Part 1: Popular Culture and the Aesthetics of Political Resistance 1. Palestinian Rap: Against the Struggle Paradigm Ted Swedenburg 2. Music Sans Frontières? Documentaries on Hip Hop in the Holy Land and DIY Democracy Caroline Rooney 3. Rai: North Africa’s Music of the Working Class John A. Shoup Part 2: Gender Politics, the Popular, Social Resistance 4. Masculinity and Fatherhood within a Lebanese Muslim Community: Assad Fouladkar’s When Maryam Spoke Out Dalia Said Mostafa 5. Photo-Tattoo as Postmodern Veil: Photography and the Inscription of Subjectivity on the Female Body Walid El Khachab 6. Dancing Without My Body: Cultural Integration in the Middle East Nadra Majeed Assaf Part 3: Tradition and the Popular: New Forms and Trends 7. Satellite Piety: Contemporary TV Islamic Programs in Egypt Omaima Abou-Bakr 8. Büşra: The Veiled Protagonist of a Comic Serial Iren Ozgur 9. The Yacoubian Building and Its Sisters: Reflections on Readership and Written Culture in Modern Egypt Richard Jacquemond 10. Tradition and Modernity: The Globalization of Sufi Music in Egypt Michael Frishkopf Part 4: Cultural Hegemony: Popular Representations of the Middle East in the US 11. American Orientalism after Said John Carlos Rowe 12. Barbaric Space: Portrayal of Arab Lands in Hollywood Films Hania A. M. Nashef 13. Alternating Images: Simulacra of Ideology in Egyptian Advertisements Maha El Said Part 5: Popular Culture and Revolution: The Voice of Dissent 14. The Role of New Media in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011: Visuality as an Agent of Change Randa Aboubakr 15. The Aesthetics of Revolution: Popular Creativity and the Egyptian Spring Walid El Hamamsy and Mounira Soliman
Walid El Hamamsy is Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary
Studies at Cairo University, Egypt.
Mounira Soliman is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at
Cairo University, Egypt.
"This volume presents a thoughtful, empirically rich and timely
contribution to the fields of Middle East and cultural studies."
--Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations"The triumph and value of
Popular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa comes from its
ability to pull together remarkable contributions from an
international range of scholars in fields that range from
ethnomusicology to Turkish politics…This is a collection that
resists the flattening and simplification of the cultural terrain
of the Muslim World and will be an oft-cited volume that will find
a place on bookshelves. This is a trailblazing effort that sets the
standard for balancing diversity and depth of scope through its
nuanced analysis of cultural phenomena integrated into their
sociopolitical and historical landscape." --Yasmine Motawy,
American University in Cairo, Interventions'The breadth and depth
of the 15 essays offer an unprecedented contribution to
understandings of contemporary cultural production in the region
that raises critical issues in and about the public sphere…’ –
--Contemporary Islam"This edited volume surveys a wide array of
cultural forms throughout the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran, as well
as the United States’ own popular culture that reflects and
propagates various discourses about the Middle East… El Hamamsy and
Soliman frame the volume as an effort to raise awareness of not
only Middle Eastern and North African popular culture, but
especially of its scholarly value, in the context of states (such
as Egypt) in which intellectuals and producers of elite culture are
tightly invested in supporting state hegemony under the aegis of
promoting ‘good’ over ‘bad’ mass-mediated culture." --Daniel J.
Gilman, DePauw University, Journal of Arabic Literature"Broad in
geographical and disciplinary scope, the volume places literary and
film scholars, anthropologists, and ethnomusicologists, among
others, in conversation about the production and position of
popular culture in the Middle East within the contemporary
moment…What makes these chapters so compelling is the way the
authors present diverse artistic practices as resistance against
both dominant mainstream culture and different kinds of social,
political, and ideological injustices." -- Yasmine Ramadan,
Wellesley College, Arab Studies Journal"Most of the book's articles
were written before the Arab uprisings. Still, the book is timely.
As its editors indicate, it examines popular culture in the
immediately preceding period. And since one of the most significant
achievements of the revolutions was to breathe life into the
artistic scenes of the region, the book, and particularly its last
chapter "The Aesthetics of the Revolution" can be a beginning to
understanding those scenes today. Written by Hamamsy and Soliman on
forms of popular creativity directly related to the Egyptian
revolution, the chapter takes a close look at the art that came out
of Tahrir Square, such as slogans, songs and graffiti, as well as
art used for mobilizzation, such as al-Fan Midan, the Bassem
Youssef Show, and independent activist cinemas, such as Mosireen
and Kazeboon. By understanding the popular culture, one can hear
the voices of the people." - www.madamasr.com
"This volume presents a thoughtful, empirically rich and timely
contribution to the fields of Middle East and cultural studies."
--Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations"The triumph and value of
Popular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa comes from its
ability to pull together remarkable contributions from an
international range of scholars in fields that range from
ethnomusicology to Turkish politics…This is a collection that
resists the flattening and simplification of the cultural terrain
of the Muslim World and will be an oft-cited volume that will find
a place on bookshelves. This is a trailblazing effort that sets the
standard for balancing diversity and depth of scope through its
nuanced analysis of cultural phenomena integrated into their
sociopolitical and historical landscape." --Yasmine Motawy,
American University in Cairo, Interventions'The breadth and depth
of the 15 essays offer an unprecedented contribution to
understandings of contemporary cultural production in the region
that raises critical issues in and about the public sphere…’ –
--Contemporary Islam"This edited volume surveys a wide array of
cultural forms throughout the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran, as well
as the United States’ own popular culture that reflects and
propagates various discourses about the Middle East… El Hamamsy and
Soliman frame the volume as an effort to raise awareness of not
only Middle Eastern and North African popular culture, but
especially of its scholarly value, in the context of states (such
as Egypt) in which intellectuals and producers of elite culture are
tightly invested in supporting state hegemony under the aegis of
promoting ‘good’ over ‘bad’ mass-mediated culture." --Daniel J.
Gilman, DePauw University, Journal of Arabic Literature"Broad in
geographical and disciplinary scope, the volume places literary and
film scholars, anthropologists, and ethnomusicologists, among
others, in conversation about the production and position of
popular culture in the Middle East within the contemporary
moment…What makes these chapters so compelling is the way the
authors present diverse artistic practices as resistance against
both dominant mainstream culture and different kinds of social,
political, and ideological injustices." -- Yasmine Ramadan,
Wellesley College, Arab Studies Journal"Most of the book's articles
were written before the Arab uprisings. Still, the book is timely.
As its editors indicate, it examines popular culture in the
immediately preceding period. And since one of the most significant
achievements of the revolutions was to breathe life into the
artistic scenes of the region, the book, and particularly its last
chapter "The Aesthetics of the Revolution" can be a beginning to
understanding those scenes today. Written by Hamamsy and Soliman on
forms of popular creativity directly related to the Egyptian
revolution, the chapter takes a close look at the art that came out
of Tahrir Square, such as slogans, songs and graffiti, as well as
art used for mobilizzation, such as al-Fan Midan, the Bassem
Youssef Show, and independent activist cinemas, such as Mosireen
and Kazeboon. By understanding the popular culture, one can hear
the voices of the people." - www.madamasr.com
Ask a Question About this Product More... |