32
Evin Is Not the Only Prison in Iran
In October 2022, news broke out about a fire in Evin, Iran’s notorious prison, killing several prisoners and injuring many more. This fire became yet another flashpoint in Iran’s autumn of discontent and thrust Iran’s carceral system into the l...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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32:59
Planting Trees in Turkey Is Not Environmental Activism
Why is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan so enthusiastic about planting trees? In this episode, we speak with Ekin Kurtiç, 2022-2024 Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and former Neubauer Junior Re...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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29:55