Category Middle East
‘Ungoverned Spaces’?
by Magnus Marsden **Previously published at Hurst’s blog.** In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Manchester, the term ‘ungoverned spaces’ has returned to the forefront of public debate about the significance of countries ranging from Syria to Afghanistan for so-called ‘Islamist’ terrorist networks. By instigating regime change in Muslim-majority states without making rigorous plans for their […]
Death in Mazar-I Sharif
by Magnus Marsden The brutal killing of up to 140 Afghan Army soldiers on April 22nd at an army base located near the city of Mazar-i Sharif in the north of Afghanistan raises profoundly troubling questions about the state of the country and wider region. The killings in Mazar come shortly after an attack (claimed […]
From the field: Jeddah
Originally published on the University of Copenhagen’s Asian Dynamics Blog. by Magnus Marsden Notes from the field: Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 27/11/16-17/12/16 It seems like a long time since I bumped into two traders in their mid-forties from Afghanistan on a cold and wet spring night in Yiwu’s night market. As I chatted to […]
The Conspiracy Theorist’s Conspiracy Theorist?
by Jon Mitchell HyperNormalisation is the new film by Adam Curtis, released on BBC iPlayer on 16th October. As with all his films, it is built around visual and aural juxtaposition and comparison, drawing links across temporal, thematic and geographical space to forge a particular vision – the Curtis vision – of the world as […]
From the Field: Herat
Notes from the Field: Regional Connectivity as a Site for the Ethnography of Diplomacy, Afghanistan 6/10/16 – 6/11/16 was originally published on the University of Copenhagen’s Asian Dynamics Blog. by Magnus Marsden During this last year of research I have had the opportunity of attending a number of most thought provoking meetings. I have been able […]