All posts by tabsir

Building Southern Sudan

Anthropology/Sociology, Development, Folklore and Proverbs, Sudan



Building southern Sudan through promotion of our history and culture

Dr. Jok Madut Jok, New Sudan Vision, October 15, 2010

(New York) – To be a nation means having a citizenry that takes pride in citizenship in “South Sudan” first and in tribal citizenship second. Such a nation can no longer assume that shared interests alone will continue to unite us. So far, our struggle to wrestle our freedom from the grips of the Khartoum-based successive governments has been the most unifying force for South Sudan. Now that this struggle has seen some success, what will unite us is the desire to build a strong nation together, and such a nation will need a shared identity. Such a shared identity will need to be harnessed, it needs to be politically constructed, and it is our task to forge it.

To this end, I envision my task as undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage as joining a collective effort with the minister, the staff of the ministry and other branches of GOSS to set a policy for constructing our nation’s identity.

A solution begins with the correct identification of the nature of the problem. The most significant enemy of South Sudan’s cohesion, national loyalty and the citizens’ pride in their nation will be a growing sense of exclusion from the national platform, media, government programs and access to services. Any citizen who will feel excluded will never develop that important sense of pride in his/her nation. A starting point to addressing the feeling of exclusion is to state the obvious, that South Sudan belongs to all South Sudanese; it does not belong to any ethnic, religious or political group. Continue reading Building Southern Sudan →

Me and the Feminists

Egypt, Gender and Sexuality, Saudi Arabia

By Mona Eltahawy, The Jerusalem Report, November 24, 2010

I was 23 years old and I was interviewing an Egyptian feminist who had just taken over as editor-in-chief of a women’s magazine of the cooking-and-fashion variety, which she had vowed to turn into the go-to magazine for women’s rights.

I was excited to meet her because she was one of the real-life feminists that my recently returned-to-Egypt self loved to meet to help me turn theory into action. Ever since I’d discovered feminist journals on the bookshelves at my university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the age of 19, I’d devoured all I could of the theory.

I had returned to Egypt at 21 hungry to put it into action. My first encounter with those essays was nothing short of terrifying. That’s how you know what you need – it scares the hell out of you because it encourages you to jump but you don’t know if you’ll ever land. Religious conservatism was suffocating me in Saudi Arabia and I was losing my mind. I didn’t care about landing. I was overdue for a jump.

So returning to Egypt at 21 after 14 years away was a chance to water that seed of feminism with the sustenance of real-life women who embodied it. I looked for them everywhere I could. Many of the older women practically adopted me, inviting me to their meetings, sending me their latest reports and alerting me ahead of important conferences they were holding. Continue reading Me and the Feminists →

Inventing Muslims: 1001 Inventions Exhibit now in New York

Film and Video, Islamic Sciences, Scholars, Teaching Resources

New York launch for 1001 Inventions

1001 Inventions at the New York Hall of Science Uncovers a Thousand Years of Science and Technology Developed Throughout Muslim Civilization.

Five-Year Global Tour Makes U.S. Debut Following Record Breaking Runs in London and Istanbul

17 November 2010, New York — After blockbuster runs in London and Istanbul, 1001 Inventions, an exhibition highlighting the scientific legacy of Muslim civilization in our modern age, will make its United States premiere at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) on December 4, 2010.

The exhibition reveals the forgotten history of men and women from a variety of faiths and backgrounds whose contributions to the advancement of scholarship and technology during the Middle Ages helped pave the way for the European Renaissance. This period of history from the 7th through 17th centuries is commonly–though, often erroneously—referred to as the “Dark Ages.”

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a 20-foot replica of Al-Jazari’s “elephant clock,” which dates to the 13th century. Other signature elements include a model of a ninth century flying machine and a scale model of a Chinese junk ship built in the 15th century. Divided into seven zones, 1001 Inventions includes more than 60 interactive exhibits that delve into discoveries that shaped the home, school, market, hospital, town, world and universe. Visitors will learn when scientists first discovered how we see, how ancient approaches to health influence modern medicine, why East and West share so much architectural heritage, and the origins of everyday items like coffee, toothbrushes, soap, and much more. Continue reading Inventing Muslims: 1001 Inventions Exhibit now in New York →

Translating Arabic Literature

Islamic Texts, Literature, Scholars, Teaching Resources, United Arab Emirates


Cambridge Arabic expert made executive editor of five-year project, University of Cambridge, November 29, 2010

James Montgomery, Professor of Classical Arabic at Cambridge University, has been appointed as Executive Editor of a five-year project at the Library of Arabic Literature (LAL).

He will work in conjunction with Professor Philip Kennedy (General Editor and Faculty Director, NYUAD Institute) and Shawkat M. Toorawa, (Executive Editor and Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Cornell University).

The project, funded by a grant from NYUAD’s research centre, the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, will initially publish 35 English translations of the great works of classical Arabic literature. The translations, rendered in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, will be undertaken by renowned scholars of Arabic literature and Islamic studies. The translations will include a full range of works, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history and historiography. Continue reading Translating Arabic Literature →

Rebuff the Radicals

Terrorism Issue, Yemen



The Egyptian televangelist Amr Khaled with a group of young Yemeni performers at the opening ceremony of a new campaign to combat religious extremism in Yemen. Yemen Times photo

by Tom Finn. Yemen Times, November 25, 2010

ADEN, Nov. 23 — A campaign has been launched by the Yemeni government to win over Yemeni hearts and minds, in a battle to confront extremist ideology and favour Islam’s moderation.

The project was launched on Wednesday at an opening ceremony in Aden attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and representatives from the Ministries of Tourism, Culture and Justice.

As well as an array of performances by Yemeni children, the ceremony included a speech by Amr Khaled, the world renowned Egyptian televangelist, whose organization, the Right Start Foundation, will be leading the two week project to confront religious extremism in Yemen. Continue reading Rebuff the Radicals →

Afghan Trucks 1

Afghanistan, Contemporary Art, Travel

Way back in 1976 I picked up a delightful photographic book called Afghan Trucks, published by the Stonehill Publishing Company in New York. The photographer was Jean-Charles Blanc, who obviously had a far easier time trucking around Afghanistan than a photographer would today. The brief introduction says nothing about the photographer. It does say a lot about Afghan drivers:

“The driver and his mates are conditioned to a hard, lonely, even painful life, but its austerity is brightened by the dazzling exterior decor of the truck. Flowers transform it into a moving oasis: with rows of tulips and bouquets of roses clinging to its sides, the Afghan truck is like a traveling art gallery wending its way through arid mountains and deserts. Continue reading Afghan Trucks 1 →

Worse than Vietnam

Afghanistan, Iraq War, Obama Administration, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


by Robert Wright, The New York Times, Opinionator, November 23, 2010

“We did the Cole and we wanted the United States to react. And if they reacted, they are going to invade Afghanistan and that’s what we want … . Then we will start holy war against the Americans, exactly like the Soviets.”
— Mohammed Atef, military commander of Al Qaeda, in November of 2000

You have to give the people at Al Qaeda this much: They plan ahead. And they stick with their goals. If bombing the U.S.S. Cole failed to get American troops mired in Afghanistan, maybe 9/11 would do the trick?

You might say. Last week at the NATO summit President Obama pushed the light at the end of the tunnel further down the tracks. By the end of 2014, he now tells us, American combat operations in Afghanistan will cease.

It’s not as if we need those four years to set any records. At just over nine years of age, this war is already the longest in American history. And this Saturday we’ll eclipse the Soviet Union’s misadventure in Afghanistan; the Soviets brought their own personal Vietnam to an end after nine years and seven weeks.

Is Afghanistan, as some people say, America’s second Vietnam? Actually, a point-by-point comparison of the two wars suggests that it’s worse than that. Continue reading Worse than Vietnam →