Images on social media play an important role in constructing fake news and driving the narratives that fulfil political agendas. Misinformation about Muslims — including refugees, immigrants and ordinary citizens — has been used to construct harmful narratives, reinforce existing Islamophobia and, arguably, create a fertile environment for enacting profound...
Short of stealing people’s diaries or tapping their phone calls, what else can researchers do to gather the most objective data possible? For decades, social scientists have conducted research using some combination of surveys, census data, focus groups, interviews and observation techniques. With the exception of covert observation, which brings...
Abdel Bari Atwan’s book is carefully researched and offers new insights into the Islamic State’s inner workings. The digital world has been a central feature of the Islamic State’s (IS) rise to power, driving much of its recruitment as well as building and maintaining its fearsome image. But the strategy behind...
The power of the online world must not be underestimated, particularly when examining how Muslims are viewed. Muslims living and working in the United States are being forced to reconsider their futures in light of Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. Citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries—Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Somalia—will...
As Turkey reels from last week’s failed coup, one-time Istanbul resident Samantha North reflects on how events have unfolded. It is sobering and painful to imagine bad fortune befalling those places you hold dear; to know that the streets that you once frequented and the bridges you once traversed have...
The economic powerhouse of Morocco’s Casablanca is light years away from the image created in a Hollywood studio 70 years ago. Our story starts in 1942 with Europe in the midst of war. We find ourselves in the dusty North African outpost of Casablanca, where a motley assortment of refugees,...
The time is ripe for governments to start monitoring their digital reputation just as they monitor it in the real world. Since ancient times, places have always sought to define identities for themselves. From hosting sporting events or minting coins, to producing famed thinkers or becoming notorious in battle, these achievements...
International support for Kurds, especially the beleaguered people of Kobane, is at an all-time high. Across Turkey, the plight of Kobane — a Syrian border town — is on everyone’s mind. On October 7, thousands hit the streets to protest the Turkish government’s lack of action against the looming threat...
The Syrian conflict through the eyes of a Chinese war correspondent. Syria has been making headline news for over two years as the battle rages on between President Bashar al-Assad’s army and the increasingly fragmented bands of rebel fighters. Meanwhile, Libya, Egypt and other restive nations continue to grumble as...
