Yossef Rapoport
Historian of the medieval Islamic, Arabic-speaking Middle East, specializing in social and cultural history from c.1000–1500 CE; author of Becoming Arab and works on medieval marriage, Ibn Taymiyya, and Islamic maps.
Best podcasts with Yossef Rapoport
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Jan 29, 2026 • 42min
Yossef Rapoport, "Becoming Arab: The Formation of Arab Identity in the Medieval Middle East" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Yossef Rapoport, historian of the medieval Arabic-speaking Middle East and professor at Queen Mary University London, explains how rural peasants, land rights, taxation, religion, and clan networks reshaped identity across the region. He traces linguistic, social, and political shifts, the role of peasant revolts, and how Arabness was claimed, performed, and contested over centuries.
Jan 29, 2026 • 42min
Yossef Rapoport, "Becoming Arab: The Formation of Arab Identity in the Medieval Middle East" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Yossef Rapoport, a historian of the medieval Arabic-speaking Middle East, explores how rural communities transformed into Arab identities. He challenges migration-based stories. He examines peasants, land rights, tax records, revolts, and how claims of Arab lineage interacted with Islam and Turkish rule. The conversation traces social change from local villages to clan-based Arabness by the 15th century.
