1st Edition
Islamism and Cultural Expression in the Arab World
Whereas most studies of Islamism focus on politics and religious ideology, this book analyses the ways in which Islamism in the Arab world is defined, reflected, transmitted and contested in a variety of creative and other cultural forms. It covers a range of contexts of production and reception, from the early twentieth century to the present, and with reference to cultural production in and/or about Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, the Gulf, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine. The material engaged with is produced in Arabic, English and French and includes fiction, autobiography, feature films, television series, television reportage, the press, rap music and video games. Throughout, the book highlights the multiple forms and contested interpretations of Islamism in the Arab world, exploring trends and tensions in the ways Islamism is represented to (primarily) Arab audiences and complicating simplistic perspectives on this phenomenon. The book considers repeated and idiosyncratic themes, modes of characterisation, motifs, structures of feeling and forms of engagement, in the context of an ongoing struggle for symbolic power in the region.
Introduction Abir Hamdar and Lindsey Moore Part 1: Symbolic Power, Representation and Reception 1. Islam in Arabic Literature: The Struggle for Symbolic Power Sabry Hafez 2. Managing Religion in the Name of National Community Lila Abu-Lughod 3. Islamically Marked Bodies and Urban Space in Two Egyptian Films Walter Armbrust 4. Piety, Youth and Egyptian Cinema: Still Seeking Islamic Space Joel Gordon Part 2: Types, Tropes and Teleologies 5. ‘Those who cure you will kill you’: The Doctor and the Terrorist in Arab Fiction and Film Abir Hamdar 6. ‘Ostentatious Veils’ in the Moroccan Weeklies Tel Quel and Nichan Loubna Bijdiguen 7. ‘Drives in the Name of Freedom’: Desire and Death in North African Islamization Plots Lindsey Moore 8. Islamism, Capitalism and Mimetic Desire in the Terrorism Novel: Fantasy and Dream Caroline Rooney Part 3: National, Regional and International Frames 9. Al-Manar and Hizbullah: Creative Instances in Propaganda Warfare Zahera Harb 10. Video Games as Civilizational Configurations: US-Arab Encounters Mohammed Ibahrine 11. Rap and Islamism in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia: Local Idiosyncrasies and Global Reverberations Souad Halila 12. Towards a New Language: Liberating Arab Artists from Islamist Discourses Omar Kholeif 13. Stateless Confederations: Revolutions of Islamic Consciousness in the Arab World Ammar Naji
Biography
Abir Hamdar is a Lecturer in Arabic at Durham University, UK
Lindsey Moore is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Lancaster University, UK
