Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer” blog, a book with the same title and a co-authored volume, “Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa” as well as “Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa” and just published “China and the Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom”.