Amman, Photo credit to Aishwarya, May 2016
My preliminary fieldwork included interviews with Ministers in the Palestinian Authority (West Bank) about Fatah's relationship with Palestinian security services; travel to Egypt to observe the July 2013 coup d'état; a year of document collection in Jordan; and a month in Tunisia networking and interviewing officials. This page contains pictures from the field, some about politics and some just for fun.
Photo credit to Sa'ad Zibadi, July 2013
Photo credit to Asma al-'Abd, July 2015
In Bil'in with Palestinian activist Iyad Burnat, the brother of Five Broken Cameras director, Emad Burnat.
Lights from a Palestinian reporter's camera equipment blinding me as I'm being interviewed during Ramallah's street demonstrations after Gazan Mohammad Assaf won Arab Idol. I didn't make the news.
Photo: December 2014
When I left the West Bank in August 2013, the Birzeit Mall (above/below) had not broken ground but was nearly complete in December 2014.
Photo credit to Ghassan, December 2014
Above: The Land of Sad Oranges, a poem by famous Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, comes to life in Birzeit. Below: The first snowfall in Birzeit in 2014.
Photo credit to Ghassan, December 2014
Photo: June 2015
Photo of the Palestinian Civil Police, the chief of which arrested me for taking this picture.
These signs were all over Cairo in July 2013. They were part of the Tamarod (rebellion) movement that aimed to oust President Mohammed Morsi. The Arabic reads (top) irhalo (get out) and (bottom) al-sha'ab yureed 'isqaat al-Ikhwan (the people want the fall of the Brotherhood).
Photo: July 2013
Statue of Saddam Hussein in Birzeit, West Bank.
Photo: June 2013
Photo: July 2013
Photo: July 2013
Photo: September 2015
Photo: July 2013
Anti-regime graffiti in Tahrir Square. The picture was taken during Sisi's military takeover. It's not clear if the graffiti is from 2011 or 2013.
Photo: July 2015
This is a bad picture because I'm clandestinely trying to photo the Palestinian Authority's Presidential Guard. I try to take one photo of each of the PA's many coup-proofed security services, like Preventive Security, the Civil Police, Intelligence, and Public Security.
My flatmates and I paid the requisite respect to King Abdullah II and reminded ourselves that the "walls have ears." I learned from teaching in Amman that lively debate, even if critical of the King's policies, is tolerated. So long as you pay respect to the King (or Queen, but so far only King) and don't challenge the monarchy's legitimacy, then you can speak pretty freely.
Signs near Tahrir Square, Cairo, following the July 2013 coup d'etat that ousted Mohammed Morsi. President Obama's negative comments about the coup prompted protests but demonstrators wanted to be clear that their frustration wasn't anti-American. Outlets like the NYT and LATimes didn't cover these protests, but did report on "anti-Americanism" in Egypt.