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Viewpoints The State of the Arts in the Middle East: Volume III

The Middle East Institute Washington, DC December 2009

The trials, tribulations, and taboos faced by ordinary youths, the deep cultural significance of the ordinary spoken word, and the actions of ordinary women surmounting the barriers of silence and passivity — these are the subjects covered in this third edition of MEI Viewpoints on the State of the Arts in the Middle East.

Herein, W. Scott Chahanovich explores the prose of the Shabab (Youth) literature in Egypt as exemplified by Mo- stafa Fathi’s World of Boys. Martin Gani discusses the contributions of Sabiha Sumar, the award-winning documentary filmmaker and director, whose cinematic works offer insight into the lives and aspirations of Pakistani women. And Gamil Sinki reveals the richness of colloquial Egyptian.

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Middle East Institute

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Call for Papers

The arts of the Middle East are “alive” — with new artists, genres, and themes continuously being graft- ed onto old, adding shades and texture. While some of these are represented in this volume, many more are not. In the interest of providing a fuller picture of the state of the arts in the region, MEI welcomes additional essays from young and established scholars. These essays (1,000-1,200 words) must be acces- sible to non-specialists and aim to shed light on the importance of a specific artist, body of work, theme, or genre. Topic proposals will be accepted on a rolling or ongoing basis. Essays accepted for publication will be added to the current collection and published in electronic format. Please submit topic proposals in the form of a 100-word abstract (including full name, title, and affiliation) to Dr. John Calabrese at [email protected]

Cover photos are credited, where necessary, in the body of the collection. 88 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Viewpoints Special Edition

The State of the Arts in the Middle East: Volume III

To read Volume I, please click here or visit http://tinyurl.com/no2s2g To read Volume II, please click here or visit http://tinyurl.com/yjp4lo4

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 89 Mostafa Fathi’s The World of Boys: The Shabab Literature Movement of Egypt and Breaking Taboos

W. Scott Chahanovich

It is in this capacity of man to receive another man’s expressions of feeling and experi- ence those feelings himself, that the activity of art is based. — Leo Tolstoy

Egypt’s youth face a dilemma: caught between a purported Clash of Civilizations and a society jellied in the ideology of absolutes. The Egyptian government is oppressive and supported by many Western governments; Society is growing increasingly conservative, the population is ever booming, and economic disparities grow even wider. Behind broad categories and divides such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Democratic Party, Christian vs. Muslim vs. Baha’i, regional instability and war, young Egyptians are W. Scott Chahanovich is cur- exploring the activity of art. rently a Fulbright Scholar in Oman undertaking a trans- Few venues remain open for one to express the trials and tribulations of growing up in lation and research project the Middle East’s most populous country. But the voice of Egypt’s youth is finding its in modern Arabic literature, place in literature. Generally known as Shabab [Youth] Literature, this movement has with a specific interest in the increased its presence in the Egyptian book market. The Shabab literary movement is Shabab literature movement ecumenical, mixing traditionally written Modern Standard Arabic [Fus-ha], Egyptian in Egypt. Scott also works as Colloquial Arabic (‘Amiyya), and short simple sentences to narrate the story in a famil- a freelance translator and iar tone, as well as to best convey the voice of conversation and the effervescence of the has recently been appointed Egyptian dialect; Shabab dialogue is exclusively in ‘Amiyya. Therefore, reading becomes to the editorial board of Sha- a movement. bab Books Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. He will be What Ann Charters notes in her introduction to On the Road by Jack Kerouac, is also pursuing a Masters in Middle relevant to The World of Boys: The intended effect of such “kickwriting” prose facilitates Eastern History at St. An- the dialogue of the author as outsider in his own society, seeking a place and developing drews University, Scotland. an identity. In interviews, Shabab authors confirm that their voice is a reflection of dis- He would like to take this placement and dismay, watching many of their contemporaries fall victim to youthful opportunity to thank A.J. malaise and generational ennui. Writing helps them express this frustration. Breaking Stein for his invaluable help free of traditional literary styles facilitates artistic space in which one can deal with in critiquing and correcting troubles and taboos. Thus, a type of catharsis develops. the first draft of the transla- tion of The World of Boys. The World of Boys by Mostafa Fathi is a socio-literary experiment. The author uses He also would like to thank the spontaneous and deliberate prose of the Shabab movement in order to formulate Ammar Darwish for bringing a dialectic for expressing frustration at discrimination, generally, and breaking a new this book to my attention. Fi- taboo, homosexuality, in Egypt. Phrases such as “hungry looks for homosexual love” nally, he would like to thank seem awkward enough in English (p. 21); however, they are even more uncomfortable Mostafa Fathi for his human in Arabic. Nevertheless, there are no equally effective substitutes that discuss the topic rights work and permission and remain true to the prose. As Mr. Fathi breaks taboos, he also attempts to create new to translate the story. ones. For example, writing a book about homosexuality in Egypt is daring and opens dialogue where before there was none. Yet in the book, Mr. Fathi intentionally uses an ellipsis for the word “faggot,” instead writing “fa …” (pp. 24, 26). The effect is to demon- strate the author’s rejection of the word’s use, as well as encourage the reader to rebuff the term. Instead, the work substitutes the Arabic word for “faggot” with the new Arabic 90 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Chahanovich... equivalent for “homosexual” or “gay:” mithli.

To encourage tolerance and educate about the new term, Mr. Fathi places Assam, the main character and narrator, in a dream sequence where he holds a sign on which is written, “I am gay (mithli), I am a human being” (p. 46). Passersby ask what the term means and guess at its implication. “What does ‘gay’ (mithli) mean?” a flower seller asks a young boy. “It means, may God protect us, that he is a child molester, sir” (p. 46). Assam’s former colleague also walks by and asks what “gay (mithli)” means; the boy then shrugs his shoulders and exclaims, “I have no idea” (p.46). The entire story educates the Arabic reader about this new linguistic construction. Therefore, the story’s mixing of and playing with language reflects a young voice, a newly breached taboo, an artistic experiment, and a civil rights message.

In addition, Mr. Fathi’s decision to use English terms, both transliterated and written in the original Arabic text, reflects the struggle for identity socially, linguistically, and sexually. Common English words such as “casual” and “parking” are transliterated into Ara- bic. The terms, however, are used to signal wealthier socio-economic style. The use of foreign words, par- ticularly English, is a signifier of better education and, by extension, wealth. But the incorporation of foreign words into popular ‘Amiyya also reflects the trickle-down effect of ideas. Like services and goods, the cheaper the words become the more widespread Cover of The World of Boys their use. For example, the main characters, both from poor economic backgrounds, would not have used words such as “Internet” ten years ago; now, they appear transliterated in dialogue, and the characters widely use them. Also, a concept may lose its upper-class exclusivity and enter into the colloquial vocabulary if information becomes more available; the word may still designate upper-class style and privilege, however. Hence, there remains a form of socio-linguistic schizophrenia.

Assam discovers other neologisms in both innocent and brief, but socio-linguistically revealing, conversations about gay terminology that he has yet to learn. Concepts such as “top, bottom, both” (p. 25), and “bi” (p. 26) are examples of this identity struggle present in the text and transliterated into Arabic. Their use in Arabic suggests that the words are becoming more commonplace across Egypt’s metropolitan and young socio-economic strata. “Oral sex” and “gay,” however, are written in Roman letters. This suggests they are new introductions into the vernacular; the upper class is more exposed to their use, however taboo. This reflects developments in Egyptian colloquial itself. By using such terminology, Mr. Fathi indirectly invites a discussion to accept or reject a new dialect. Similarly, the use of such neologisms remains true to break from classical Arabic terminology that would otherwise seem foreign and awkward. Thus the taboo terms begin to shake off its offensive coil and move towards socio-linguistic acknowledgment.

The homosexual community itself faces a socio-linguistic dilemma: “are we sexually male or female?” For example, on page 25, Assam notes that Soona, the overtly effeminate call boy, uses grammatical suffixes for the female gender when talking about himself or his homosexual posse. The effect is a linguistic sex-change. English’s lack of gender lacks this nuance. Also, to a large extent the male homosexual community in Cairo adopts female personalities. This reflects a conundrum in this population of understanding their sexual identity in a society with a rigorous dichotomy of sexual orientation and gender classification. Equating homosexuality with “taking it like a woman” is mentioned as a popular insult (p. 26). Thus, Assam discovers that Soona’s nickname, as well as those of his compatriots, are female pseudonyms. Mohammad, Assam’s best friend, explains to Assam that, “all of the gays [sic] have a girl’s name as well. In Soona’s group there is a guy named ‘Mirna’ and another guy named ‘Angie’ and then there is this fat little pudger named ‘Leila’” (p. 36). The struggle for identity is further complicated. Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 91 Chahanovich...

The author also explores themes of religion and sexuality. However, he does not impose a specific religious or social injunction on the interpretation of his work. Nevertheless, he clearly seeks to mend the fissure between sexuality and religion. Assam and Mohammad are on a spiritual journey throughout the novella. Periodically, the question of re- demption and damnation are posed. “Do you think we’ll get into heaven, or be condemned to hell?” asks Mohammad. Assam responds, “I don’t know Mohammad, but what I do know is that God is All Merciful and All Compassionate and that He forgives all sins, except for those who deny Him. And neither of us has ever denied Him.” Meta-themes dealing with religious political movements also converge on this trajectory. For example, Assam has a sexual encounter with the bearded and young Sheikh Osama, a religious bookseller. The beard in Egypt, among Muslims, has become a symbol not only of piety and religious zeal, but also an indicator that the individual is most likely active in a conservative Muslim political group. The beard itself is a practice of emulating the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, and thus indicative of Salafist-Islamist/Muslim Brotherhood sympathies, specifically. Mohammad also grows his beard and joins an Islamic political group after his father dies. For European readers who experienced student revolts in 1968 and Americans during the Vietnam War, the beard as a form of protest should not seem so foreign. Other meta-themes abound such as poverty, regional turmoil, Egyptian popular culture, and the struggle for identity under the deceptive dichotomy of “East vs. West” civilization.

Mr. Fathi is a young Egyptian human rights activist. He does not deign this work to be a masterpiece. Nor does he con- sider it complete. Critique can be lobbed at the story for not dealing with “queer” issues more critically, or for failing to incorporate a lesbian Egyptian narrative. His work must be read for what it is, however, given the restrictions and confines of conservative Egyptian society and access to this subculture — nothing more, nothing less. The opposing pressure between religious groups and the government also influenced the final publication of the book. Egypt’s State Security is the official censor for all published material in Egypt. Ironically, government censors allowed the book to be published. After some editing, the authorities stipulated that the original Arabic version be printed without pagination. This was done to avoid religious clerics and political polemicists from merely grabbing a provocative passage just by the page number, rather than reading the story itself. If there were page numbers, a greater storm of indignation could have easily surfaced and spread. Also, several bookstores have either refused to carry the story or, having caved under pressure, removed it from its shelves — “Diwan,” a beau monde bookstore is one such store — even though the book demonstrated unexpected success: In contrast, some bookstores shelves were quickly depleted.

In the literary tradition of Tolstoy’s Hadji Murád, Mr. Fathi tells the reader that the book is both fiction and real. Both are true. But the message remains palpable. Reading and translating Arabic literature is far more imperative than before, as ideologues brood more loudly about culture clashes and civilizational inadequacies. Just as Azar Nafisi notes inHadji Murád, this story demonstrates a bond “based on a sense of individual integrity and a simple human dignity, destabiliz- ing our usual definitions of imperialism, colonialism, or the clash of cultures.” Such is literature’s artistic activity.

Such is an Egyptian bedtime story.

92 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Sabiha Sumar — Pakistan’s Award-Winning Filmmaker

Martin Gani

Sabiha Sumar of Pakistan is not just a pretty face. The smiling, dark eyes, framed by flowing dark hair, and an apparently sunny personality, hide a passionate woman with a lot to say. She is an award-winning documentary maker and film director focusing on ordinary Pakistani women whose lives have been disturbingly disrupted by the political, religious, and social changes that have taken place over the last 60 years or so.

Sumar was born in the populous port city of Karachi; she studied Political Science and learned the art of filmmaking in New York. She armed herself further by reading Inter- national Studies at Cambridge University. Only then did she attempt her first documentary, Who Will Cast The First Stone, in 1988 — she was 27 at the time. This powerful, Martin Gani is a freelance sensitive story argues for the release of three working-class women jailed for simply de- writer/English teacher of manding basic human rights such as choosing who to marry and asking for the custody Turkish Cypriot origin based of their children. The film went on to win the Golden Gate Award at the San Fransisco in Italy. He has written nu- Film Festival in 1998. merous articles on arts and culture for a wide range of This first work was fundamental, as Sumar explains: “It was made during the reign of publications, including the president Zia ul-Haq, who was busy Islamizing Pakistan [1977-1988], ruling by Islamic Emirates Airlines inflight law. Filming in these circumstances was extremely difficult. I don’t know how we man- magazines Open Skies and aged to complete it.” Portfolio; Discovery Chan- nel Magazine; World & I; Sumar’s first feature film, Khamosh Italian America; Verbatim; Pani (Silent Waters), was a touch eas- English Today; Emirates ier to shoot but had a more substan- Woman; Italy Magazine tial, profound scope: it denounced the (UK); and Vive, a monthly rise of fundamentalism in Pakistan businesswomen’s magazine through the story of a widow, Ayshe in Australia. (played by Indian actress, TV-host, and journalist, Kirron Kher) and her son, Salim. Increasingly less interested in marrying the beautiful Zoubida Sabiha Sumar (left) and Kirron Kher and playing the flute, Salim becomes more interested in keeping company with Muslim extremists. We are also told in flash-backs some painful episodes of re- cent Pakistani history. We learn that in the old Indian state of Punjab, Muslims and Sikhs lived as good neighbors till it was decided that the two communities should live in separate countries — partition thus followed in 1947. In the ensuing chaos, women from both religions were raped, abducted, and even murdered. Their menfolk kill them to prevent their falling into the hands of enemies, as a voice-over emphasizes: “Fathers would kill daughters in the name of honor. People moved like the sea, leaving every- thing behind.”

I first met Sabiha Sumar in 2003 at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, one of the world’s best-attended film events, where Khamosh Pani competed with 17 other films from around one of the world. The jury liked Sumar’s film so much, they decided to add to her Golden Gate Award another top prize, this time a Golden Leopard; Kirron Kher Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 93 Telmissany...

was voted the best actress. Sumar was back at the Swiss festival the following year as a jury member herself.

What prompted the gifted cineaste to makeSilent Waters? “Families in modern-day Pakistan are still haunted by the bitter memories of partition,” Sumar explains. She continues:

Initially it was going to be a documentary on the violence against women during the partition period, but I didn’t really want to scratch people’s wounds further. I decided to make a film instead. This way I could also connect the violence in the past with the on-going vio- Scene from Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) lence in the present, otherwise it would have been a historical film that may have given the impression that what happened then was over and had no reference to today. It is all based on fact. My parents themselves had to abandon their home in Bombay and flee to Karachi in 1947. On the way, they wit- nessed much heart-breaking episodes. My mother told me that when she was travelling to Karachi by ship, they met a man called Abdul who was carrying a small trunk with him, and he kept opening it and taking things out like glasses, a little tumbler, children’s clothes and baby shoes. He would talk about how so and so wore this and so and so wore that. My parents eventually realized Abdul’s family had been killed and these few possessions were all he had left of them. My grandparents ‘adopted’ Abdul, and the family, which already numbered 12, gained a new member.1

Sumar dedicated Silent Waters to her parents. The movie toured many festivals, but what the director really wanted was to show it to the ordinary people in Pakistan who in a way were also the protago- nists of the story. “There are no acting schools in Pakistan, the film culture was virtually eliminated during Zia’s Islamization period,” Sumar reveals. She found a way to compensate:

I made an effort to cast as many local people as possible from around the location where we shot, so I worked with inexperienced talent and conducted acting workshops to train my cast. To show it to the people we created a travelling cinema and toured some 41 villages Scene from Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) across Pakistan, we had lengthy discussions on the film’s content and meaning with the villagers. One young man asked why Salim didn’t just carry on playing the flute and turned to Islamic fundamentalism, the answer is, at the time Paki- stan had wiped out all possibility of participating in the arts or culture, in a way the youth became easy prey for the extremists because they had no options to turn to.

Sabiha Sumars’s main interest remains present-day Pakistan and the place of women in it. Her 1999 documentary, Don’t Ask Why, explores the lifestyle and attitude of a 17-year-old girl trying to carve out a place for herself, pushing and testing the boundaries of an Islamic society as she knows it. More documentaries followed Si- lent Waters, such as For a Place Under The Heavens, in which the director took the concept of emancipating women further: Here we have a brief history of Pakistan arguing that a succession of governments contributed to the rise of fundamentalism, followed by Scene from Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) interviews with confident, highly-educated, independent Pakistani 1. Conservative, official estimates put the number of abducted women to 50,000 Muslims in India and 33,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan.

94 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Telmissany...

women, discussing politics and religion. The message is clear: Not all women in Pakistan are passive and silent. We have Sabiha Sumar herself, talking to an Islamic scholar who interestingly points out, “Islam does not stop women from moving forward. They can come forward and take charge.” “But, would they give up power if women demanded it?” the director wonders, “It would take a revolution,” he responds, “No one relinquishes power easily.” Sumar can’t but agree with the scholar, “Women are not demanding rights. Are they orga- nizing themselves politically? Coming out in the streets? Do they occupy public spaces? They don’t.”

Scene from Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) In 2008 Sumar was at the Sundance Film Festival with her latest documentary, Dinner With Tthe President, which raises questions about democracy in Pakistan through a series of interviews with ordinary people and religious leaders, and culminates in a dinner with Pervez Musharraf, who faces a battery of questions, including what his vision of Pakistani democracy is. Sumar’s outspoken, courageos effort was nominated for the Grand Jury Award. She is currently working on her second feature film, Rafeena, focusing on the aspirations of a 20-year-old girl from a lower-middle-class background who is determined to find a place for herself in the world of fashion in today’s Pakistan.

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 95 The Egyptian Culture in Spoken Language

Gamil Sinki

The spoken word is the bearer of culture. Common expressions in daily use by ordinary people are not only the means by which they communicate with each other, but are the essential elements of a society bound together in time and place. The continuous injection of new vocabulary and forms of expression into the everyday spoken language further enriches and at the same time alters it. With the passage of time, a new “genera- tion” of idioms and colloquialisms displaces the old. Yet, though displaced, these time- bound layers of language are nonetheless important remnants of culture — parts of the cultural heritage worth preserving.

The Impact of the Verbal Quotations in Pre- serving a Culture

I was born and raised in Egypt, and Arabic is my mother Gamil Sinki was born in Cai- tongue. I left Egypt in the mid-1960s. Were I to return, I ro, where he graduated from would find a huge gap between the current street language the Faculty of Engineering, and the one used a half-century ago which I still employ. Cairo University in 1965. He The moment I would open my mouth to ask a taxi driver emigrated to Canada in 1967, to take me somewhere, he would immediately identify me received his master’s degree as a “stranger” living abroad. After a short chat with him, he from Concordia University, would be able to tell how long I had been away. This is main- and established himself in ly due to both my use of a “dead” vocabulary as well as my Quebec as a mechanical en- complete lack of knowledge of the one that has replaced it. gineer. He is now retired and spends most of his spare time However, isn’t this seemingly “dead” vocabulary part of Egyptian culture? And if so, reading, writing, and travel- should it not be regarded as such and preserved? I was led to answer “yes” to both ling. He is the author of Heri- of these questions following an encounter with an anthropology professor in a small tage: The Egyptian Culture in American Indian village near Shefferville in northern Quebec. This professor had a Spoken Language. This essay mandate to restore an ancient dialect and language of a tribe which had vanished over is dedicated to my chidren, the years. He spent more than five years working with the few living members of the as I invite them to continue tribe still faithful to their heritage in order to collect and gather all that was left of a cul- the journey of their Egyptian ture and preserve it. Fearing that my heritage could one day be forgotten, I have set out heritage. Finally, I offerHeri - to preserve the portion of it that I mastered and have retained since my youth in Egypt tage as my gift to the gen- more than a half-century ago. I seek to identify in this essay some of the ways in which erations to come so that the the spoken word serves as a vessel and a vehicle for transmitting important aspects of Egyptian culture that I know Egyptian culture across time and space. and love lives eternally in the land of the diaspora. Characteristics of Egyptian Culture Revealed in the Spoken Lan- guage

1: Egyptian culture is inclusive. We can witness the influence of various cultures in the Egyptian spoken language, such as the Arabic, Coptic, Turkish, Persian, French, English, Italian, and Greek.

96 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Sinki...

2: Egyptian culture is figurative. Numerous Egyptian expressions refer to cats, dogs, and donkeys, as well as many other animals, birds, and insects. They also refer to varieties of fruits, vegetables, and foods. A third major category of expression refers to parts of the human body such as the eyes, heart, tongue, foot, beards, teeth, cheek, throat, fingers, and many others. A fourth important category includes construction materials and household articles, such as doors, windows, stones, walls, floors and floor covering, tiles, jugs, needles, and spools.

3: Egyptian culture is suffused with spontaneity. There are plenty of terms and popular proverbs that are spontane- ously and instinctively inserted in the daily spoken language. These terms are like spices that give a special taste to speech and describe a situation or a given incident in a caricature-like way. This is why to the extent that we remember and are aware of a language’s expressions and master their use at the appropriate time, it is possible to say that we are from the core of this language’s society.

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 97 Sinki...

4: Egyptian culture is a virtual museum, with the spoken language the art that adorns its walls. The spoken language carries and conveys the information, ideas, and philosophies of the people employing it. The spoken language draws humoristic pictures depicting the characteristics, the habits, and the inspirations of its people. The spoken language acts and reacts with the society and its milieu. It bears witness to a bygone era.

5: Egyptian culture is fundamentally verbal. Verbal learning is an essential characteristic of Arabic culture, which is a main feature of the Egyptian one. It is inherited from the liturgical chants (Syriac, Byzantine, and Islamic) which is musical to the ear and rhythmic.

98 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Sinki...

6: Egyptian culture is steeped in reptition. Repetition, which is rooted in Arabic culture, makes the expressions part of the collection of the experiential stock of life. Repetition is an important factor that helps children to absorb common expressions. As the saying goes, “The repetitive rehearsal instructs anyone, even the illiterate.”

7: Egyptian culture is replete with the unique. Many words in spoken Egyptian are jargon that could not be translated to another language with an equivalent one word. Rather, an explanation in the form of a paragraph is usually needed. A number of these words and expressions have Coptic or Turkish roots. “The pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune.” الشماتــــــــة AL SHAMAATA I believe that only the German language which offers the equivalent to this one word expression: Schadenfreude.

8: Egyptian culture is redolent with history. Numerous words and expressions refer to specific historical figures. Such words and expressions are used to characterize a person as being, for example, generous, courageous, or intelligent. Some of these expressions are in poetic forms and said by legendary figures that played important roles (political, religious, intellectual, social, or philosophical) in Egyptian or Arab history.

9: Egyptian culture reflects the importance of spirituality and faith in society. These expressions refer to the Qur’an or the Bible and could also refer to biblical figure like Job and his patience.

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 99 Sinki...

10: Egyptian culture is saturated with humor, whether in the form of expressions that could serve as bumper stick- ers, cartoons that describe social or political situations, or well-known proverbs deformed by replacing one or more words.

100 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu The State of the Arts in the Middle East Cumulative Index

Volume I (May 2009) Introduction 7

I. Language and Literature

Fiction and Publics: The Emergence of the “Arabic Best-Seller”, by Roger Allen 9

An Introduction to Arabic Calligraphy, by Mahdi Alosh and Muhammad Ali Aziz 13

Turkey through the Looking Glass: Modern Fiction, by Robert Finn 17

Resistance in Writing: Ghassan Kanafani and the “Question of Palestine”, by Barbara Harlow 20

Illustrating Independence: The Algerian War Comic of the 1980s, by Jennifer Howell 23

The Iraqi Tragedy, Scheherazade, and Her Granddaughters, by Ikram Masmoudi 26

II. Performing Arts

Flourishing Arts in the Arabian Peninsula, by Steven Caton 31

Flowers in the Desert, by Mark LeVine 34

The Palestinian Cultural Scene: Narrating the Nakba, by Hala Khamis Nassar 38

The Hilarity of Evil: The Terrorist Drama in Israeli and Palestinian Films, by Yaron Shemer 40

Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu 101 Two Icons of Hollywood on the Nile’s Unlikely Golden Age, by Christopher Stone 44

III. Visual Arts

Art and Revolution in the Islamic Republic of Iran, by Shiva Balaghi 49

Hosay: A Shi‘i Ritual Transformed, by Peter J. Chelkowski 53

Mapping Modernity in Arab Art, by Nuha N.N. Khoury 56

L’appartement 22: Creating Space for Art and Social Discourse in Morocco, by Katarzyna Pieprzak 59

Iraqi Art: Dafatir, by Nada Shabout 62

Orientalist Art in Morocco, by Mary Vogl 65

Arts of the Middle East: Selected Web Resources 69

Volume II (September 2009)

Samia Zaru, by Carol Malt 74

Mutiny in the Harem: Nadir Moknèche’s Algiers Trilogy, by May Telmissany 77

Turkish Cypriot Women Artists and Their Role in Society, by Netice Yildiz 81

Volume III (December 2009)

Mostafa Fathi’s The World of Boys: TheShabab Literature Movement of Egypt and Breaking Taboos, by W. Scott Chahanovich 90

Sabiha Sumar — Pakistan’s Award-Winning Filmmaker, by Martin Gani 93

The Egyptian Culture in Spoken Language, by Gamil Sinki 96 102 Middle East Institute Viewpoints • www.mei.edu Middle East Institute

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