“How can a country be home to sectarian militias and yet also to people who are educated, sophisticated, and pluralistic? This is not a simple matter. It's the kind of dialectical inquiry that's impossible to present in the world of Twitter feeds and newspapers where stories are shorter and shorter and more simplistic.” PeopleWorldKindCountryMatterStoriesHomeSimpleImpossibleNewspapersEducatedSophisticatedInquiryMilitia Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Americans are curious about the texture of everyday life in the Middle East because they rarely get to see it. I wanted readers to feel like they were sitting around the dinner table with me and my friends, hearing what average people really say and really think, [where] the dinner table is the best place to find out.” PeopleThinkingFeelsWantedMiddleReaderSittingMy FriendsTablesEverydayAverageHearingDinnerEastCuriousMiddle EastEveryday LifeTextureSitting AroundBest PlaceDinner Table Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“So much of what we see and hear about the Middle East focuses on what we call politics, which is essentially ideology. But when it comes to the Middle East, and especially the Arab world, simply depicting people as human beings is the most political thing you can do.” PeopleWorldHumansPoliticalCan DoHuman BeingsMiddleEastIdeologyMiddle EastArab World Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“I chose to write about food: food is inherently political, but it's also an essential part of people's real lives. It's where the public and private spheres connect. I wanted to show readers that the larger politics of war and economics and U.S. foreign policy are inextricably bound to the supposedly trivial details of our everyday lives.” PeopleWritingWarRealShowsWantedPoliticalPolicyReaderEssentialsEconomicsEverydayBoundsDetailsReal LifeSpheresForeign PolicyEveryday Life Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Rulers like Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser started subsidizing bread as a way to buy loyalty, or at least obedience, and this system became so pervasive that the Tunisian scholar Larbi Sadiki described countries who used it as dimuqratiyyat al-khubz - "democracies of bread." But the problem with this system of offering bread in exchange for genuine democracy is that it can never last - sooner or later, the bread will run out, and people will start demanding bread and roses too.” PeopleWayCountryProblemRunningLastsUsedDemocracyRoseLoyaltyGenuineBreadObedienceAlsOfferingScholarRulersSooner Or LaterEgypt Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“There's a long history in the Middle East of "bread intifadas," starting with 1977 in Egypt, when Anwar Sadat tried to lift bread subsidies. People rebelled and poured into Tahrir Square, shouting slogans against the government just like they did earlier this year. Sadat learned his lesson and kept bread subsidies in place, and so did a host of other Middle Eastern dictators - many of whom were propped up for years by the West, partly through subsidized American wheat.” PeopleYearsLongGovernmentMiddleLessonsWestStartingEastBreadLiftsSquaresHostMiddle EastDictatorEgyptEasternSlogansShoutingWheatSubsidiesSadatTahrir Square Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“As a journalist, or an anthropologist, the convention is that people are there for you to study, and they are your objects.” PeopleStudyObjectsJournalistConventionsAnthropologists Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“Being an American journalist can put people on the defensive. In countries where people assume the press is partisan, like in Lebanon, or where it had essentially become an extension of the government, like in Iraq, people tend to see a journalist as an agent of his or her government. That can be dangerous if the United States military is occupying their country, or aligned with their enemies.” PeopleIfsCountryStatesGovernmentUnitedEnemyUnited StatesMilitaryDangerousPressesAssumingIraqAgentsJournalistExtensionsPartisansLebanonUnited States Military Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“But being an American woman married to an Arab guy - and a Muslim to boot! - put me in a different category. People would open up, and tell me things that they would never tell another journalist, no matter how persistent.” PeopleDifferentMatterGuyMarriedJournalistCategoriesBootsPersistentAmerican Woman Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“You [can] become part of someone else's narrative. Every once in a while I would get people asking me questions like, "If your husband is a Muslim, then why haven't you converted to Islam?" Interestingly enough, almost every person who asked me that was a Sunni, and it was their not-so-subtle way of implying that my Shiite husband was a bad Muslim for letting his infidel wife run around unconverted.” PeopleIfsWayPersonsEnoughRunningWifeHavensHusbandAskingIslamNarrativeSubtleYour HusbandInfidelImplying Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“I'm optimistic, though. Now, with the Arab Spring, I think that people in the region are beginning to overturn some of these clichés, and Western editors are starting to catch up. We're seeing some exceptions to the stereotypes, like Elizabeth Rubin's great piecein Newsweek, "The Feminists in the Middle of Tahrir Square." But an article like that shouldn't be the exception. It should be the rule.” PeopleThinkingShouldSeeingMiddleSpringWesternStartingFeministOptimisticExceptionRegionsEditorsSquaresArticlesStereotypeArab SpringTahrir Square Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“So much of what we see and hear about the Middle East focuses on what we call politics, which is essentially ideology. But when it comes to the Middle East, and especially the Arab world, simply depicting people as human beings is the most political thing you can do. And that's why I chose to write about food: food is inherently political, but it's also an essential part of people's real lives. It's where the public and private spheres connect.” PeopleWorldWritingHumansRealPoliticalCan DoHuman BeingsMiddleEssentialsEastReal LifeIdeologySpheresMiddle EastArab World Author:Annia Ciezadlo
