Usman Butt is multimedia television researcher, filmmaker and writer based in London. Usman read International Relations and Arabic Language at the University of Westminster and completed a Master of Arts in Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter.
Book Club: Research into the Circassian's role within the Ottoman Empire has been largely muted since the establishment of the Turkish Republic by Ataturk in 1923. In Caner Yelbasi's latest book, he examines the ethnic group's varied engagements.
Book Club: While most people know the East India Company through its activities in the Indian subcontinent, few are aware of its involvement in Iran. Peter Good's latest book paints a nuanced picture of how the company operated in spite of turmoil.
Book Club: In an enlightening examination of religions, Mehmet Karabela's Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes elaborates how, in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, Islam became a key theological concern in Western Europe.
In a comprehensive examination of Islamic theology in Turkey, Phillip Dorroll's book looks at how Islam has been able to thrive within an ostensibly secular system, and how Turkey's inherent contradictions make it an interesting comparative study.
Veering away from traditional conceptualisations of what constitutes Persian culture, Mana Kia's latest book looks at how ambiguous, often fluid and varied networks combined to shape 'Persian-ness' and how this shifts our understanding of identity.
Book Club: Using contemporary Turkey as a paradigm to discuss how gender politics has been co-opted by neoliberalism, The Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary Turkey is a success in shifting the gender debate from cultural specificity.
Deep-diving into the social intricacies of the Abbasid Caliphate, Philip Wood's latest book profiles Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, whose adoption of the authoritative title "Imam" within Christianity has revealed interesting, alternative multiplicities.
One of the great myths perpetuated by European colonisation was that the Islamic World was homogenous. In Justin K. Stearn's latest text, he counters this myth vicariously through Morocco's interaction with the natural sciences in the 17th century.
Book Club: In an ambitious attempt to revisit the West's manufacturing of Islamic history, author Thomas Bauer sets out to prove Islam's heterogeneity and why the West has intentionally moulded its conception of Islam as a singular entity.
Book Club: Egemen Bezci delves deep into the lesser-known intelligence pact between Turkey, the US and the UK during the Cold War, showing how Ankara's diplomatic pragmatism allowed it to protect its national interests.
