Contact Me
About
Writer, researcher, critic.Recent Tweets
- RT @AoDespair: No, unfuck yourself on this. I am not speaking for myself, but for a multitude of others when I tell you that there are so m… 30 minutes ago
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2020
- December 2018
- October 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
Site Menu
Meta
Tag Archives: media
What Celebrities and Dictators Have in Common
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged central asia, corruption, fame, human rights, media, repression, turkmenistan
3 Comments
Two Upcoming Talks
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
Terrorism and Ethnicity in the American Media
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
Money Money, Ride the Pony
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
Why do anthropologists ignore the internet?
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
Why the phrase ‘The Muslim world’ is misleading
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
Pussy Riot Are Manic Pixie Dream Dissidents
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
Digital Freedom of Expression in Uzbekistan
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
On the FPWomeratti
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
Celebrity activism and Kony2012
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
