From poetry to cinema, from microblogging to theater, from literature to journalism, arts and media are always a fertile ground for experimentation and imagination, creativity and political dissent. That is the case across Arab and Muslim societies, too. This e-book strives to shed light on those very intellectual resources – often neglected, at times repressed – to unpack the complexity of societies and cultural experiences across the MENA region. A specific focus is provided, in the second part, on the social and cultural ferment in Tunisia, a particularly interesting reality, that deserves special attention in this season of great political and democratic uncertainty.
This collection of essays – signed by renowned authors, promising scholars and journalists – is the output of the 2021 edition of the Carthage Seminars, jointly convened by Reset DOC and the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts-Beit al-Hikma, with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, and dedicated to Pluralism in Arab and Muslim Societies. Freely circulated, this monograph seeks to highlight the relevance of and further encourage creativity and cultural pluralism across Arab and Muslim societies.
Download your copy of the e-book HERE.
Challenging Power in the Arab World
Arts, Culture and Media under Duress
Edited by Federica Zoja
Contributors: Randa Aboubakr, Atef Alshaer, Nouh Anajjar, Omar Fassatoui, Abdel Aziz Hali, Shady Hamadi, Amina Karoui, Zyed Krichen, Peter Limbrick, Moez Mrabet, Teresa Pepe.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction – Federica Zoja
Part I – Seeking Space for Pluralism and Creativity
New Networks for Arab film and video – Peter Limbrick
The Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and Adonis, Between Freedom and Duress – Atef Alshaer
The Digital Sphere as a Site of Social Activism – Randa Aboubakr
The Arab Diaspora in Italy, Between Stereotypes and Literature – Shady Hamadi
The writer’s mirror and veil. Egyptian Autofiction from print to digital – Teresa Pepe
Part II – Cultural and political ferment in Tunisia
Tunisia: intellectual issues of the democratic transition – Zyed Krichen
Acculturation of rights and freedoms in the post-revolutionary Tunisia – Omar Fassatoui
The alternative media in Tunisia: Nawaat, Inkyfada & Al Qatiba – Abdel Aziz Hali
Tunisian Theater from dictatorship to democracy – Moez Mrabet
Appendix – Best Papers by Carthage 2021 Young Scholars
The 2011 Radical Imagination Through the Panopticon of Hip-Hop: The Promise of a Better Democracy in Tunisia – Amina Karoui
Building Bridges, Not Walls – Arab Anglophone Diasporic Writers as Cultural Mediators – Nouh Anajjar