History
The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf
In reading books on Qatar (see this section for the list), many of the criticisms I have made of contemporary scholarship is a continuation of colonial attitudes and perspectives. On that note, I was glad to come across the gem of a book, “The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf” (1986), by Sultan Muhammad […]
Tags: #Al-Qasimi #Colonialism #Gulf #History #Myth of Arab Piracy
Emperor Haile Selassie
Ohio University Press has a series of “Short Histories of Africa”. I recently decided to pick up most of the collection for potential use as reading materials for classes. This post covers “Emperor Haile Selassie” (2014) by Bereket Habte Selassie. Books usually take more than a year to write, get reviewed, go into publication, and […]
Tags: #Biography #Emperor Haile Selassie #Ethiopia #History #Ohio University Press
The Pain of Others
One of Sontag’s classic works is “Regarding the Pain of Others” (2003). It is a short book, almost an essay length, on the depiction of pain through photography. Part history, part critical reflection. Few notes: “nonstop imagery (televisions, streaming video, movies) is our surround, but when it comes to remembering, the photograph has the deeper […]
Tags: #History #Pain of others #photograph #Photography #Sontag
The Ethiopia Book of Travels
In many of my critiques of books written about Qatar I have focused on the almost exclusive reliance upon the British colonial record for history making, despite other sources being available (notably Ottoman records in that case). I was directed to an interesting translation of a travel dairy of an Ottoman dignitary, sent by the Sultan, […]
Tags: #Decolonial #Ethiopia #Ethiopia Book of Travels #History #Ottomon
The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism
“Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism” (2018) by Slobodian (Harvard Press) is a detailed history of the people and ideas neoliberalism, and the institutions they created. The book is historical and delved into the deep end. One reflection, which is somewhat counter intuitive, is that neoliberals are not opposed to government […]
Masters of the Pearl
From the many historical books of Qatar, one of the newest is “Masters of the Pearl: A History of Qatar” (2020) by Michael Quentin Morton. The author has written a history of the UAE, oil in the Middle East, Buraimi, his father’s life as an oil geologist, and this book on Qatar (where he spent […]
The Creation of Qatar
The classic history of Qatar was written by Rosemarie Said Zahlan in 1979, titled The Creation of Qatar. The author is the sister of Edward Said (yes, the Edward Said), and she also wrote a history of the UAE (in 1978) and the region (in 1998). Zahlan’s book is a reference / source book for […]
Tags: #Creation of Qatar #History #Qatar #State of Qatar #Zahlan
Qatar’s Modern and Contemporary Development
One of the benefits of being in Qatar, when reading books written on the country, is the ability to walk the shelves of the Qatar National Library and stumble upon gems that almost certainly would not be available outside of Qatar. One example of this is “Qatar’s Modern and Contemporary Development: Chapters of Political, Social […]
Tags: #Books #Development #Doha #History #Qatar
The Emergence of Qatar
Of all the potential topics covered in books about Qatar, history takes a prominent role. One of these books is Habibur Rahman’s “The Emergence of Qatar: The Turbulent Years 1627-1916”, which was first published in 2005. At the time of its first publication, this book was one of the few histories of Qatar (after Zahlan’s […]
Classifications of Nations
In 1068 Said al Andalusi wrote Kitaab Tabaqaat al ‘Umam, which was translated as “Book of the Categories of Nations”, which the translators of the 1991 version should be better translated as “Classifications of Nations” but kept with the norms of titling for this work. The book is a sort of reference for scholars, publications, […]
Tags: #Categories of Nations #Classifications of Nations #History #Knowledge #Science
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
Featured Posts
Tags
Africa Agriculture Anthropology Books Capitalism Civil society Climate change Colonialism Colonization Conflict Culture decolonization Democracy Development Development Studies Economics Education Ethics Ethiopia Ethnography Fellowship Food Security Gender Globalization Governance History Human Rights Inequality Interdisciplinary International development Islam Justice Land Leadership Middle East Migration Participation Philosophy Policy Politics Post-doc Poverty Power Qatar Racism Resilience Revolution Rural Development South Africa SustainabilitySubscribe to receive new blog posts via email