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Contributor
Rafia Zakaria

Rafia Zakaria is the author of The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan (Beacon, 2015) and Veil (Bloomsbury, 2017). She is a columnist for Dawn in Pakistan. She writes regularly for the Guardian, The Baffler, The New Republic, The New York Times, and many other publications.

Opinion
Looted Art and the ‘Universal Museum’: Can 21st-Century Collections Ever Escape Colonialism’s Violent Legacy?

As the Easter Islanders demand that the British Museum return their statue, it’s time to reconsider the meaning of ‘global artworks’

BY Rafia Zakaria |
Opinion
How the Syrian Regime is Using Ancient Palmyra as a Rebranding Tool

Focusing on the ancient ruins offers up the barbarous IS as the real villains, overshadowing the government’s own war crimes

BY Rafia Zakaria |
Opinion
How Links Between Museum Boards and Political Donations Show the Rot that Afflicts US Democracy

Artist Andrea Fraser’s 2016 in Museums, Money and Politics lifts the lid on US museum board members and political funding

BY Rafia Zakaria |
Opinion
How Many Human Lives Does One Museum Wing Pay For?

What Nan Goldin’s protesting of the Sacklers’s complicity in the US opioid crisis tells us about self-deification and patronage

BY Rafia Zakaria |