ARAB STUDIES JOURNAL
VOL. XXIV, NO. 2
EDITOR`S NOTE
A wedding party walks the shattered streets of Aleppo. A flash mob dances in a public square in occupied Ramallah. These scenes inspire the imagina-tions of millions as they travel through social media. They are shocking and comforting at once. The Arab world we are accustomed to seeing is one of accumulating catastrophes, multiple wars, occupations, and unprecedented authoritarian and sectarian militarization. By all counts, the conditions of people, as varied as they may be, in places like Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, and Palestine appear to only be getting worse before, and if, they will get any better. These conditions target the very possibility of life. Yet despite these hardships and amidst the varieties of dispossession and injustice we are now witnessing, people continue to live, to create, and to love.
It is in the spirit of honoring this will to live that we present this issue of Arab Studies Journal. We are proud to feature articles that explore the history of modern Assyrian and Chaldean appellations, contribute a literary analysis of Cairo in a time of intense political change and upheaval, and present a historical study of Arab nationalism in the “Trucial States.” A special section titled “Love in the Arab World” includes a rich body of ethnographic studies on compatibility and marriage in Jordan; Valentine’s Day in Egypt; and the politics of desire in post-uprising Syrian television drama. As always, we are pleased to accompany our articles with a review section that engages a number of recent contributions to the field. Together these pieces testify to the resilience of the everyday and the significance of untold stories that are perhaps best represented in the words of Mahmoud Darwish, “One day I will be what I wish to be.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARAB STUDIES JOURNAL
VOL. XXIV, NO. 2
Editor`s Note
ARTICLES
Minority Identities Before and After Iraq: The Making of the Modern Assyrian and Chaldean Appellations
Yasmeen Hanoosh
Thus the Sadness of the Heron: Interpreting Aslan’s Imbaba
Hazem Ziada
Overthrowing the Shaykhs: The Trucial States at the Intersection of Anti-Imperialism, Arab Nationalism, and Politics, 1952-1966
Kristi N. Barnwell
SPECIAL SECTION: LOVE IN THE ARAB WORLD
The Trouble of Love in the Arab World: Romance, Marriage, and the Shaping of Intimate Lives
Corinne Fortier, Aymon Kreill, and Irene Maffi
A Different Kind of Love: Compatibility (Insijam) and Marriage in Jordan
Fida Adely
The Price of Love: Valentine’s Day in Egypt and Its Enemies
Aymon Kreil
The Politics of Love and Desire in Post-Uprising Syrian Television Drama
Rebecca Joubin
REVIEWS
Of Sand or Soil: Genealogy and Tribal Belonging in Saudi Arabia, by Nadav Samin
Reviewed by Rosie Bsheer
Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860–1950, by Marwa Elshakry
Reviewed by Hilary Falb Kalisman
A History of Modern Oman, by Jeremy Jones and Nicholas Ridout
Reviewed by Guillemette Crouzet
The Wages of Oil: Parliaments and Economic Development in Kuwait and the UAE, by Michael Herb
Reviewed by Jocelyn Sage Mitchell
The Conflict Shoreline: Colonization as Climate Change in the Negev Desert, by Eyal Weizman and Fazal Sheikh
Reviewed by Kareem Rabie
Palestine and the Decline of the Ottoman Empire: Modernisation and the Path to Palestinian Statehood, by Farid Al-Salim
Reviewed by Erik Freas
REVIEW ESSAY
The British Invasion and Occupation of Ottoman Iraq, by Dale Stahl
- Enemy on the Euphrates: The British Occupation of Iraq and the Great Arab Revolt, 1914–1921, by Ian Rutledge
- Desert Hell: The British Invasion of Mesopotamia, by Charles Townshend