writing assignment
Arabic Language
Key to Arab Identity
Andrew Hammond
Popular Culture in the Arab World
AUC Press, 2007
1- Immense changes in the Arab world in the past 50 years.
2- Arabness, Arab identity, Arabism (shared cultural elements).
3- Pan-Arabism (1950s-1960s) was a response to Zionism and the creation of the State of Israel (1948)
4- Popular culture succeeds where politics fails: it is a unifying force for Arab nations.
5- Pop culture in response to globalization and the conspiracy theory:
the colonial wound and social paranoia on the one hand…
the fascination with the Western way of life on the other hand.
6- High culture is controlled by the State. Literature is regressing; media is controlling the public sphere.
7- Low culture seeks liberty and recognition.
Is the Arabic language sacred for Arab communities?
... and why?
Sounds of Arabic Religiosity
The call for prayers for Muslims : 5 times a day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTQKksijGqM&list=PLFEC7BCB734649501
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK29GeHc0Ik
Christian Hymns by Fairuz, 2010
https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hduXnCao4I
http://lingovillage.com/practicing-arabic-in-southeast-asia/
Recapitulate:
Andrew Hammond
Three major ideas:
1- The Arabic language is a unifying force (p.54)
2- Arabic is not diglossic
(formal and informal forms)
it is rather polyglossic (including 30 dialects)
(p. 64)
3- Arabization is an ongoing concern but Arabic literature is regressing in the face of TV and media (p.70)
Pop Culture and the Vernacular
1- Storytelling
2- Vernacular Poetry & Political Songs
What is the Vernacular?
Local, native language or dialect, as opposed to literary language, spoken everyday by a given community.
It is used in songs, poetry, theatrical plays, TV series, radio, films, advertisement, and very rarely in novels.
1- Storytelling
Legacy and contemporary practices
Telling stories is part of the Arab legacy
It is very often associated with female members of the family and with the public storyteller
(usually male)
1- Female narrators
and
2- Public performers
The Palestinian Hikaya (fairytale)
Female Narrators
Scheherazade
The One Thousand and One Nights
Public Performer
Al-Hakawati
The Storyteller
Al-hakawati (see www.al-hakawati.net/)
Al-hakawati Arab Cultural Trust is an independent non-profit educational organization, registered in May 2006. Management and staff are located in Beirut, Lebanon, and New Jersey, USA.
Al-hakawati tells the story of Arab heritage and civilization, which flowered in a region rooted in the world’s first cultures.
Music and storytelling
Rababa
Egypt and Saudi Arabia
2 mn. Think/Pair/Share
Why are stories told in Arabic a unifying force for Arabs?
2- Songs, Lyrics
and the Vernacular
The Poet as Lyricist
The Egyptian poet and lyricist Salah Jahine (vernacular)
It is Spring! (Sang by Souad Hosny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bpYFcZOVg
The Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani Standard Arabic songs
Words (sang by Majida al-Roumi, Lebanon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVsCXyoZsm0
Songs of the Arab Uprisings
Cairokee (Egypt), This is my Writing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zXOA3J7JV4
Recapitulation
1- Arabic is a marker of identity, the only persistent identifying force of Arabs today.
2- The gap between literature and oral practices is growing. TV and songs play an important role in widening this gap.
3- The Arabic Language used and re-appropriated by the people is the site of dissidence and political opposition (ex. political and protest songs).