Research Interests
- Media, politics and society in the Middle East
- Islamism
- Language, ideology and culture
- Youth in the Arab world
Current activitiesTwo major projects currently take up most of my time. From 2016-2019 I work on the project "Journalism in Struggles for Democracy: Media and Polarization in the Middle East, together with CMI colleague and project leader Kjetil Selvik. By systematically comparing the political function of media across three media channels (TV, electronic news, print) in Tunisia and Egypt, the project investigates how differences between journalistic interpretive communities
affect struggles for democracy.
Second, I take part in the project
Aid in Crisis?, led by
Kristin Bergtora Sandvik at PRIO, which investigates how rights-based approaches (RBA) affect the impact of humanitarian action. My task in this project is to study the Norwegian aid given to Palestine.
Background
PositionsResearch Professor, PRIO (2018)
Senior researcher, PRIO (2013-2018)
Adjunct associate professor, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo (2015-)
Senior researcher, Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies (2009-2013)
PhD fellow, University of Oslo (2004-2008)
Education
PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo (2008)
Cand. Philol. in Arabic, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo (2003)
Blog Posts
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Saturday, 6 May 2017
Most Arab countries today are governed by more or less authoritarian regimes that nourish a patriarchal social and political order. This order marginalizes young people, and particularly women. There are moments when it is openly challenged. We saw it across the Arab world in 2011 and afterwards. Several art forms ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Monday, 4 April 2016
Yes, this little piece will relate to Asef Bayat’s gem of an article ‘Islamism and the politics of fun.’ But first a comment on the current goings-on in Egypt. The last time I visited the country, in early February, the news about the murder of Giulio Regeni broke. The Italian ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Tuesday, 27 October 2015
The last time that the Palestinians staged a collective uprising in anger and frustration was in 2000. Why is there a new wave of violence now? The Palestinians have been betrayed by everyone: by their own leaders, by Israel, and by the international community. Their sense of hopelessness has bred ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Friday, 9 October 2015
The choice of the Tunisian quartet as the receiver of the Nobel peace prize is surprising, but by no means unreasonable. Unlike the case of US President Barack Obama, who received the prize for his intentions rather than his achievements, this time, the prize is awarded to politicians who are ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Tuesday, 29 September 2015
January 12, 2013: Israeli armed forces dismantle a peaceful Palestinian sit-in in the West Bank, arresting several of the organizers. July 6, 2012: the Palestinian Authority’s security forces violently attack a peaceful demonstration against normalization with Israel in Ramallah, the West Bank. These episodes illustrate the predicament of Palestinian non-violent ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Thursday, 23 April 2015
New media, new content Warning: This is all work in progress, so it leaves much to be desired. But this subject is so fun working on that I wanted to share what I have even if it is still pretty undeveloped. OK, here goes: During the last few years, the ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Monday, 19 January 2015
The level of conflict in Jerusalem is now so high that more and more people are talking of a “Third Intifada” – a new popular uprising by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation – that would be centred in Jerusalem. In fact, there is little to suggest that a Third Intifada ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Friday, 28 March 2014
This week, an Egyptian court sentenced 529 defendants to death after a two-day trial. Finally, after being mostly silent through more than half a year of brutal repression by Egypt’s military regime, Western governments expressed ‘shock’, judging the sentences to be ‘unacceptable’. Whatever the consequences this farcical trial will have ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt & Kristian Takvam Kindt on Monday, 24 March 2014
Today’s death sentences of 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood must bring an end to the Norwegian Government’s tacit acceptance of the military regime in Egypt. Today, an Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, the latest in a number of moves towards authoritarian government by ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Wednesday, 12 February 2014
The grassroots popular resistance movement in the West Bank continues its strategy of reclaiming Palestinian land to highlight how Israel slowly annexes big parts of the West Bank. This time they did not establish a new village, like the case was in early 2013, with Bab al-Shams and its offshoots. ... Read more »
Posted by Jacob Høigilt on Friday, 25 October 2013
Over the last few years I have encountered a number of professional Western diplomats who express their disbelief in any serious Israeli intention of achieving peace with the Palestinians. To be sure, these diplomats also fault the Palestinian leadership for their ability to bungle almost any initiative and opportunity they ... Read more »