Culture and Crisis in the Arab World: Art, Practice and Production in Spaces of Conflict (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)

"Since 2011, the art of the Arab uprisings has been the subject of much scholarly and popular attention. Yet the role of artists, writers and filmmakers themselves as social actors working under extraordinary conditions has been relatively neglected. Drawing on critical readings of Bourdieu's Field Theory, this book explores the production of culture in Arab social spaces in 'crisis'. In ten case studies, contributors examine a wide range of countries and conflicts, from Algeria to the Arab countries of the Gulf. They discuss among other things the impact of Western public diplomacy organisations on the arts scene in post-revolutionary Cairo and the consequences of dwindling state support for literary production in Yemen. Providing a valuable source of empirical data for researchers, the book breaks new ground in adapting Bourdieu's theory to the particularities of cultural production in the Middle East and North Africa."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction • Richard Jacquemond and Felix Lang 1 Beauty, Goodness and Bombs: The Role of Political Crisis in Structuring the Arab Field(s) of Cultural Production • Felix Lang 2 Rumour in Two Tunisian Artistic Fields: A Form of Legitimate Speech • Annabelle Boissier and Mariem Guellouz 3 The Symbolic Power of Syrian Collective Memory since 2011 • Alexa Firat 4 Committed Knowledge: Autonomy and Politicization of Research Institutions and Practices in Wartime Lebanon (1975–90) • Candice Raymond 5 The Crisis as an Institutional Tool: Challenging Anti-Institutional Challenges in the Egyptian Cultural Field • Elena Chiti 6 The Algerian Literary Field in the ‘Black Decade’: A Reinforced Polarization • Tristan Leperlier 7 Successive Shifts in the Yemeni Cultural Field 2011–16 • Laurent Damesin 8 A Field in Exile: The Syrian Theatre Scene in Movement • Simon Dubois 9 Class and Creative Economies: The Cultural Field in Cairo • Ilka Eickhof 10 Contemporary Art in Extremis: Gaza between Imprisonment and Globalization • Marion Slitine Index