Essays and Features

The Picture of a Woman From Aleppo!

Elie Chalala

This photograph lingers in the consciousness of the viewer. It displays, against a background of dust clouds, an exhausted woman accompanied by two children, fleeing the danger and distress of the bombing. There is something desperately poignant about her expression. Distress and shock mark her state of mind, as some newspapers wrote, but one wonders whether that does full justice to her mental state. She is flanked by her two children…

Life From Beneath The Knife

Hanna Saadah

My schedule brimmed with appointments like a bookshelf, stacked back to back. The names, silent like book titles, filed in the waiting room.  I motioned to Norma to follow me into my office.  She hesitated, trying to disengage from a conversation she was having with Mrs. Stitchmaker who stood at the window with questions about her bill. (From "Life From Beneath The Knife," by Hanna Saadah. Click on the link to read the full short story).

Lebanon and Algeria: Collective Memory and Cultural Trauma

By Wided Khadraoui

Lebanon and Algeria: Collective Memory and Cultural Trauma

Wided Khadraoui writes an analysis of two plays, Algerian playwright Slimane Benaissa’s “Les fils de l’amertume” (Sons of Bitterness,) and Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad’s Incendies (Scorched). Both works examine themes of collective memory, repression, and cultural trauma instigated by violent upheavals within Algeria and Lebanon. This leads to a fascinating discussion of the role that these issues have played in stifling “Arab Spring” movements in these two countries.

Taking the form of a dialog between a terrorist, Farid, and journalist, Youcef, “Les fils de l’amertume” explores the overlapping influences of religious fundamentalism and nationalism in Algeria. The play also addresses the fall-out from a devastating civil war, economic crisis, and a multitude of social injustices. Even Algeria’s attempts to control violence creates unforeseen consequences.

Unlike Benaissa’s play. Mouawad’s Incendies, never reveals the setting, although that anonymous land obviously represents Lebanon. The plot centers on the theme of hiding and demystifying secrets. Twins Janine and Simon return to the Middle East to fulfill their dying mother’s wish, after sending off two letters from her, one to the father they thought had died before their births, and one to the brother they never knew existed. As shocking as these events may be, many more surprises await discovery. Like other survivors of war hoping to make sense of what has happened, the twins will encounter “…a truth that is like a green fruit that has never ripened,” but which, with exposure, finally become digestible, if not palatable. Students, scholars, and those who appreciate intelligent, well-written and reasoned drama, will not want to miss this beautifully crafted analysis of two unique and timely plays. 

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'Realist' Scholar's Argument Delights the Syrian Regime: 'To Crush ISIS, Make a Deal With Assad"!

By 
Elie Chalala

"It feels surreal to even contemplate the possibility of Western powers crushing ISIS while allying with a regime that has facilitated the deaths of more than 200,000 of its citizens, displaced half of Syria's population, and transformed more than half of the country's infrastructure into a pile of rubble. How could the oppressed and marginalized Sunni communities ever trust in an alliance made with their tormentors?" (From The 'Realist' Scholar's Argument Strikes Delight in Syrian Regime: 'To Crush ISIS, Make a Deal With Assad"!)

The Uncompromising Voice of Syrian Screenwriter Fouad Hamira

By 
Rebecca Joubin

A Study in Courage: Screenwriter and Activist Fouad Hamira

Cinematic activist, Fouad Hamira, who began his career working for the National Theater, has become one of the leading voices for justice in Syrian television. Despite all attempts to silence him, this man of courage and conviction remains as vocal as ever. Since the current uprising in Syria, he has denounced injustices such as the government’s attempts to reframe the battle for Syrian freedom as a sectarian uprising. 

Fouad Hamira, who began as an employee in the National Theater, has gone on to become one of the leading voices in Syrian television drama. He is renowned for his unwillingness to compromise with the forces of societal and political oppression. His controversial “Ghazlan fi Ghabat al-Dhi‘ab” (Gazelles in a Forest of Wolves), which was filled with a poignant critique of corruption and the abusive nature of power, was finally allowed to air  in 2006, although he had written the miniseries 15 years earlier.

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