Popular Culture In The Middle East And North Africa

This book explores the body and the production process of popular culture in, and on, the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey, and Iran in the first decade of the 21st century, and up to the current historical moment. Essays consider gender, racial, political, and cultural issues in film, cartoons, music, dance, photo-tattoos, graphic novels, fiction, and advertisements. Contributors to the volume span an array of specializations ranging across literary, postcolonial, gender, media, and Middle Eastern studies and contextualize their views within a larger historical and political moment, analyzing the emergence of a popular expression in the Middle East and North Africa region in recent years, and drawing conclusions pertaining to the direction of popular culture within a geopolitical context. The importance of this book lies in presenting a fresh perspective on popular culture, combining media that are not often combined and offering a topical examination of recent popular production, aiming to counter stereotypical representations of Islamophobia and otherness by bringing together the perspectives of scholars from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines. The collection shows that popular culture can effect changes and alter perceptions and stereotypes, constituting an area where people of different ethnicities, genders, and orientations can find common grounds for expression and connection.

Ideal for students and general readers, this single-volume work serves as a ready-reference guide to pop culture in countries in North Africa and the Middle East, covering subjects ranging from the latest young adult book craze in Egypt to the hottest movies in Saudi Arabia. Part of the new Pop Culture around the World series, this volume focuses on countries in North Africa and the Middle East, including Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and more. The book enables students to examine the stars, idols, and fads of other countries and provides them with an understanding of the globalization of pop culture. An introduction provides readers with important contextual information about pop culture in North Africa and the Middle East, such as how the United States has influenced movies, music, and the Internet; how Islamic traditions may clash with certain aspects of pop culture; and how pop culture has come to be over the years. Readers will learn about a breadth of topics, including music, contemporary literature, movies, television and radio, the Internet, sports, video games, and fashion. There are also entries examining topics like key musicians, songs, books, actors and actresses, movies and television shows, popular websites, top athletes, games, and clothing fads and designers, allowing readers to gain a broad understanding of each topic, supported by specific examples. An ideal resource for students, the book provides Further Readings at the end of each entry; sidebars that appear throughout the text, providing additional anecdotal information; appendices of Top Tens that look at the top-10 songs, movies, books, and much more in the region; and a bibliography.

This volume explores Arab cultural life since World War II. Chapters cover topics such as radio/TV, the press, cinema, music, theatre, popular religion, belly dance, western consumerism, sport and the Arabic language.

What is it about the history, geographical position and cultures of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia that has made music such a potent and powerful agent? This volume presents the first direct look at the complex relationship between music and power across a range of musical genres and countries. Discourses of power in the region centre on some of the most contested social issues, most notably in relation to nationhood, gender and religion. Individual chapters examine the ways in which music serves as a forum for playing out issues of power, ideology, resistance and subversion. How does music become a space for promoting - or conversely, resisting or subverting - particular ideologies or positions of authority? How does it accrue symbolic power in ways that are very particular, perhaps unique? And how does music become a site of social control or, alternatively, a vehicle for agency and empowerment, at times overt and at others highly subtle? What is it about music that facilitates, and sometimes disrupts, the exercise and flows of power? Who controls such flows, how and for what purposes? In asking such questions in the context of countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia and Tajikistan, the book draws on a wide range of relevant theoretical and critical ideas, and many disciplines including ethnomusicology, anthropology, sociology, politics, Middle Eastern studies, globalization studies, gender studies and cultural and media studies. The countries and areas explored share a great deal in historical and cultural terms, including a legacy of colonial and neo-colonial encounters and predominantly Judeo-Muslim religious traditions. It is hoped that the volume will contribute ultimately to a richer understanding of the role that music plays in these societies.

The first book to explore how Arab pop culture has succeeded in helping forge a pan-Arab identity, where Arab nationalism has failed. Pop Culture Arab World! is the first volume to explore the full scope of Arab cultural life since World War II. The book reveals a homogeneous yet richly diverse culture across the Arab nations. In-depth chapters feature radio/TV (particularly the satellite revolution, which has fostered a shared Arab identity), the press (vibrant and controversial), cinema (once thriving, now in crisis), music (the beating heart of modern Arabness), theater (a largely assimilated Western import), popular religion, belly dance (originating in the Arab world), Western consumerism, sport, and the Arabic language (for Muslims, the tongue of God's final revelation). At a time when almost all we see of the Middle East is violence, oppressive nationalism, dangerous zealotry, and despair, this book is a vivid reminder of the humanity of the region's diverse people.

Middle East and North Africa: Climate, Culture, and Conflicts – too hot to handle? The volume offers an account of ideas, historical case studies and current debates on climate change and its consequences from perspectives of eco-theology, archeology, history, geography, political science and technology.

The similar cuisines of the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa stem from ancient cultures and variable climates, ranging from Mediterranean to desert. The major monotheistic religions developed in the Middle East, and students and other readers will learn how religious strictures on food and drink continue to play an important role in eating habits there today for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Most of the population in the regions is Arab, and therefore the emphasis in this volume is mainly on the Arab Muslim food cultures. The impact of colonialism, globalization, and modernization of the foodways is also discussed in the topical chapters. This thorough overview provides huge insight into the lives of everyday people in the regions through their food culture. One chapter describes the major foodstuffs and how they are used. Another discusses gender roles and cooking, the use of cookbooks, and details the typical kitchen and its contents, from appliances to utensils. A chapter on typical meals shows the daily rituals of the various peoples. The Eating Out chapter provides a fascinating look at the workings and décor of small, traditional restaurants, the popularity of picnics, and more. Next, food in the context of religious holidays and life-cycle celebrations is discussed. Finally, traditional folk and modern beliefs about diet and health round out the coverage.

This volume combines ethnographic accounts of fieldwork with overviews of recent anthropological literature about the region on topics such as Islam, gender, youth, and new media. It addresses contemporary debates about modernity, nation building, and the link between the ideology of power and the production of knowledge. Contributors include established and emerging scholars known for the depth and quality of their ethnographic writing and for their interventions in current theory.

What was popular entertainment like for everyday Arab societies in Middle Eastern cities during the long nineteenth century? In what ways did café culture, theatre, illustrated periodicals, cinema, cabarets, and festivals serve as key forms of popular entertainment for Arabic-speaking audiences, many of whom were uneducated and striving to contend with modernity's anxiety-inducing realities? Studies on the 19th to mid-20th century's transformative cultural movement known as the Arab nahda (renaissance), have largely focussed on concerns with nationalism, secularism, and language, often told from the perspective of privileged groups. Highlighting overlooked aspects of this movement, this book shifts the focus away from elite circles to quotidian audiences. Its ten contributions range in scope, from music and visual media to theatre and popular fiction. Paying special attention to networks of movement and exchange across Arab societies in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Morocco, this book heeds the call for 'translocal/transnational' cultural histories, while contributing to timely global studies on gender, sexuality, and morality. Focusing on the often-marginalized frequenters of cafés, artist studios, cinemas, nightclubs, and the streets, it expands the remit of who participated in the nahda and how they did.

Spread between two continents but sharing many of the same geographic challenges, the peoples and cultures of Southwest Asia and North Africa are both similar and different in striking ways. This region, which includes Morocco, Libya, and Egypt, is also known as the Middle East. It has given birth to ancient civilizations, unique legends, and some of the modern world's most distinct traditions and practices. As this informative narrative takes readers on a cultural journey, full-color images will help them put faces to the people, places, and history featured within.