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 [...]
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 [...]
Tall Vines in Georgia
TBILISI (NewsFixed) – “Everyone in Georgia makes wine. It’s our way of life, our tradition,” says Iago Bitarishvili, who runs a small organic wine-making operation in the mountainous Caucasian nation. It’s a way of life that’s about to become more profitable thanks to a free trade agreement that exempts Georgian wine from EU import tariffs. [...]
The hidden Islamic history of Madrid revealed
Muslims, campaigners and tour companies are revealing a heritage too long denied in Spain's capital Hachim Oulad Mhammed was reading an Arabic book on ancient history when he first learnt that Madrid had Islamic origins. It piqued his curiosity and he began investigating. What he found was, at first, striking: now it evokes pride, weighed [...]
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. [...]
Businessman Pioneers Emu Farming in Kurdistan
The tall flightless birds who call the warm, red earth of Australia home were brought here by Hassan Ali Rahman three years ago, when he set out to establish the region's first emu farm. GIRDASUR, Kurdistan Region – Hidden among the hills at the end of a dusty dirt road, from afar the farm appears [...]