Baha Taher: Noble Intellectual and Literary Phenomenon

By Elie Chalala
Egypt and the Arab world lost Baha Taher, a great literary figure and an exceptional  “phenomenon” in Arab literature. I intentionally use and stress the term “phenomenon.” Most students of Arab literature are quite familiar with the battles, scandals, gossip, back stabbings, and squabbles over literary prizes, where narcissism bares its fangs. Taher was absent from all of these battles and, perhaps because of his integrity, remained in the shadows without amassing the literary “popularity” others sought after. As Oussama Farouk in the Lebanese Al Modon newspaper said, Taher was devoted exclusively to his creativity, distanced himself from any disputes, disagreements, or conflicts relating to positions, benefits, and prizes, and carved with his virtuous nature a place in the hearts of his friends, students, and readers that is hard to fill. I distinguish literary squabbles and scandals from the literary and intellectual debates between old and new, heritage and modernity. In short, Taher’s integrity primed him as a phenomenon in the world of Arab letters.
 
Essays and Features

Two Decades After Alfred Farag’s Death, Debate Still Rages Over Origins and Decline of Arab Theater

By Naomi Pham and Elie Chalala

Almost any discussion of Arab playwrights is incomplete without covering the origins of Arab theater, and no exception applies when discussing Alfred Farag. Arab scholars, playwrights, and critics have constantly debated the state of Arab theater, once its birth and recently its decline, especially when compared (as it often is) to Western theater. The late Alfred Farag (1929-2005), one of the leading contemporary playwrights of Egyptian theater, wrote numerous plays and played an instrumental role in bridging Arab heritage to the stage before his death. His bold, experimental style vastly influenced Arab theater as it is known today, and he devoted much of his life to calling for a theatrical renaissance.

Theatre

Algerian Identity 60 Years After Independence: Reclaiming Memory and Sovereignty Over Language Amid Lingering French Tensions

By Elie Chalala and Naomi Pham

Many Arab intellectuals and literary elites, some of whom fought in the Algerian Liberation War, romanticize the Algerian Revolution. Arab poets, novelists, and intellectuals produced a sizable amount of literature during and after the revolution. But the French-Algerian conflict did not disappear with Algeria's independence in 1962 and continues to this day with tense relations ebbing and flowing, especially as the country commemorates its 60th anniversary of independence.

Essays and Features

Inheritors of Sound and Song: Arab Music and the Legacy of Al-Andalus

By Sami Asmar

In our childhood, they taught many of us that Al-Andalus was the center of a grand golden era of Arab civilization. As we lament the current state of Arab civilization, we were also taught that European civilization benefited immensely during this period. These notions are self-evident in the realm of music since, to this day, there is a highly popular genre of Arab music attributed to Andalusian heritage. Do these notions have the historical support needed for academic research, or do they remain mythological?

Books

Muslim Americans Negotiate the Public Sphere: 'Civic Purdah' and Civic Engagement in Metro Detroit

By Pamela Nice

This academic book is an ethnographic study of Muslim communities within Hamtramck, a small incorporated city within the boundaries of greater Detroit. As such, the subtitle is somewhat misleading, as Detroit has differing demographics and ethnic and religious dynamics from Hamtramck, and the two are, in fact, compared periodically by the author. Alisa Perkins lived and worked among Hamtramck’s Muslims — primarily women — during 2005-2007, with follow-up research through 2017.

Books

‘Egyptian-American’: The Hyphenated Experience

By 
Priscilla Wathington
 
Looking Both Ways
By Pauline Kaldas
Cune Press, 2017
 
Something about Pauline Kaldas’ new memoir makes you feel both adrift and at home – sensations normally at war with each other. Yet, somehow, in her rounded phrases and softly imparted narratives, the elements of surprise and familiarity find balance in each other.
 
Composed of a string of personal essays, her history unfolds over many moments, rather than the narration of a single breath.

‘Traveling Scholar’ Ella Shohat: The Contradictions and Challenges of Being an Arab Jew

As a public intellectual, Ella Shohat has found that her personal history profoundly informs her scholarship. Born in Israel to Iraqi parents who had migrated to that country after 1948, Shohat grew up in an Israeli culture that discriminated against Mizrahi Jews. Living a life of contradictions and tension as an “Arab-Jew” – a person of the Jewish religion whose culture and primary language are Arabic, she has found herself on countless occasions having to explain an identity that seemed like an oxymoron, an impossibility, to academics and others.

Chronicling Syrians’ Personal Stories of Struggle to Reach Safe Refuge

By 
Sarah Rogers

On Friday January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that, for a 90-day period, suspended immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. It also, for a period of 120 days, suspended the Refugee Resettlement Program, placing an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. “Leaving Syria: Seeking Refuge in Greece” makes clear the plight of Syrian refugees traces back to a much longer and tragic history.


Leaving Syria: Seeking Refuge in Greece
By Bill Dienst, MD and Madi Williamson
Cune Press, 2017

Little Time to Rest: 'Daughters' of Nomads

By 
Pamela Nice

Watching “Daughters of Anatolia,” a film documenting the nomadic lifestyle of goat herders in contemporary Turkey, makes one aware of the value of ethnographic filmography over its drier, academic prose cousin. Describing the migratory path from the Mediterranean Sea to the Taurus Mountains cannot compare with seeing the breath-taking beauty of mountains in bloom as goats scramble over them.

Broadway’s ‘Oslo’ Highlights Human Drama of Famous Peace Accords

By 
Naomi Pham

With two nations at odds for more than half of a century, different major power players brought all types of peace attempts to the table, but to no avail, with two significant exceptions. The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979 stands as a lonely, if successful peace attempt, while the 1993 Oslo Accords represent the second, partially successful and incomplete effort. As a result, Palestinians and Israelis formally recognized each other’s existence, and committed themselves to working together to resolve the conflict in a non-violent manner.

Ancient Classic Expresses Modern Tragedy of Syria’s 'Trojan Women'

By 
Naomi Pham

Amidst the ruins of Troy, Queen Hecuba declares, “Lift up your head from the dust! Heave up from the earth the weight of your misery, you whom the Gods have cursed. Some agonies are beyond telling, and some must be told.” One of the acclaimed works of ancient Greek playwright Euripides tells the tale of Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra and the other women of fallen Troy, who, after their husbands die in battle, now face being sold into slavery with their families. Although this war assuredly takes place in the past, director Zoe Lafferty’s reworking of the ancient play reveals a haunting similarity with the wars we wage today.

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