Crown Center for Middle East Studies

On April 25, @NaderHabibi2, the Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East, spoke with Al Jazeera regarding the impact of war on Iran's economy. Click here to watch the full interview: mediaview.aljazeera.com/video/sQNFS6FR…

THURSDAY: Understanding Syria: Past, Present, and Future: A Crown Seminar with Daniel Neep, in conversation with Omar Dahi, on the occasion of the publication of Syria: A Modern History Syria’s modern history is often explained through political polarization and communal conflict. Such accounts, however, tend to overlook another important dimension: the economic and geographical dynamics of uneven development. In this Crown Seminar celebrating the publication of his new book Syria: A Modern History, Daniel Neep shows how these inequalities have repeatedly fueled rebellion and repression—from Ottoman reforms and French rule to Baʿathist state-building, the 2011 uprising, and the Assad regime’s collapse in 2024. In conversation with Omar Dahi, Neep examines how the modern Syrian state was forged not only through sectarian politics, but through struggles over land, resources, and regional power, offering a new lens on Syria’s past and its political future. Click here for more information and to register for virtual attendance: brandeis.edu/crown/events/2…

FALL 2026 COURSE: POL 164A — Seminar: Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking From the advent of Zionism and Arab nationalism in the late 19th century to October 7, 2023, the ensuing Gaza War, and the U.S.-Israel war with Iran earlier this year, this class will survey more than 125 years of conflict and peacemaking in the Middle East. Uniquely, the class will look at the tumultuous events of this period through multiple prisms as it will be team-taught by three scholars – an Egyptian, a Palestinian, and an Israeli. The purpose of the class is to sensitize students to the multiple narratives about the conflict as well as to provide a toolbox for analyzing the causes of the most important milestones in its history. It will be taught seminar-style with a high premium on student participation in class discussions and qualifies as a Brandeis Writing Intensive (WI) course. Click here to learn more about this course and others taught by Crown Center faculty: brandeis.edu/crown/courses.…

Tomorrow: Nuclear Security in Dangerous Times Gary Samore, the Crown Family Director, will be speaking on a panel tomorrow organized by the Center for German and European Studies, discussing the growing role that nuclear weapons play in foreign policy and global conflicts. He will be joined by Mariana Budjeryn, and Karl-Heinz Kamp. Wed., April 15, 2026 12:00 - 1:30 pm ET (US) Hybrid (Zoom and In-Person Event) Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University Campus Click here for more information and to register for virtual attendance: brandeis.edu/cges/news-even…

For the last several weeks, the Strait of Hormuz has played a critical role in the U.S.-Israeli and Iran war. @NaderHabibi2 , the Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East at the Crown Center, spoke about the global economic impacts of the war during a panel focused on the geopolitics of the Strait of Hormuz, organized by @MIT_CIS. Click here to watch the full discussion: youtube.com/watch?v=SpYC0n…

What is the growing relationship between capitalism and the museum industry? In her new book, "Art Capital," Beth Derderian examines the shift from 19th-20th century cultural and state paradigms towards a more market-oriented framework, demonstrating this through the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Last week, she discussed her research with Tugrul Mende on the New Books Network. Listen to the full podcast: newbooksnetwork.com/art-capital-2

"Understanding the 2026 war on Iran to be, like 1991, an effort at maintaining a U.S.-dominated world order helps cut through some of the confusion coming from Washington" In a recent piece for Foreign Policy, Daniel Neep, a Resident Fellow at the Crown Center argues that Donald Trump is trying to recreate the strategic logic of the 1991 Gulf War, but changes in the international system make that approach far less viable. Click here to read the full article: foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/03/ira…

Today at 3pm EST, Naghmeh Sohrabi Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the Crown Center, will be in conversation with three other leading experts on Iran, during an event organized Boston Review, to provide insight into the U.S-Israeli Iran War, its reactions, and impacts. Click here for more information and to register for virtual attendance: secure.givelively.org/event/boston-c…

UPCOMING EVENT: LESSONS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST FOR A WARMING PLANET A CROWN SEMINAR WITH ON BARAK Thursday, April 16 11 AM–12:15 PM EST Online Click here to register for attendance (brandeis.edu/crown/events/2… The years 2023, 2024, and 2025 stand as the three hottest years on record. Yet despite such record-breaking temperatures, many people still struggle to grasp the severity of the climate crisis. In this Crown Seminar, On Barak draws from his book Heat, A History to examine the Middle East as a global hotspot already living with the realities of extreme heat. In conversation with Natasha Iskander, Barak shows how the ways we measure, monitor, and adapt to rising temperatures have dulled our sensitivity to climate change and stripped global warming of its political dimensions—even as it deepens ethnic, class, and gender inequalities. On Barak is a social and cultural historian of science and technology at Tel Aviv University. Natasha Iskander is the James Weldon Johnson Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

SUDAN'S WAR AND THE FATE OF THE REVOLUTION A CONVERSATION WITH NADA ALI AND ANNA REUMERT Sudan’s war is one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with a February 2026 UN report finding that atrocities in El Fasher bear the “hallmarks of genocide.” Yet the conflict is often reduced to a power struggle between rival militaries—the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces—obscuring its deeper political dimensions. In this Crown Conversation, we spoke with Sudan experts Nada Ali and Anna Reumert about Sudan’s war: whether it is best understood as counterrevolutionary, how it relates to the unfinished demands of Sudan’s 2018–19 uprising, and how an incomplete democratic transition morphed into an extractive war economy. Even amid escalating violence and broken ceasefires, Ali and Reumert emphasize that civilian networks—from Emergency Response Rooms to women’s cooperatives to diaspora organizing—are keeping people alive while sustaining the possibility of a future civilian government. Nada Ali is an assistant professor in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Anna Reumert is the Neubauer Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center. Click here to read the full conversation: brandeis.edu/crown/publicat…

Since 2022, Naghmeh Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the Crown Center, has shared her thoughts and analysis on her Substack "These are True Things." In recent weeks, as the war involving the U.S., Israel and Iran has continued, she has shared insights and translated texts from inside Iran amid a media blackout. In a conversation with Bidoun Projects, Sohrabi reflected on the evolution of her Substack, and the media landscape in and outside Iran. Click here to read the full article: bidoun.org/articles/the-t…

WEDNESDAY: The Revolution Within: Islamic Media and the Struggle for a New Egypt. What did Islamic television have to do with Egypt’s 2011 revolution? Ahead of this week's Crown Seminar, Junior Research Fellows Nader Andrawos and Ibrahim Elhoudaiby share their insights on the role Islamic media played in the Revolution. Join the Crown Center on Wednesday at 11 am to hear from Yasmin Moll, who will discuss her long-term field work on the subject, in conversation with Amahl Bishara. Click here to learn more and register for virtual attendance: brandeis.edu/crown/events/2…

On March 11, the Crown Center hosted a teach-in about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its widespread regional impact. Six different Crown Center experts offered a range of perspectives on the war, including military aims, economic impacts, and historical context. Brandeis Stories captured key takeaways from the discussion, providing an overview of the speaker's insights. Click here to read the article: brandeis.edu/stories/2026/m…

“We tend to forget that there are people who, after the bombs fall, have to go about some kind of life.” Naghmeh Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at the Crown Center, appeared on “Democracy Now!” Monday to discuss the ongoing war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran. Click here to watch the full segment: democracynow.org/2026/3/16/nagh…

RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE: Smuggling Law: Unsettled Sovereignties in Turkey's Kurdish Borderlands Smuggling is usually imagined as operating outside the law. Along the border between Turkey and Iran, however, smugglers often work through the law itself. In this March 4 Crown Seminar, Firat Bozcali showed how Turkey’s expanded anti-smuggling laws have turned criminal courts into unexpected arenas where Kurdish smugglers and their lawyers challenge state authority. In conversation with Elif Babül, he explored what these legal struggles tell us about sovereignty, law, and political power in border regions, with implications that extend beyond the Kurdish case. Click here to watch the full Crown Seminar: youtube.com/watch?v=MLfsxP…

UPCOMING EVENT: The Revolution Within: Islamic Media and the Struggle for a New Egypt A Crown Seminar with Yasmin Moll, in conversation with Amahl Bishara Wednesday, March 25 11 AM-12:15 PM Online (click here to register for virtual attendance: brandeis.edu/crown/events/2… ) What did Islamic television have to do with Egypt’s 2011 revolution? In this Crown Seminar, Yasmin Moll draws on long-term fieldwork at the Cairo branch of the world’s first Islamic television channel to show how debates over Islamic media became sites of theological and political struggle. These disputes over religious broadcasting intersected with broader contests over the shape of a “new Egypt,” reshaping religious life and revolutionary imagination for millions of ordinary people. In conversation with Amahl Bishara, Moll explores what the internal fractures of Islamic television and Egypt’s Islamic revival reveal about religion, media, and power beyond familiar stories of Islamism versus secularism. Yasmin Moll is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. Amahl Bishara is professor of Anthropology and of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora at Tufts University. (Photos by Yasmin Moll, collage by Karson Schenk.)

RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE: On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, prompting Iranian missile and drone retaliation against Israel and countries in the Gulf. In the days since, the war has widened and engulfed Lebanon and Iraq. On March 11, a campus teach-in was held with scholars from the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. The panel offered context and analysis to help make sense of a conflict whose implications are still unfolding, along with space for student questions and discussion. Click here to watch the full teach-in: youtube.com/watch?v=kslRnk…

ONE WEEK LEFT TO APPLY: Summer/Fall 2026 Research and Study Grants. The Summer/Fall 2026 application cycle closes March 20, 2026, with awards of up to $5,000 available to support student research projects and study focused on the Middle East. Click here for more details and to apply: brandeis.edu/crown/grants/r…

Maryam Alemzadeh, a former Junior Research Fellow at the Crown Center (2018-2020), recently appeared on CNN to discuss the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the shifting perceptions of the war inside Iran. Alemzadeh is currently an Associate Professor in History and Politics of Iran at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. Click here to watch the full interview: cnn.com/2026/03/11/wor…

Tomorrow, March 11, we will be hosting a campus teach-in with scholars from the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. The panel will offer context and analysis to help make sense of a conflict whose implications are still unfolding, along with space for student questions and discussion. In the lead-up to the event, Brandeis undergraduate students posed questions that they had regarding the war. On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, prompting Iranian missile and drone retaliation against Israel and countries in the Gulf. In the days since, the war has widened and engulfed Lebanon and Iraq. Panelists: Beth Derderian, Renée and Lester Crown Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies Shai Feldman, Raymond Frankel Professor in Israeli Politics and Society Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East Gary Samore, Crown Family Director and Professor of the Practice of Politics Naghmeh Sohrabi, Director for Research and the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History Kerem Can Uşşaklı, Junior Research Fellow Open to the university community and the public. Food will be served. Click here for more information and to register for virtual attendance: brandeis.edu/crown/events/2…