ANYWHERE BUT NOW A sign we are, undeciphered, How can we articulate the intangible sense of being and belonging, the Without pain we are, and have almost rupture of apart-ness, and the paradoxes contained in the where and Lost our language in foreign lands. now of places east of the Mediterranean, a region in constant flux? ––Friedrich Hölderlin Adapted from the German-to-English The book Anywhere but Now assembles creative inquiries into translation by Richard Sieburth landscapes of belonging and loss. Scholars, writers, filmmakers Editors and artists reflect on violence, siege and flight, capturing haunting echoes from the past, subtle tremors of fear and desire, and diverse Samar Kanafani yearnings for elsewhere. Munira Khayyat Rasha Salti Contributors: Mohammad Al Attar, Ali Bader, Nigol Bezjian, Ursula Biemann, Naeim Giladi, Jabbar Yassin Hussein, Saba Innab, Samar Kanafani, Thomas Keenan, Munira Khayyat, Layla Al-Zubaidi Abbas Khider, Nadia Latif, Marc Nichanian, Ossama Mohammed, Eleni Myrivili, Arzu Öztürkmen, Maysoon Pachachi, Julie Peteet, Walid Sadek, Rasha Salti, Samir, Ella Shohat, Nazan Üstündağ, and Ian White. THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPES OF BELONGING IN LANDSCAPES OF BELONGING IN Also including reviews of works by: Köken Ergun, Juan Hamdo, Samar Kanafani, and Sead & Nihad Kresevljaković. THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN Editors Samar Kanafani Munira Khayyat Rasha Salti Layla Al-Zubaidi LANDSCAPES OF BELONGING IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 01 A PLACE LIKE HOME FORGET BAGHDAD: ARABS AND JEWS, THE IRAQI 8 CONNECTION Naeim Giladi and Ella Shohat CONVERSATION BELONGING AND UN-BELONGING: HOME IN THE 25 BOURJ AL-BARAJNEH REFUGEE CAMP Nadia Latif ACADEMIC PAPER A DISTANT MOON, NOW Jabbar Yassin Hussein 36 ESSAY NOTHING DOING IN BAGHDAD Maysoon Pachachi 40 Copy-editors: Emily and Leon Dische-Becker FILM DOSSIER Art Director: Jana Traboulsi Designer: Nayla Yehia THE HIDDEN LIFE OF WAR Munira Khayyat 45 Proof-reader: Lina Mounzer LITERARY EXCERPT Coordination: Samar Kanafani and Layla Al-Zubaidi ‘BEIRUT,’ THE BELLY, THE EVENT Marc Nichanian 59 Printer: www.coloursps.com REVIEW Publisher: Heinrich Böll Foundation, Middle East Office, Beirut 02 I, NATION Cover image is a detail from a map by Saba Innab. Copyright to this publication: Heinrich Böll HOME AND BORDER: REPRESENTATIONS OF 64 Foundation, Middle East Office, Beirut. BELONGING IN A SOUTHERN EUROPEAN BORDER Copyright to the texts remains with the authors. REGION Eleni Myrivili This document has been produced with the ACADEMIC PAPER financial assistance of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Middle East Office. KÖKEN ERGUN: PERSONAL WORKS OF PUBLIC 87 The views expressed herein are those of the CEREMONIES Ian White author(s) and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the opinion of the Foundation. REVIEW ISTANBUL-BEIRUT-YEREVAN: A TURKISH JOURNEY 90 EMBEDDED FIELDWORK AND GLOBAL OIL 194 TOWARDS ARMENIANNESS Arzu Öztürkmen CIRCULATION: BLACK SEA FILES Ursula Biemann ESSAY VISUAL TEXT A TRAVEL GUIDE TO NORTHERN KURDISTAN 95 04 ALL THAT REMAINS Nazan Üstündağ ACADEMIC PAPER DO YOU REMEMBER Thomas Keenan 204 REVIEW NORTH: A WOMEN’S LAMENT AT THE MARGIN OF 115 THE MARGIN Samar Kanafani THE LEAKED IMAGE: WEAPON IN THE HANDS 208 REVIEW OF REVOLUTIONARIES OR DOCUMENT OF PAIN? Mohammad Al Attar BETWEEN SPACES Saba Innab 119 ESSAY VISUAL TEXT ONLINE Mohammad Al Attar 215 03 POETICS OF PASSAGE PLAY SPACES OF CONTAINMENT AND DISPLACEMENT 140 THE TAXI DRIVER Fadi Adleh 223 IN THE MIDDLE EAST Julie Peteet VISUAL TEXT ACADEMIC PAPER IMAGE AGAINST IMAGE, SHOT REVERSE SHOT 240 A JERUSALEM BEDROOM STORY Rasha Salti 157 Ossama Mohammed CONVERSATION ESSAY THE VILLAGE INDIAN Abbas Khider 170 MILK, CARNATION AND A GODLY SONG: 246 LITERARY EXCERPT A FORAY INTO A FILM-IN-PROGRESS Nigol Bezjian CONVERSATION IRAQI ODYSSEY Samir 178 FILM DOSSIER MELANCHOLIA PHILOLOGICA Marc Nichanian 253 ACADEMIC PAPER ONE EXILE, MANY EXILES Ali Bader 190 ESSAY MELANCHOLIA PHILOLOGICA Q&A Marc Nichanian 271 CONVERSATION INTRODUCTION ANYWHERE BUT NOW Foreword This publication derives its title from a three-day sym- “A Place Like Home” dwells on the raveling and unravel- posium held in Beirut in April 2009, which brought ing of home, on belonging, longing and the making and together scholars, writers, filmmakers and artists to explore unmaking of place. It plumbs the paradoxes of living in questions around landscapes of belonging. The multi- the shadows or memories of an-other home, an elusive but disciplinary nature of this symposium inspired novel and omnipresent elsewhere. Authors explore the mystery of creative engagements; some of the attendants even called impossible identity, the uneasy tension between emplace- it magical. This publication seeks to capture the spirit of ment and un/belonging, the prescription of legal writ in the event by addressing related themes through a variety the making of home, the bitter-sweetness of nostalgia and of formats: reviews, essays, film dossiers, conversations, everyday life. academic papers, literary excerpts, dramatic scripts for plays, and illustrated fiction. “I, Nation” exposes the barbed extremities of state and nation. Authors illuminate the forceful yet brittle perfor- The publication Anywhere but Now assembles diverse mance of national pride, explore the darkness at the heart of desires for elsewhere. It is a compilation of apart-ness, a national exclusivity and exclusion, journey through treacher- chronicle of ruptures, violence and yearning, through time ous yet beloved landscapes, and gingerly tread the threshold and across geographies. Contributors grapple with what that separates light from darkness along the nation-state’s seem like ordinary landscapes in the hope of unearthing (meta)physical borders, the limens where state and nation the stories buried underneath them, exploring the meaning are at once enforced and constantly undermined. of their borders and bounds. Reflecting on the dynamics of exclusion and exile, home-making, traces of movement, “Poetics of Passage” traces the movement of people trajectories of everyday life, maps of memory, and gene- along the multiple tracks that constitute spatial-temporal alogies of catastrophic loss, this collection of explorations trajectories and practices of containment. Authors examine expresses a momentary sense of being and belonging – the correspondence and discord between physical and always pierced by the nervous “but” of exception and sus- social boundaries, and explore the realities of mobility pension. The works collected here register the wheres and and transgression, (in)visibility and presence. Scanning whens (or nows) of violence, flight, siege, haunting echoes the expanse of the political realm, they also explore the from the past, subtle tremors of fear and aspirations, and ways temporality is variously articulated and illuminated by ultimately the now of a region in constant flux. both desertion and desire. Geographies change, places are transformed, people rediscover their place in the world. Reflecting the panels that came together during the sym- posium, this book is divided into four sections: 5/5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “All that Remains” registers what cannot be undone, and Anywhere but Now, the symposium and book, would not what continues to haunt the present as time slips away. have been possible without the commitment and support Authors meditate on how a ghostly presence is enunciated, of participants, contributors and the long list of friends capturing the moment it vanishes. and attendants who contributed to this positive experience. For their great support, we are indebted to all who labored This book is dedicated to those who continue to struggle with us throughout his process. Particularly, we want to and die to realize their dream that the place where they recognize Donal McLaughlin, Robin Moger, Clem Naylor – we – exist now may become a place to live… and not and Walid Sadek for their inspired translations; the astute somewhere to leave behind. photography of Hussam Msheimish and the timely audio recording of Jim Quilty. We appreciate all the dedicated By Samar Kanafani, Munira Khayyat, Rasha Salti and efforts of the Heinrich Böll Foundation team, Corinne Layla Al-Zubaidi Deek, Dina Fakoussa, Doreen Khoury and Heiko Wimmen. A special thanks goes to Hiba Haidar for her painstaking work in transcribing recordings. We want to thank the Beirut Art Center for hosting the symposium in April 2009, and extend particular gratitude to Roy Samaha for facilitating the teleconferencing session with Ella Shohat on the opening night. Finally, we wish to acknowledge Walid Charara for his advice and Samah Selim for her generous patience. A special dedication goes to Naeim Giladi who passed away in 2010 before seeing this book, to which his contri- bution was inspirational. 01 A PLACE LIKE HOME CONVERSATION FORGET BAGHDAD: ARABS AND JEWS, THE IRAQI CONNECTION re-enactments & transcripts of conversations with Naeim Giladi and Ella Shohat transcribed by Hiba Haidar Naeim Giladi (Khalaschi) belonged to a small but vocal group On Thursday April 2nd, 2009, the Anywhere but Now conference opened of Jewish anti-Zionists who openly denounced the State of Israel in its contemporary form. Born in 1929 in Iraq to a with a welcome note by Layla Al-Zubaidi, director of Heinrich Böll Foundation, family of farmers, he was exposed to a rich cross-section of Arabic culture, prose and poetry. After immigrating to Middle East Office, and the screening of Forget Baghdad by Samir. Naeim Israel, Naeim Giladi joined the Israeli Black Panthers, an Giladi and Ella Shohat had been invited to attend the conference and discuss organization formed to defend the rights of Oriental Jews, and became its representative in the General Trade Union. the film after its screening. In the days leading up to the event, Naeim Giladi’s He also campaigned for Arab/Israeli peace and published in Al-Hawadith, a newspaper advocating Palestinian rights. health deteriorated and Ella Shohat could not travel to Beirut due to a family After the massacre in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut in 1982, Naeim Giladi renounced his Israe- emergency.