In our latest Middle East Brief, Candace Lukasik shows how Christian communities, amid decades of warnings of the disappearance of Christianity in the Middle East, remain politically and socially consequential despite demographic decline.
Andrea Wright, in conversation with Noora Lori, draws from her new book “Unruly Labor: A History of Oil in the Arabian Sea” to explore a forgotten history of labor activism in the oilfields of the Arabian Peninsula.
In this Crown Conversation, former and current Crown fellows Killian Clarke, Candace Lukasik, and Kerem Uşşaklı discuss how de-Baʿathification still shapes Iraq’s political order and the everyday lives of its citizens.
Prof. Shai Feldman and Dr. Khalil Shikaki assess the newly brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement and discuss the key questions that will shape the next phases, including whether this moment can lead to a lasting political settlement.
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies is committed to conducting balanced and dispassionate research of the modern Middle East that meets the highest academic standards. The Center seeks to help make decision- and opinion-makers better informed about the region. The scope of the center's research includes the 22 members of the Arab League as well as Turkey, Iran and Israel. The Crown Center's approach is multidisciplinary in its study of the politics, economics, history, security, sociology and anthropology of the region's states and societies.
For decades, American policymakers, advocacy groups, and Christian leaders have warned that violence, displacement, and political marginalization are leading to the disappearance of Christianity in the Middle East. In our latest Middle East Brief, Candace Lukasik argues that focusing on population decline alone obscures how Christian communities are actively reconfiguring their presence and authority. Drawing on cases from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, Lukasik examines three interlinked dynamics—pragmatic accommodation with authoritarian states, new modes of survival and resilience amid war and destruction, and the growing centrality of diaspora politics—to show how Christian communities remain politically and socially consequential despite demographic decline.
The Crown Center is dedicated to sharing balanced and dispassionate research on the Middle East. Please see the Crown Center analyses which delve into the roots and evolution of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
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Counter/Argument: A Middle East Podcast is produced by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. Through conversations with scholars and practitioners encompassing a variety of disciplines and perspectives, each episode will debunk key misconceptions about the contemporary Middle East. "Counter/Argument" is committed to a balanced and dispassionate approach to the region and to making scholarship more widely accessible. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
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