Speech Bubble: A Comic Festival in Algiers
12 Nov 2015 Le Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Alger is held on hallowed ground. Between the massive Martyrs Monument and the Army Museum, the white tent city of booksellers, exhibitions, plenaries and workshops sits above the hills, upon a multi-floor shopping center of the Esplanade de Riadh El Feth. The Martyrs Monument’s distinctive
Egypt’s Intellectual Situation
September 17, 2015 Painter Adel El-Siwi leads me through his workspace on the fourth floor of a downtown Cairo apartment building. His hands, cargo shorts, pink T-shirt, and Crocs are splattered with paint. Shelves of art, literature, and philosophy books reach the high ceiling. Across the corridor, massive canvases face the wall like unopened presents. Tubes of
It’s a Small Sea After All: La Paz to Puerto Escondido
No paved roads, no power lines, no fresh water. As we set the main sail and aim north, we travel into one of the most remote areas in North America. From above, this coast looks void of human influence. A typical US coastal square kilometer contains 200 people. On average, only two souls inhabit each
Crime And Climate Change
Until the summer of 2014, La Paz had lived up to its name, which means ‘the peace.’ The coastal city on the Baja peninsula seemed immune from the drug trafficking violence of the mainland, which is estimated to have claimed 120,000 lives since 2006. But on July 31st, that bloodless exemption vanished. On the side
A Mysterious Disappearance at Cedros Island
About the Author Living and traveling on a sailboat is often about suffering gracefully and making good decisions in bad situations. I think that’s part of the reason I choose to sail the coasts of Latin America and the Caribbean. My partner Josh and I get to share the challenges of a seabound experience with
Cairo Art Crime: George Bahgory and the Missing Pieces
July 11, 2015 A source in Beirut tipped me off. Somebody had stolen paintings—two hundred paintings—from Egyptian artist George Bahgory. Five months earlier, I attended the opening of Bahgory’s retrospective. Scores of elegant Cairenes crunched toast with black caviar. They roamed through six rooms of paintings, gazing at six decades of work. In the main
A Parking Garage in the Square
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Based in Cairo, I am examining media and visual culture in Egypt and across the Middle East. I have researched comics and satire in the region since 2012. Spending long evenings with cartoonists grappling with the aftermath of the revolution, I discovered that pop culture captures significant and subversive narratives that are
Elena Agarkova Newsletters
Fellowship Years: 2008-2010 Fellowship Topic: Siberia’s natural resources and its people. Fellowship Area: Russia One Step into Russia 7/08 Behind Closed Doors and Underground 8/08 From Little Black Dress to Down Parker 9/08 Special Economic Zones and The Future of Tourism on Baikal 10/08 The Incredible Shrinking Special Economic Zone, Part 1 11/08 The Incredible Shrinking Special Economic
Ezra Fieser Newsletters
Fellowship Years: 2008 – 2010 Fellowship Area(s): Guatemala From Bulls-eye to Backdrop: Santiago Atitlán Eleven Years After Guatemala’s Civil War San Simón and the Evangelicals Democracy or Dictatorship? The Rebirth of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua Mining Controversy: A Mayan Town and a Gold Mine Costa Rica: Booming on the Backs of Nicaraguans Re-counting the Dead in Guatemala
Raphael Soifer Newsletters
Fellowship Years: 2007 – 2009 Fellowship Area(s): Brazil Performing Politics in São Paulo Places of Performance: Images and Ideas from the Hemispheric Institute Encuentro Playing to the Streets in the “City of Walls:” Intersections of Art, Resistance and Urban Change – Part One Playing to the Streets in the “City of Walls:” Intersections of Art, Resistance and