Tag Archives: media

What Celebrities and Dictators Have in Common

Posted on July 2, 2013 by

Last week Jennifer Lopez performed at a birthday party for Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the dictator of Turkmenistan. For Foreign Policy, I analyze the anxiety behind the outrage that ensued: Celebrities and dictators have a lot in common. They lead lavish lifestyles … Continue reading →

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Two Upcoming Talks

Posted on June 3, 2013 by

This Wednesday I’ll be giving a talk at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University with Noah Tucker, a fellow Central Asia analyst. Our talk is called “Digital Memory and a Massacre: Post-Soviet Uzbek Identity in the … Continue reading →

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Terrorism and Ethnicity in the American Media

Posted on April 21, 2013 by

I have a new article for Al Jazeera, The wrong kind of Caucasian, on the long history of the American media blaming an entire ethnicity for the violent acts of an individual: It is easy to criticise the media, and … Continue reading →

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Money Money, Ride the Pony

Posted on March 12, 2013 by

In a new article for Al Jazeera, I discuss how Americans – especially young Americans — are being conditioned to accept unpaid labor as normal. This is particularly true in journalism, as the recent debate over the Atlantic reveals: The news … Continue reading →

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Why do anthropologists ignore the internet?

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

I have a new essay up at Ethnography Matters called On Legitimacy, Place and the Anthropology of the Internet. This was adapted from a chapter of my dissertation which I had been encouraged to publish in an academic journal, but since … Continue reading →

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Why the phrase ‘The Muslim world’ is misleading

Posted on September 16, 2012 by

In my latest Al Jazeera column, I take on the misguided use of the phrase ‘the Muslim world’ to describe the very small number of Muslims participating in violent action against the West: It is time to retire the phrase … Continue reading →

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Pussy Riot Are Manic Pixie Dream Dissidents

Posted on August 18, 2012 by

In case you don’t have enough Pussy Riot coverage in your life (or coverage of Pussy Riot coverage), I have added to the over-saturation with my latest for Registan: In 2005, film critic Nathan Rabin coined the phrase Manic Pixie Dream … Continue reading →

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Digital Freedom of Expression in Uzbekistan

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

Today the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation published my report, “Digital Freedom of Expression in Uzbekistan:  An example of social control, and censorship,  in the 21st Century”. You can download it here. This report has been in … Continue reading →

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On the FPWomeratti

Posted on June 20, 2012 by

Every year Foreign Policy magazine unleashes its annual experiment in ego-trolling known as the Twitterati 100, in which it lists the 100 foreign policy experts who you should follow on Twitter. The list always inspires debate, but this year it … Continue reading →

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Celebrity activism and Kony2012

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

The website Opinio Juris asked me to write an article about Kony2012 as part of their expert symposium on social activism and international law. So of course I wrote about Justin Bieber: Kony2012 rose and fell on the power of … Continue reading →

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