Online Magazine Brings New Life to Arab Studies

By Ursula Lindsey. The week after President Obama announced a stepped-up military campaign against jihadists in Iraq and Syria, the online magazine Jadaliyya responded. An essay by the Lebanese historian Fawwaz Traboulsi argued that the so-called Islamic State was born of the United States’ 2003 war on Iraq, local despotism and the thwarted hopes of the 2011 Arab uprisings. Jadaliyya’s editors were also busy in September publishing regular updates and letters of support for Steven G. Salaita, whose job offer from the University of Illinois had been rescinded over his tweets criticizing Israel. More...