Building social cohesion through football in post-ISIS Iraq
Promoting contact between members of different groups can build tolerance within an intervention, but building broader social cohesion is more challenging. A field experiment in a northern Iraqi amateur football league demonstrated that sport-based contact improved Christian players’ behaviour towards their Muslim peers. The study, by Salma Mousa of Stanford University, California, sought to assess [...]
Can militant groups be environmentalists?
The case for engaging with militant groups to protect the environment Competition over scarce natural resources is often a key driver of the tensions that fuel armed conflict in different corners of the world. Yet in the heat of battle, environmental considerations are often relegated to afterthoughts, as smoke from burning buildings clouds the skies [...]
On the frontline of war, Yemeni women are building peace
The lived experience of those most affected by war, and those working hardest to end it, has led to a tangible understanding that without women, there can be no just peace in Yemen. It was the third year of the war when Muna Luqman heard of a conflict over water in Al-Haymatain, a remote area [...]
An environmental movement for times of war, too
While current global action focuses on the impact of humans and industry on the environment during peacetime, what about during conflict? Oil wells set ablaze in Iraq. Forests pillaged in Colombia. Wildlife populations decimated across the Sahara-Sahel. Around the world, armed conflicts continue to cause significant damage to the environment. In turn, this damage often [...]
Banned Identity: A history of couscous during the Spanish Inquisition
For EATEN Magazine No. 7, I wrote about the history of couscous during the Spanish Inquisition - from noble dish to a symbol of a banned identity. Take a peak below, and order a copy here. “Talk to me about kuskusu, it is a noble and distinguished dish,” wrote the 15th-century magistrate of Granada, Abū [...]
Hitting nature where it hurts: Iran feels the pernicious effects of U.S. sanctions on biodiversity conservation
Iran feels the pernicious effects of US sanctions on biodiversity conservation Situated at the confluence of the Mediterranean, arid west Asian and temperate semi-humid Caspian climatic zones, Iran is home to a rich and complex array of biodiversity, including the world’s few remaining Asiatic cheetahs. Efforts to protect its biodiversity, however, have been challenged by [...]
What will it take for Canada to confront its femicide crisis?
Canada is often perceived as amongst the safest countries in the world, but when you zoom in, rhetoric of a peaceful Canada depends on who is looking - and from where - and whose experience of violence matters As civil society, activists, governments and the United Nations hail 2020 a critical year for advancing women’s [...]
Wildlife declines in conflict hotspots
The escalation of armed conflicts has caused dramatic population declines of endangered local species, ultimately putting humans at risk. The escalation of armed conflicts in the Sahara and Sahel – up 565% since 2011 – is accelerating population declines of endangered local species, such as African Savannah elephants and Saharan cheetahs, in areas that once [...]
Iraqi Kurdistan’s archaeological hotspots revived, but vulnerable
Political uncertainty, a protracted economic crisis and rapid development pose challenges to heritage conservation in the archaeologically rich Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In late October, University of Tübingen archaeologists working in the Kurdish region of Iraq discovered a cuneiform archive of 93 clay tablets belonging to the Middle Assyrian Empire and dating from 1250 BCE. [...]