Ad Hoc Arabism: Advertising, Culture and Technology in Saudi Arabia

Ad Hoc Arabism: Advertising, Culture and Technology in Saudi Arabia
Author: Roni Zirinski
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2005
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780820474458

Ad Hoc Arabism is a revealing look at advertising and consumer culture in Saudi Arabia. Through careful study of the marketing strategies and hidden meanings behind the advertisements featured in a leading Saudi women's magazine, Roni Zirinski examines the process whereby international advertisers strip products of any cultural overlay, and then reattach them to local historical symbols. Each chapter is devoted to a specific family of products, such as watches, cars, food items, cosmetics, and electronics. This book provides an invaluable exploration of the inner workings of global advertising through a deep understanding of the cultural economics of the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia
Author: Sherifa Zuhur
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 706
Release: 2012-01-05
Genre: History
ISBN:

This book describes all aspects of Saudi Arabia, including its government, economy, society, and culture, as well as its role in the Middle East and its position internationally. In this comprehensive introduction to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, author Sherifa Zuhur reveals the fascinating people, culture, politics, and economic development of the largest Arab country of the Middle East. The book provides a detailed summary of Arabian history from the earliest settlements on the Arabian peninsula to the present day, with a focus on the rise of the current Saudi regime. It provides essential background on the oil politics of the Kingdom dating back to the discovery of oil in the late 1930s, an account of Saudi Arabia's subsequent economic advancement, and explanations of emerging societal issues such as labor importation and the changing roles of women. Saudi Arabia also details the Kingdom's cultural and religious milieu, including its music, poetry, architecture, legal system, and prominence in the Islamic world.

Modern Arabic Literature

Modern Arabic Literature
Author: Reuven Snir
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2017-06-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1474420524

The study of Arabic literature is blossoming. This book provides a comprehensive theoretical framework to help research this highly prolific and diverse production of contemporary literary texts. Based on the achievements of historical poetics, in particular those of Russian formalism and its theoretical legacy, this framework offers flexible, transparent, and unbiased tools to understand the relevant contexts within the literary system. The aim is to enhance our understanding of Arabic literature, throw light on areas of literary production that traditionally have been neglected, and stimulate others to take up the fascinating challenge of mapping out and exploring them.

The Diffusion of “Small” Western Technologies in the Middle East

The Diffusion of “Small” Western Technologies in the Middle East
Author: Uri M. Kupferschmidt
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2023-10-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110777304

In recent years we have become interested in the diffusion of “small” Western technologies in the countries of the Middle East during the 19th and 20th centuries, the era of Imperialism and first globalization. We postulated a contrast between “small” and “big” technologies. Under the latter category we may understand railway systems, electricity grids, telegraph networks, and steam navigation, imposed by foreign powers or installed by connected local entrepreneurs. But many “small” Western technologies, such as sewing machines, typewriters, pianos, eyeglasses, and similar consumer goods, which had been developed and manufactured in Europe and America, were wanted, and willingly acquired by the agency of individual users elsewhere. In a few cases, however, the inventions had to be adapted, or were overstepped, and even delayed. Some were adopted as social markers or status symbols only by elites who could afford them. Processes of adoption and diffusion therefore differed according to cultural settings, preferences, and needs. Social and cultural historians, and social scientists, not only of the Middle East, will find in this collection of essays a new approach to the impact of Western technological inventions on the Middle East.

Islamic Marketing

Islamic Marketing
Author: Čedomir Nestorović
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2016-05-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319327542

This book analyzes the current Islamic marketing environment. Since the Muslim world is extremely diverse in terms of economic development, customs and traditions and political and legal systems, it is vital for companies and marketers to analyze the environment before attempting to address these markets. The author emphasizes that it is ineffectual to elaborate the distribution and promotion strategies if the market does not exist in terms of purchasing power or demographics, if potential consumers do not believe that products and services answer their needs and demands or if there are political and legal barriers to companies wanting to enter these markets. The book offers detailed insights into the economic, socio-cultural, and politico-legal environment in the Muslim world, which are essential for marketers to understand and form the foundations of effective marketing strategies.

Saudi Arabia in Transition

Saudi Arabia in Transition
Author: Bernard Haykel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2015-01-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107006295

This book presents new insights and the most up-to-date research on Saudi Arabia's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics.

Prophets and Princes

Prophets and Princes
Author: Mark Weston
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 675
Release: 2011-04-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1118110900

Saudi Arabia: oil-rich, devoutly Muslim, and a vital ally To many in the West, Saudi Arabia is easy to criticize. It is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. Saudi women are not permitted to drive, work with men, or travel without a man's permission. Prior to 9/11, the Saudis sent millions of dollars abroad to schools that taught Muslim extremism and to charities that turned out to be fronts for al-Qaeda. In Prophets and Princes, a highly respected scholar who has lived in Saudi Arabia contends that despite these serious shortcomings, the kingdom is still America's most important ally in the Middle East, a voice for moderation toward Israel, and a nation with a surprising ability to make many of the economic and cultural changes necessary to adjust to modern realities. Author Mark Weston offers an objective and balanced history of the only nation on earth named after its ruling family. Drawing on interviews with many Saudi men and women, Weston portrays a complex society in which sixty percent of Saudi Arabia's university students are women, and citizens who seek a constitutional monarchy can petition the king without fear of reprisal. Filled with new and underreported information about the most controversial aspects of life in Saudi Arabia, Prophets and Princes is a must-read for anyone interested in the Middle East, oil, Islam, or the war on terror..

A Society of Young Women

A Society of Young Women
Author: Amelie Le Renard
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2014-06-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0804791376

The cities of Saudi Arabia are among the most gender segregated in the world. In recent years the Saudi government has felt increasing international pressure to offer greater roles for women in society. Implicit in these calls for reform, however, is an assumption that the only "real" society is male society. Little consideration has been given to the rapidly evolving activities within women's spaces. This book joins young urban women in their daily lives—in the workplace, on the female university campus, at the mall—to show how these women are transforming Saudi cities from within and creating their own urban, professional, consumerist lifestyles. As young Saudi women are emerging as an increasingly visible social group, they are shaping new social norms. Their shared urban spaces offer women the opportunity to shed certain constraints and imagine themselves in new roles. But to feel included in this peer group, women must adhere to new constraints: to be sophisticated, fashionable, feminine, and modern. The position of "other" women—poor, rural, or non-Saudi women—is increasingly marginalized. While young urban women may embody the image of a "reformed" Saudi nation, the reform project ultimately remains incomplete, drawing new hierarchies and lines of exclusion among women.

Muslim Societies in the Age of Mass Consumption

Muslim Societies in the Age of Mass Consumption
Author: Johanna Pink
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2020-07-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1527556638

In the course of the 20th century, hardly a region in the world has escaped the triumph of global consumerism. Muslim societies are no exception. Globalized brands are pervasive, and the landscapes of consumption are changing at a breathtaking pace. Yet Muslim consumers are not passive victims of the homogenizing forces of globalization. They actively appropriate and adapt the new commodities and spaces of consumption to their own needs and integrate them into their culture. Simultaneously, this culture is reshaped and reinvented to comply with the mechanisms of conspicuous consumption. It is these processes that this volume seeks to address from an interdisciplinary perspective. The papers in this anthology present innovative approaches to a wide range of issues that have, so far, barely received scholarly attention. The topics range from the changing spaces of consumption to Islamic branding, from the marketing of religious music to the consumption patterns of Muslim minority groups. This anthology uses consumption as a prism through which to view, and better understand, the enormous transformations that Muslim societies—Middle Eastern, South-East Asian, as well as diasporic ones—have undergone in the past few decades.