Jonathan Guyer, Author at Institute of Current World Affairs

From Cairo, Jonathan focused on examining connections between cultural currents and political change across the region. He has been living and working in Egypt since 2012, where he is senior editor of the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, a policy journal published by the American University in Cairo. Managing the journal’s digital strategy, Jonathan edits the Cairo Review’s blog and books section. From 2012 to 2013, he was a Fulbright fellow researching political cartoons in Egypt. He previously served as a program associate for the New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force in Washington, DC, and as assistant editor of Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel. A frequent analyst on Public Radio International, he has contributed to Guernica, The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, New York Magazine, Nieman Reports, The Guardian, Salon, and others. His research on Egyptian satire has been cited by the Associated Press, CNN, The Economist, The Nation, New Statesman, Reuters, and TIME, as well a variety of international news outlets. A cartoonist himself, he blogs about Arabic comics and caricature at oumcartoon.tumblr.com.

Posts and Dispatches from Jonathan Guyer:

Blog: Five Cartoons about Cairo’s Cathedral Bombing
December 16, 2016 Cartoonists for Egyptian newspapers regularly draw in the wake of a tragedy. On December 11, a suicide bomber attacked attacked St. Paul and St. Peter Church, leaving 25 dead and 50 injured. While Egypt has experienced targeted assassinations, attacks on police outposts, and a plane crash in recent times, the strike on...
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Mock Election: Egypt’s Pageantry, and America’s
November 14, 2016 The day before America’s presidential election, the American University in Cairo hosted a mock vote. My colleagues from the Cairo Review of Global Affairs handed out ballots to students. It was part of a promotional effort for the Fall 2016 issue, which focuses on “Democracy Deficits,” in America, Russia, Pakistan, and elsewhere.[1]...
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Cairo Comics, Between High and Low Art
I presented this paper, originally entitled “Alterative Origins of Arab Comics,” at the second annual Cairo Comix Festival on October 4, 2016, hosted at the American University in Cairo. It was part of a seminar day devoted to comics scholarship, including presentations from the British critic Paul Gravett and the French critic Jean-Pierre Mercier. The...
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Jonathan Guyer on Yale University Radio
Current fellow Jonathan Guyer was recently interviewed by Yale University Radio on the implications of the 2016 election results on US-Egypt relations. His full interview can be listened to through the link below. http://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/jonathan-guyer/...
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Muzzling Musa Kart
ICWA fellow Jonathan Guyer interviewed Musa Kart, a Turkish cartoonist who was detained for his satirical depictions of president Erdogan and the Turkish government. Musa spoke about his experience with government censorship and the importance of humor as a method of protest. Jonathan’s piece about his interview with Musa can be read on his blog....
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Jonathan Guyer Interviewed on PRI
ICWA Fellow Jonathan Guyer was interviewed by PRI regarding the assassination of Jordanian writer, Nadar Hattar, and the implications it has for freedom of speech in Jordan. Nadar Hatter was arrested for sharing a controversial political cartoon on Facebook and was to stand trial for insulting Islam. Before his trial, Hatter was shot outside the Amman...
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Special Coup Issue: Turkish Cartoonists in Crisis
July 2016 Istanbul: Outside of the office of Evrensel, the socialist newspaper, in the historic neighborhood of Fatih, a group of young journalists, some in Star Wars T-shirts and all wearing sneakers, take a cigarette break. Near them, dozens of elderly men drink tea and smoke on low stools, their street café facing walls plastered with...
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A New Generation of Arab Comics
Jonathan offers an crash course on Arab comic art in his review of the book Muqtatafat: A Comics Anthology Featuring Artists from the Middle East Region, by A. David Lewis, Anna Mudd, and Paul Beran. In his essay, Jonathan discusses a new generation of comic artists in the Arab world and their innovative works, which appear online and in print. In explaining...
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A Fire in Cairo
25 June 2016 Attaba is Cairo’s most popular bazaar. Just east of downtown, the sprawling network of alleys and squares offers thousands of stores and street sellers. It takes skill to navigate the crowds; everyone has a shopping bag—or two or three—in their hands, or on their heads, trying to edge their way through the...
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Fast Times at Art Dubai
May 2, 2016 I am in a Masarati speeding toward the dinner party of an Iranian collector. A publicist invited me an hour ago. The motor hums, gently massaging my back, as the car cruises past strip malls and warehouses that could be on the outskirts of LA. At the destination, strings of white light...
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