Arts and Culture in the Mideast

Mohamed Mahmoud Graffiti, the Threat of Memory and an Unfinished Revolution

The news a few nights ago that “someone” had painted over the Martyrs’ Mural on Mohamed Mahmoud street predictably aroused attention on social media; artists refusing to be erased returned immediately. A few on Twitter quickly pointed the finger at Morsi’s Islamist dominated government and read the destruction as evidence of the Muslim Brotherhood’s long-term plan to crack down on art and expression in line with conservative irreligious ideology. Some called it an attack on Egyptian pluralistic history - the images mixed Pharaonic, Christian and Muslim symbols. A walk along Mohamed Mahmoud Street, site of the Egyptian Revolution’s worst clashes between demonstrators and security forces, suggests a different interpretation. Rather than an imposition of Islamist moral values on the public realm, the eagerness to demolish the Martyrs’ Mural appears, to me, to be a calculated move to curtail possible protests—in short, politics as usual under an Egyptian regime that remains far from fulfilling promises of the revolution.

On Saudi Arabia: Author Karen House Discusses The Middle Eastern King

Karen Elliott House is one of America’s most knowledgeable experts on Saudi Arabia. For the last thirty years, she has studied the Kingdom as a writer for the The Wall Street Journal. Her new book, “On Saudi Arabia” (Knopf, 2012), is a rare look inside one of the most fascinating and mysterious countries in the world.

In her new book, House aims “to peel back the bindings of tradition and religion that wrap the Saudi mummy to explain how the society works, how Saudis think and live, and how events in the desert kingdom may unfold.”

House studied at the University of Texas at Austin and at Harvard University. She has taught at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and was a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She worked for the The Wall Street Journal for more than three decades, including as Publisher from 2002-2006. She has received numerous awards for her reporting, including the coveted Pulitzer Prize. House is a former director and a current member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of the Trilateral Commission.

Karen Elliott House discusses On Saudi Arabia with Aslan Media contributor Joseph Preville.

Evolving Flags and Unfulfilled Demands: Egypt’s Artistic Revolution Continues

In last month’s demonstrations at the U.S. Embassy, the hyper-charged politics of flags were evident to anyone who cared to look. But there are more important flags to pay attention to on the Cairo streets. A few months back, I was putting together my syllabus for a course I’m teaching on visual culture and political consciousness, and I stumbled on the article “Does Egypt Need a New Flag?” by Egyptian artist and blogger Ganzeer. He asks, “What is the significance of updating the Egyptian flag anyway? Although it might seem like a topic fetishized by a group of designers and artists, with no real affect on the masses, I believe it can have grave effects on things to come.” I’m inclined to disagree—but only slightly. It’s already a mass phenomenon. This article was posted in March 2011; it would be overreach to assume that the street art I’ve been seeing recently has roots in this single online post.

Searching For Peace, An Iranian-American Filmmaker Finds His Voice

“There we were, climbing on top of this 30 foot concrete wall: right leg facing Israel, left leg dangling over Palestine–security cameras whirring away.” How did a couple of American kids end up on the fault line of the Middle-East’s defining conflict? “Just one of those ‘one-thing-led to-another’ sort of deals,” says Sohrab Pirayesh, 30, with a smirk and a few scars on his face.

Who’s Afraid of Abulkasem? Language Meets Race and Identity in Award-Winning Play INVASION!

“A man who has a language consequently possesses the world

expressed and implied by that language.”

~ Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

When you hear the name, Abulkasem, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Think about it for a minute without any politically-correct editing.

Mightier Than The Sword: Israeli Poet-Activist Roy Arad Inspires

In Israel, one of the most striking figures in a new generation of the poetic and literary circles is, without a doubt, Roy (Chicky) Arad. An enigmatic figure who is always one step ahead (and never short) of a new verse, Roy is everywhere . He is the co-founder of Ma'ayan, an art and poetry magazine, the editor of Adouma [Red], an anthology of socialist contemporary poetry, Latzet [Go Out], against the 2009 War in Lebanon, and The Revolution Songbook, about last summer's social protests. His list of affiliations is endless—he is one of the founders of Free Academy and Cultural Guerilla, social justice groups that advocate for political causes through art and poetry; and curator of “Iran,” an art exhibition organized last winter in opposition to the government's plans to go to war with Iran. In addition, Roy writes for Haaretz, one of the leading newspapers in the country.

I Heart Hamas: A Conversation with Palestinian-American Actress Jennifer Jajeh

Being a single woman in America is hard enough at times. But being a single Christian Palestinian-American visiting Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada? With the ever-present backdrop of global politics and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you’ve got grounds for a serious tragicomedy.

Scarves That Don’t Apologize: An Interview with 16R’s Nancy Hoque

Back in June, Aslan Media covered the Fashion Fighting Famine show in Irvine, California that left our style correspondent Alnas Zia thoroughly impressed with the variety of scarves, abayas and kaftans featured by local and international mideast fashion vendors. One brand stood out, SixteenR (16R), whose statement-making scarfs dominated the runway. Aslan Media sat down with the brand’s founder and Creative Director, Nancy Hoque, to discuss how she views the scarf as a “tool of empowerment” for women, and how her company redefines scarf-wear with a variegated range of edgy designs and artistic forms.