“Part of the reason you see so little about this in the Western media is that Iraq was closed off from the outside world for so long under Saddam. But I think there's a deeper reason, which is that it messes with our assumptions - not just about Iraq, but about culture and human nature.” ThinkingWorldHumansLittlesLongReasonCultureMediaHuman NatureWesternIraqDeeperMessAssumptionSaddamOutside WorldWestern Media 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
“I don't have a problem with the media focusing on bad things happening. That's our job, after all. But I think it's incomplete, and I would even say it's inaccurate, to only portray a place through its tragedies.” ThinkingProblemJobsMediaHappeningsTragedyThings HappenBad ThingsIncompleteBad Things Happen 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
