New Issue of Al Jadid
Al Jadid is just out (Vol. 19, No. 68). The cover (“Encoded History 1” 2015) by Doris Bittar. Al Jadid is a Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts (www.aljadid.com).
‘The Jewish Quarter:’ Ramadan Drama Revisits 40’s Egyptian-Jewish Relations
“The Jewish Quarter” has sent some unsettling messages about the “Ramadan series” (or soaps), prompting commentaries in the Arab press and beyond, and finally meriting a feature article in the New York Times. This 30 episode serial, which runs through the month of Ramadan in Egypt, offers a viewpoint unlike that featured in any other serial before or after the Arab Spring. Its importance stems from its unprecedented and sympathetic treatment of Egypt’s Jews, highlighting their “fierce anti-Zionism” to Egyptian audiences.
Al Nakba at 67: 'Generations of Catastrophes'
I rarely passed on an Al Nakba remembrance, an event which was pivotal in forming my political and moral consciousness during my early days in Beirut and in my academic diaspora. Nowadays, I reserve my aggravation for those intellectual cowards who saw nothing in Al Nakba except a shelter to hide from their shameful silence on one of the most horrific “Nakbas” in modern Arab history.
As 20th Century Begins, British ‘Orientalism’ a Tool of Colonialism
Reading Arabia: British Orientalism in the Age of Mass Publication 1880–1930
By Andrew C. Long
Syracuse University Press, 2014
The Hollywood epic, “Lawrence of Arabia,” immortalized the familiar story of T.E. Lawrence.
Orientalism’s Children: 'Voices from the Threshold'
Talking Through the Door: An Anthology of Contemporary Middle Eastern American Writing
Edited by Susan Atefat-Peckham
Foreword by Lisa Suhair Majaj
Syracuse University Press, 2014
It has been nearly eleven years since an automobile accident cut Susan Atefat-Peckham’s work and life short while she pursued a Fulbright Scholarship in
Assia Djebar (1936-2015): Home in France, Heart in Algeria
Assia Djebar has been problematic for some Arab intellectuals, both when she became an "immortal" or a life-long member of the prestigious French Academy and when her name was frequently mentioned as a Nobel Prize contender. Her death on February 6 2015, proved no exception. As her body lay in one of Paris’ hospitals, the same questions arose: Why were her works not translated enough into Arabic? In contrast, her novels were translated into scores of other languages. That is a valid question.
Etab Hreib on Conflict, Commercialism, and Sexism in Syria’s Current Art Movement
Critically acclaimed Syrian watercolorist, Etab Hreib, a native of Der-Ez-Zor, graduated from the Graphic Arts Department of the University of Damascus. Since then, she has exhibited her work in various parts of the world. She was the recipient of the Al-Mahros Golden Award in Tunisia, a Golden Award from the Chinese Ministry of Culture, and an award from the Ministry of Culture in Algeria.