Paperback now available (again) via the Hurst website! Excited to share some insights on "Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict" (2017) and some parallel reads on the Houthis 📚Long thread
@HurstPublishers
My mailbox is flooded with questions about the Huthis! 😅 My book is currently sold out, but fear not! More copies will be back in stock this April. If you need one sooner, slide into my DMs!
New collective volume addressing Yemeni manuscript cultures in and beyond
#Yemen
. Congratulations to the editors, Sabine Schmidtke and Hassan Ansari, and their fabulous chapter authors!
@scsincyberspace
It’s finally here, Darlings! Excited to announce that my book “The Tale of a Feud” is out, published in OPEN ACCESS by
@Brill
! DOWNLOAD AWAY, and enjoy a suspenseful life story full of destiny and dark drama!
@Brill_ME_Africa
الأصدقاء و الصديقات الأعزاء في اليمن..
المتابعون والمتابعات الكرام في كل مكان.. يسعدني الإعلان عن نشر كتابي الجديد "حكاية عداوة" (The Tale of a Feud). التنزيل مجاني عبر الرابط! اقرأوها واستمتعوا بقصة حياة مشوقة مليئة بالقدر والدراما المظلمة
1/5 Exciting news from the Institute for Social Anthropology at the
@oeaw
! We've been awarded funding for a new digitization project of Walter Dostal's visual legacy related to South Arabia and
#Yemen
.
How do Yemenis negotiate the societal implications of
#Zaydism
in
#Yemen
? What is the relationship between
#Huthi
rule and the reinvigoration of ancient genealogical representations?
The leftist National Democratic Front (NDF) is indeed an interesting & largely overlooked chapter in northern Yemeni history. For a bottom-up reconstruction of local involvement in the NDF, see my book "The Tale of a Feud," available for free download via
The NDF was a popular movement in North Yemen's rural tribal areas, in the Zaydi heartland of Saadah and in the Saudi-occupied region of Asir.
Their goal was the complete unification of Yemen under a socialist system of governance.
كيف يتفاوض اليمنيون على الآثار المجتمعية للزيدية؟ ما هي العلاقة بين حكم الحوثيين وإحياء تمثيلات الأنساب القديمة؟ شاهد مراجعتي لكتاب
@SAlghobari
"القبيلة الهاشمية"
1/5: Yemen enthusiasts, get ready to be impressed! Our team just wrapped up an outstanding two-day workshop on "
#Yemen
under the Rule of Imam Yahya (1904-48)" jointly organized by
@scsincyberspace
,
@jathiele
, Valentina Sagaria Rossi, and yours truly
@oeaw
@the_IAS
@DLGMA_CSIC
Thanks,
@Aldanmarki
! It's high time to remove Yemen's northern tribes from the "conservative" box and acknowledge leftist and anti-Salih efforts and sacrifices in rural highland Yemen
You're gonna love this! Marieke's latest book is available as a free PDF. A fascinating ethnographic insight of Yemeni tribal politics centered around Mujāhid Ḥaydar, the tribal sheikh of Sufyan.
I rarely accept interview requests, but could not resist discussing
#Yemen
and
#Houthis
with French philosophy lovers
@philomag
. Thrilled to see that
@philomag
also featured an interview with Gayatri Spivak a few days ago
Ils reviennent régulièrement dans l’actualité, lors d’actions d’éclat ou d’actes de piraterie : les
#Houthis
. Mais que savons-nous de ce mouvement yéménite, si loin de nous et à l’histoire si complexe ? Grand entretien avec la spécialiste
@BrandtMarieke
.
Zoom Lecture by Abdel Razzaq Takriti
@abedtakriti
on South
#Yemen
's post-1967 socialist experiment that challenged economic colonialism in South Arabia
@oxfordglobhist
…
Finally some good news from Yemen! Yemen Times archive 1991-2015 just went online. Go ahead Yemen Times, you were dearly missed...
@theyementimes
@NadiaSakkaf
Yemen Times archive site is now LIVE please visit and provide your feedback to info
@yementimes
.com
موقع ارشيف يمن تايمز مفتوح الآن - نرجو منكم زيارته وابداء الملاحظات على info
@yementimes
.com
Looking forward to this workshop at
@oeaw
and its more than 20 fabulous speakers; jointly organized with Sabine Schmidtke
@scsincyberspace
, Jan Thiele
@jathiele
, and Valentina Sagaria Rossi
New project with a fantastic team working on "Ancient Arabia." Focus on modeling territorial & cultural dynamics and regional history from the 1st mll. BCE to the 7th cent. CE, spanning settlement urbanization to religious evolution and identity formation
Who are Yemen's Houthis, known as Ansar Allah, and what do they want? On their evolution and ideology, see this concise scholarly encyclopedia entry co-authored by A. Weissenburger and myself. If you need access, DM me:
الأخت الامينة فاطمة التي ربت وانشأت أخيها الثائر والجمهوري الامين ... وبعد فشل الثورة البكر ١٩٤٨ اعدت ابنائها ورجال اسرتها وقبيلتها للثورة الام ١٩٦٢ التي نقلت اليمن من ضيق الامامة إلى رحاب الجمهورية .. من مسيرة ام في غمار ثورة
الأصدقاء و الصديقات الأعزاء في اليمن..
المتابعون والمتابعات الكرام في كل مكان.. يسعدني الإعلان عن نشر كتابي الجديد "حكاية عداوة" (The Tale of a Feud). التنزيل مجاني عبر الرابط! اقرأوها واستمتعوا بقصة حياة مشوقة مليئة بالقدر والدراما المظلمة
Kudos to the indexers who meticulously navigate and map out a book's contents. They truly possess an extraordinary depth of understanding, often knowing the book better than the author...
#indexing
Congratulations to
#Yemen
expert Susanne
@DahlgrenS
for her well-deserved appointment as the director of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East! 🌍 Exciting times ahead!
@FIME_Institute
New Dig episode: my very extensive interview with very long time scholar of Yemen Helen Lackner on the Houthis, the politics of their attacks on Red Sea shipping, and the long history of Yemen from British colonial Aden through the current civil war.
'Yemen Through a Dutch Lens' - online exhibition on historical (Zaydi) Northern
#Yemen
, curated by Kate Pukhovaia, showcasing the extensive
@ubleiden
&
@UniLeiden
collections of Yemeni manuscripts, maps & photographs
Central to indigenous criticism against the
#Houthis
/Ansar Allah is their pursuit of a 'racist' project: the reinstallation of Hashemite rule in
#Yemen
. Check out my discussion of
@SAlghobari
anti-Huthi critique for more insights
How do Yemenis negotiate the societal implications of
#Zaydism
in
#Yemen
? What is the relationship between
#Huthi
rule and the reinvigoration of ancient genealogical representations?
أخبار جيدة من معهد الأنثروبولوجيا الاجتماعية في فيينا
@oeaw
.. لقد حصلنا على تمويل لمشروع رقمنة لصور والتر دوستال (Walter Dostal) الإثنوغرافية من #اليمن
My review of Anne-Linda Amira Augustin's book "South Yemen's Independence Struggle" - an essential read for anyone who wants to understand Southern resistance in
#Yemen
@AUCPress
@MiddleEastJrnl
Important new book on dhimma politics in late Imamic Yemen. Congratulations to
@KerstinHunefeld
on this extensively researched fine new contribution to Yemeni history and
#Jewish
minorities
Happy to share the news: my book "Dhimma im Kontext des zaiditischen Jemen" (Dhimma in Zaydi Yemen: Imam Yayha Hamid al-Din, the Jews of Sanaa, and the negotiation of Islamic governance) is out!
by
@degruyter_TRS
#Studies_on_Modern_Yemen
@degruyter_pub
Just finished reading Kate Pukhovaia's excellent scholarship on Yemen's Zaydi clan Al Shams al-Din and their impact during the Ottoman Occupation. Highly recommended read for anyone interested in Middle Eastern history.
#Yemen
#OttomanEmpire
Happy to see this article out in the world! Magdalena Moorthy Kloss on "Race and the Legacy of
#slavery
in
#Yemen
. Hoping it might be useful to our fellow Yemen anthropology and history colleagues!
A page of Carsten Niebuhr's
#Yemen
travelogue, written in German running hand ("Kurrentschrift"). This page concerns his visit to Jiblah during the Royal Danish Expedition 1761-67
5/5 This project contributes to the preservation of Yemen's endangered cultural heritage. We're grateful for funding from the Austrian Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service, and Sports and EU funds as part of the
@Europeana
Initiative.
Now Open Access! Dostal's volume on tribal societies in Southwest Arabia (Hijaz, Asir), featuring contributions by Andre Gingrich, Johann Heiss, and Josef Zötl on social structure, kinship, customs, traditions, economy, settlements, architecture, and astronomy. Link below!
Al-Daghshi’s works strive for impartiality. This one closely examines the early phase of the Houthi movement, local interactions, Saudi and Iranian relations, covering military, organizational-political, doctrinal, and educational aspects from a Yemeni perspective
@AhmdAldghshy
4/5 In a first step, the project aims to digitize and publish 5,000 selected Yemen-related visuals from the early 1970s, along with their technical and scientific metadata, in Open Access via Academy-CATalogPlus and the Europeana
@Europeanaeu
… and other books on modern Yemen in general by authors such as Helen Lackner, Lisa Wedeen,
@DrSarahPhillips
,
@AsherOrkaby
, etc., and a large array of insightful peer-reviewed articles covering special aspects
Congratulations to
@DrSarahPhillips
and
@Ndawsari
on this important contribution to the study of al-Qaeda in Yemen, whose insights might even be applied more broadly to study other extremist groups in Yemen
I’ve got a new article out with the wonderful
@Ndawsari
about how counterterrorism knowledge gets al-Qa’ida/ISIS in Yemen wrong. It’s open access so there’s no firewall. Thread:
Since there is so much interest in relations between Houthis and Iran and Saudi-Iranian rivalry for
#Yemen
, this book by
@DrOxbridge
provides historical context
It's finally here!
I'm extremely excited to announce that my book "Iranian-Saudi Rivalry since 1979: In the Words of Kings & Clerics" has been published by
@BloomsburyBooks
@ibtauris
.
Let me tell you a little bit about my book & my decade-long journey in this thread🧵1/25
Here is my collection of all manuscripts of Kitāb al-Tījān some of which are not used in the published editions.
Kitāb al-Tījān (The Book of Crowns) includes the earliest Yemeni folktales attributed to the Yemenite ex-Jew Wahb (D. 738) now at your disposal
Sharīʿa Genres and their Writers in Imamic Yemen
أجناس من الشريعة وكُتّابها في اليمن الإمامي
Wednesday, 15th June 2022, 6 p.m (Palestine time) - Anthropologist Brinkley Messick
Samy Dorlian focuses on Zaydi revivalism since 1990, attempting a reformist shift hindered by the Saada Wars (2004-2010). The reactivation of identity issues in 2011 confirmed the disappointed hope for a revitalized modernization.
@HarmattanParis
Exploring the hidden stories behind
#Rasulid
women’s names on
#Mamluk
metalwork - Noha Sadek sheds light on rare
#Yemeni
inscriptions. A fascinating glimpse into (dramatically underresearched) Yemeni material culture
Blumi’s "Destroying Yemen" (2018) takes a political economy perspective, seeing the evolution of the Houthi conflict as a result of grievances linked to the negative influences of global capitalism, neo-imperialism, and empire powers
Austrian epigrapher Eduard Glaser (1855-1908) brought a huge amount of manuscripts, inscriptions, squeezes, and photographs to Vienna. His collection, the Corpus Glaserianum, is currently being digitized at the Austrian Academy of Sciences #ÖAW
#Yemen
Maysaa Shujaa Aldeen’s master thesis (2017) focuses on the political, doctrinal, and social conditions for evolving Zaydi revivalism and the emergence of the Houthis, as well as their increasing radicalization
@maysaashujaa
Kate Pukhovaia's new article enquires into connections bzw Zaydi imams and tribes in early modern
#Yemen
. Analyzing Imam Yaḥyā Sharaf al-Dīn’s bio reveals the strategic value of marrying into influential tribal families for the legitimacy of the imamate
So mind you, the Houthis have been not at war since 2015. They are at war since 2004. War has shaped this movement and the mindsets of its leaders, war is the driving force behind the movement, and peace remains its greatest challenge
يساهم هذا المشروع في الحفاظ على التراث الثقافي اليمني المهدد بالانقراض. نحن ممتنون للحصول على تمويل من وزارة الفنون والثقافة النمساوية وأموال الاتحاد الأوروبي كجزء من مبادرة
@Europeanaeu
New release.. an introduction to the writings of influential Islamic scholars representing six classical schools of theology: Sunnism, Zaydism, Twelver Shiʿism, Muʿtazilism, Ibadism, and Ismaʿilism
كتبت هذا الكتاب لأنني اعتبرت قصة حياة مجاهد مقنعة و مثيرة للاهتمام... إنها ليست القصة الشائعة العادية لدمج شيخ قبلي فلان في النظام السياسي لعلي صالح، بل قصة شيخ بقيى في معارضة مستمرة و مريرة للنظام الحاكم
تهدي هذا الكتاب الى محبي اليمن ولكل من يرغب في أن يصبح كذلك! 🙂 إن قصة حياة الشيخ مجاهد مشوقة و مثيرة للاهتمام، وأجزاء من قصته تشبه قصص الإثارة السياسية
لماذا يسمى الكتاب (حكاية عداوة)؟ الكتاب يغمر القارئ في العمق التاريخي والعواطف المظلمة، ومأساة قضية ثأر كسبب ومحرك لتفاعلات الشيخ مجاهد مع النظام السابق
This is the gripping life story of Mujahid Haydar, Shaykh of Sufyan, and his struggle against the former regime of Ali Abdullah Salih (d.2017) and Abdullah al-Ahmar (d.2007), from the tribulations of the 1970s until the beginning of the Huthi wars 2004 (2/12)
@almuslimi
Cheers, Farea
@almuslimi
! Here's the link to my book, back in stock this April. Anyone need a free copy NOW? DM me or email marieke.brandt
@oeaw
.ac.at
Why did I write it? I was fascinated by the supra-personal dimensions which come to light in Mujahid’s life: it is closely entwined with the political history of his time and incorporates the grievances, anxieties, struggles, and hopes of his age to a remarkable degree (4/12)
My latest article "State Weakness, al-Qa'ida and Rebel Governance: Yemen from the Arab Spring until 2022" () is now published in the latest issue of the
@MiddleEastJrnl
تقوم شهادة الشيخ مجاهد بتفكيك الصورة النمطية المستمرة لقبائل المرتفعات على أنها قوة محافظة وإسلامية متطرفة. بدلاً من ذلك، تبرز الشهادة حقيقة أن العديد من القبائل الشمالية و خاصة بكيل كانت تمتلك نشاطًا يساريًا نشطًا، وكانت تتحالف مع الرئيس إبراهيم #الحمدي و جنوب اليمن.
What’s new? So many things! This narrative deconstructs the persistent stereotype of the highland tribes being a conservative and Islamist force, and rather shows that many northern tribes were active leftists, aligned with Ibrahim al-Hamdi (d. 1977) and the Marxist PDRY (8/12)
Who is it for? Of course for the Yemen nerd and anyone who wants to become one! But the biographical content is suspenseful and quite accessible. Large parts of Mujahid’s life story are gripping and have the pull of a political thriller (12/12)
نتوصل أيضًا من خلال الكتاب إلى فهم أفضل للآثار المدمرة لسياسة علي صالح في "فرق تسد" تجاه القبائل، وذلك من خلال التركيز على الاغتيالات واحتجاز الرهائن والتلاعب البشري
هل الكتاب جيد؟ بالتأكيد! تقدير المراجعين له بأنه "رائع" و "استثنائي" يعكس جودة وقيمة المحتوى.أنا شخصياً أحببت هذا البحث ، انه الكتاب الذي كنت أرغب دائمًا في كتابته.
How did I write it? Through 10 years of listening! My aim was to understand how Mujahid conceptualised and experienced his life and surroundings. My research involved the constant attempt to arrive at this – his – emic articulations of local ontologies and frameworks (11/12)
Four years ago today I received my copies of this volume on the post-2011 transition process in
#Yemen
. So many hopes, so many mistakes! As we are working towards another such transition process, let's benefit from lessons learned! Available here:
هذه هي قصة حياة الشيخ مجاهد بن احمد بن #حيدر شيخ #سفيان #بكيل ، ونضاله ضد نظام الرئيس السابق علي عبد الله #صالح والشيخ عبد الله بن حسين #الأحمر ، منذ محن أواخر السبعينيات وحتى بداية حروب صعدة عام 2004
Must read: Lutfi Noaman's new book on the beginnings of the late
#Yemeni
President Ibrahim al-Hamdi, before and at the beginning of his presidency #اليمن #الحمدي
Photographic documentation of Peter Schlesinger's trip across northern highland
#Yemen
from Sanaa to Sa’da in 1976, with an introduction by Bernard Haykel (2021)
Is it any good? Oh, yes! Reviewer
#1
called it “amazing”, Reviewer
#2
“outstanding” and a “disturbing delight.” I personally loved this research; this is the book I always wanted to write
What kind of book is it? A
#biography
at the interface between anthropology and political history. A “discourse of defiance” exploring local agency, emic expressions of violence, the corrupting influence of power, and resistance in situations that seem to guarantee failure (3/12)
3/5 During his extensive field trips in the Middle East from the 1960s to the 1990s (North and South Yemen, Oman, Southwest Saudi Arabia, Gulf States, Anatolia), he collected a vast collection of visual materials, that are of exceptional value.
Published in 2010, the RAND Report was one of the first studies on the Huthi phenomenon. Its focus is on Regime-Periphery Relations, the Sa’dah Wars, and military and strategic issues.
@RANDCorporation
Since 2014, the Houthis have heavily invested in reordering state and society according to their vision, creating an eclectic system drawing from republican, pre-1962, and Iranian features
Open Access!
#Tribes
in Modern
#Yemen
: An Anthology (ed. Marieke Brandt)
Chapter authors: Najwa Adra, Steven Caton, Paul Dresch, Daniel Varisco, Andre Gingrich, Lisa Lenz-Ayoub, Alexander Weissenburger, Mikhail Rodionov, Helen Lackner
In addition, there is a wide range of policy studies covering recent developments that have already been listed in other threads, see
@AlexMStark
@Ndawsari
and more
Chapter 1 provides essential insights into the Sa’da area, still dominated by tribal norms. It details territories and dynamics between its main social strata: tribes, the Hashemite ahl al-bayt (to whom the al-Houthi family and many leaders belong), and non-tribal groups.
This is the first anthropological study on the roots, origin, and evolution of the Houthi movement in its primordial cell and epicenter: Sa’dah in northern Yemen. It provides unique and comprehensive insights into the movement's formative phase from the late 1980s until 2014.
@Aldanmarki
What we can observe in Yemen and South Arabia right now is a major tectonic shift in international relations and the reversal of Cold War & Post-Cold War constellations
What else is new? We also come to better understand the ruinous effects of Salih’s policy of “divide and rule” vis-à-vis the tribes, based on stratagems, assassinations, hostage taking, gaslighting, and human manipulation (9/12)
كنت مفتونًا بالجوانب السياسية التي تظهر في حياة الشيخ مجاهد. قصة حياته مرتبطة ارتباطًا وثيقًا بالتاريخ السياسي لعصره، وتتضمن المظالم والقلق والصراعات وآمال عصره بدرجة ملحوظة
1/2 My REVIEW on
@EirikHovden
's excellent book "Waqf in Zaydi Yemen: Legal Theory, Codification, and Local Practice" Shii Studies Review 7 (2023): pp. 405-415.
@Brill_ME_Africa
#Zaydi_Studies
#Yemen
for the book itself see beelow👇
Chapter 5 “Into the Maze of Tribalism” reconstructs the first three rounds of the Sa’dah Wars (2004-2006), revealing how the early movement’s denominational and social-revolutionary aspects fused with existing conflicts, expanding the war's scope
New book on Sa'dah's historical mosques. Sa'dah city is the primordial cell of Zaydism in Yemen. Al-Hadi mosque was built around 897 CE and named after Imam Yahya b. al-Husayn, the founder of the imamic state in Yemen. Open Acess via this link:
Why is it called The Tale of a Feud? This book resembles a Yemeni “Oresteia.” It immerses the reader in the historical depth, the dark emotions, and the tragedy of feuding as the cause and the motor behind Mujahid’s interactions with the former regime (5/12)
Where is it set? The setting is Sufyan in Amran governorate in highland Yemen. But also al-Jawf, Sanaa, Aden, and the rootless, fluctuating worlds of exile are important stations on Mujahid's momentous path of life (6/12)
What does it say? It shows how tribal politics shade into the domain of state politics and vice versa, such that neither can be comprehended independently. Mujahid’s life is an arena where these paradigms meet, and his agency and engagement are produced across them (7/12)