Cosmopolitanism in Dubai’s Pan-Arab Drama

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-209
Author(s):  
Fadi G. Haddad ◽  
Alexander Dhoest

Abstract Pan-Arab dramas (Ar. al-drama al-ʿarabiyya al-mushtaraka) are a recent trend in Arabic drama series (Ar. musalsalat); they portray an ensemble of characters of various Arab nationalities in a transnational narrative setting. By considering transnational television a factor that contributes to the cosmopolitan imagination, and given the argument that Gulf cities are replacing historical Arab capitals and becoming ‘new centers’ for Arab culture, education and business, we explore the manner in which cosmopolitanism is represented in transnational Arab drama content. We do this through a case study of ‘04’ (Zero Four), a pan-Arab drama series that tells the story of four young expatriates of four Arab nationalities, experiencing their personal, professional and private lives in modern-day Dubai. We find that the boundaries of the cosmopolitan imagined community encompass the Arab world, resulting in a cosmopolitan imaginary that seems to favor Arabs over non-Arabs.

1997 ◽  
Vol 171 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ghubash ◽  
M. T. Abou-Saleh

BackgroundThere have been numerous studies of the prevalence of postpartum depression and its putative risk factors in Western Europe and North America, but very few studies in developing countries including the Arab world.MethodNinety-five women admitted to the New Dubai Hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for childbirth were studied. All subjects were assessed in the postpartum period using clinical and socio-cultural instruments: the Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ) at day 2, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at day 7, and the Present State Examination (PSE) at week 8 ± 2 and week 30 ± 2 after delivery.ResultsThe prevalence rate of psychiatric morbidity was 24.5% by the SRQ, 17.8% by the EPDS, and 15.8% by the PSE. A number of psychosocial factors emerged as putative risk factors for postpartum depression.ConclusionsThe prevalence rates of postpartum psychiatric morbidity and its risk factors in this Arab culture are similar to the results obtained in numerous previous studies in industrialised countries. These findings have implications for the early detection and care of women at risk for postpartum depression.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 590-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cengiz Tomar

AbstractIbn Khaldun is one of most discussed social philosophers in the modern Arab World. The most important reasons for this are that he lived in a time of crisis that resembles the one that Muslims find themselves in at the present time, that his thoughts have found approval from Western scientists, and that they possess modern characteristics. It is for these reasons that the thought of Ibn Khaldun, from the 19th century onwards, have given rise to a wide variety of interpretations, including pan-Islamism, nationalism, socialism and other ideologies that have found interest in the Arab world. In this article, after examining the heritage of thought bequeathed by Ibn Khaldun to Arab culture, starting from the time in which he lived, we will try to evaluate interpretations of the Muqaddimah in the modern Arab world.


1970 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Tuuli Lähdesmäki

Monuments are protagonists in many historical narratives. They “tell” fascinating stories of past times and past heroes and “advise” us to commemorate and reminisce. But who is actually doing the telling and to whom? How are the stories formed? In monuments the past and present, memory and history, meet in a complex way and form a structure of meanings reflecting the narratives and values of the so-called imagined community. Discursive and narrative practices play a crucial role in the formation and production of the meanings of monuments. 


Author(s):  
Ернст Вагнер

The first part of this paper asks how European art education traditionally positions itself despite an ever-changing world, mainly in respect to the question how to teach cultural heritage. Focussing the history of art we can see that teaching the canon connected with development narratives is still dominant. But some trends can be observed that open the chance to further develop those traditions, e.g. focussing intercultural entanglements, transcultural understandings of ‘objects’ and including the issue of power. These trends try to provide answers to today's challenges. The inquiry finally leads to an analytical grid as a model to understand contemporary complexities in a better way. In the middle section, this is discussed in more detail using a concrete example, the political demands for the return of cultural heritage, the Benin bronzes that were stolen by British colonialists in Nigeria in the 19th century and are now mainly in European museums. It gets clear that the application of the model – developed in the first part – to this example reveals its limits, as unsolvable problems occur. The case study of the Benin bronzes triggers a set of new questions that are becoming increasingly important for art education – at least in Germany – but which have hardly been asked so far. Examples are: Who speaks? In which language? With whom? Who owns? Is negation a model for intercultural dialogue? Etcetera. In the last part, this set of questions is posed to a concrete international project with partners in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa that the author is co-ordinating at the Art of Fine Academy in Munich. The set of questions is used to critically explore this project in a way that could also be transferred to any other project in the field of art and cultural education in formal and non-formal settings.


Author(s):  
Jean Lachapelle

This chapter explores the causes of state repression against Islamist organizations in the Arab world. Advancing a rich literature on state repression, authoritarianism, and Islamist politics, it proposes a new approach that centers on the role of non-Islamist audiences for explaining the repression of Islamists. Specifically, the chapter argues that when society is divided between non-Islamists and Islamists, an autocrat can repress Islamists to signal a commitment to non-Islamists to protect them from perceived threats by Islamists. It provides supporting evidence from Egypt, which shows how large-scale repression directed at the Muslim Brotherhood after the coup of 2013 served to cultivate the support of non-Islamists.


Author(s):  
Dina Rezk

The Yom Kippur War was a critical game changer in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the politics of the Middle East. Henry Kissinger famously explained the ‘intelligence failure’ of Yom Kippur thus: ‘Our definition of rationality did not take seriously the notion of starting an unwinnable war to restore self-respect.’ The most recently released material suggests that Kissinger’s explanation requires some revising. This chapter demonstrates that British and American analysts understood perfectly well Sadat’s intentions, specifically his desire for a limited military victory to gain ‘face’ at home and leverage abroad. Instead analytical weakness lay in assessments of Egypt’s military capability where there was a unanimous consensus of Egypt’s impotency. Ideas about Arab ‘culture’ seem to have played a key role in this underestimation: the notion of a fatalistic Islam for example, prevailed in numerous analyses. In a radical revision of the conventional wisdom about the strengths and weaknesses of Western intelligence agencies, the Yom Kippur war provides a revealing case study whereby the West excelled in understanding the ‘mystery’ or intentions leading to war, but simply did not believe that Egypt possessed the capability to act effectively, and so perilously dismissed the prospect of an Egyptian attack.


2010 ◽  
pp. 384-391
Author(s):  
Daniel Brewer ◽  
Greg Adamson

This interview-based case study describes current portal project practices based on a diverse set of projects, including B2B, B2C, B2E, E2E and mobile. Since 2000 portals have increased their functionality, and widespread availability of portal software has encouraged organisations to install and experiment with them. Portals are adding value by drawing applications together, particularly through search, and assembling existing tools for a user in a way that enhances their value. Operational challenges include support and security. Success has depended on beginning with support and security frameworks based on similar industry experience. Performance has been the key project success factor, and project sponsors are beginning to understand non-functional requirements: portability, scalability, availability, reliability and security. SOA principles are only partially applied, due to investment in existing systems. A recent trend is Microsoft SharePoint’s rapid market growth through ease of implementation.


2009 ◽  
pp. 123-131
Author(s):  
Mohamed El Louadi

In 801, Harun Rashid offered Charlemagne a water clock, the like of which was inexistent in all of Europe at that time; the King’s court thought that a little devil was hidden inside the clock. In the 1930s, King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia had to convince his people that the radio was not the making of the devil and that it could in fact be used to broadcast and spread the Quran. In 2003, the Arab region is found to be still lagging in modern technologies adoption (UNDP, 2003). Thus, in a little more than 11 centuries, the Arabs were transformed from leaders to adopters, then to late adopters as far as technologies are concerned. The Arab world is taken to mean the 22 members of the Arab League, accounting for more than 300 million people with an economy of 700 billion dollars. Although most Arabs practice Islam, they represent less than one third of all Muslims. The Arab world is often thought of as economically prosperous due to its oil resources; yet its total GDP is lower than that of Spain (UNDP, 2003). Arab countries share language and culture but differ in size, geography, demographics, government type, etc. In terms of spending in and use of IT, statistics portray the Arab world as far from being up-to-date (UNDP, 2003). This article raises the question of whether existing research models are appropriate to explain this delay. If certain characteristics proper to the Arab culture play an important role in explaining the delay in IT adoption, then we anticipate the answer to be that no existing model is able to adequately study the IT adoption phenomena in the Arab world.


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