Asmahan's Secrets

Asmahan's Secrets
Author: Sherifa Zuhur
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780292798076

The great Arab singer Asmahan was the toast of Cairo song and cinema in the late 1930s and early 1940s, as World War II approached. She remained a figure of glamour and intrigue throughout her life and lives on today in legend as one of the shaping forces in the development of Egyptian popular culture. In this biography, author Sherifa Zuhur does a thorough study of the music and film of Asmahan and her historical setting. A Druze princess actually named Amal al-Atrash, Asmahan came from an important clan in the mountains of Syria but broke free from her traditional family background, left her husband, and became a public performer, a role frowned upon for women of the time. This unique biography of the controversial Asmahan focuses on her public as well as her private life. She was a much sought-after guest in the homes of Egypt's rich and famous, but she was also rumored to be an agent for the Allied forces during World War II. Through the story of Asmahan, the reader glimpses not only aspects of the cultural and political history of Egypt and Syria between the two world wars, but also the change in attitude in the Arab world toward women as public performers on stage. Life in wartime Cairo comes alive in this illustrated account of one of the great singers of the Arab world, a woman who played an important role in history. Sherifa Zuhur is Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jerusalem in the Second World War

Jerusalem in the Second World War
Author: Daphna Sharfman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2024-01-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1003833780

This book is the first to present the unique story of the city of Jerusalem during the events of the Second World War and how it played a unique role in both the military and civilian aspects of the war. Whilst Jerusalem is usually known for topics such as religion, archaeology, or the politics of the Israeli–Arab conflict, this volume provides an in-depth analysis of this exceptional and temporary situation in Jerusalem, offering a perspective that is different from the usual political-strategic-military analysis. Although battles were raging in the nearby countries of Syria and Lebanon, and the war in Egypt and the Western Desert, the people who came to Jerusalem, as well as those who lived there, had different agendas and perspectives. Some were spies and intelligence officers, other were exiles or refugee immigrants from Europe who managed at the last moment to escape Nazi persecution. Journalists and writers described life in the city at this time. All were probably conscious of the fact that when the war came to an end, local rivalry and mounting conflict would take the centre stage again. This was a time of a special, magical drawn-out moment that may shed light on an alternative, more peaceful, kind of Jerusalem that unfortunately was not to be. This volume seeks to find an alternative approach and to contribute to the development of insightful research into life in an unordinary city in an unordinary situation. It will be of value to those interested in military history and the history of the Middle East.

Images of Enchantment

Images of Enchantment
Author: Sherifa Zuhur
Publisher: American Univ in Cairo Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1998
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9789774244674

This original and multidimensional book brings a refreshing new approach to the study of the arts of the Middle East. By dealing in one volume with dance, music, painting, and cinema, as experienced and practiced not only within the Middle East but also abroad, Images of Enchantment breaks down the artificial distinctions--of form, geography, 'high' and 'low' art, performer and artist--that are so often used to delineate the subjects and processes of Middle Eastern artistic culture. The eighteen essays in this book cover themes as diverse as Bedouin dance, the music of Arab Americans, cinema in Egypt and Iran, Hollywood representations of the Middle East, and contemporary Sudanese painting. The contributions come from scholars and critics and from the artists themselves. Together, they present a wide-ranging and holistic view of the arts in their social, political, anthropological, and gender contexts. Contributors: Walter Armbrust, Farida Ben Lyazid, Kay Hardy Campbell, Virginia Danielson, Marjorie Franken, Sondra Hale, Carolee Kent, Hamid Naficy, Salwa Mikdadi Nashashibi, Anne K. Rasmussen, Selim Sednaoui, Simon Shaheen, Rebecca Stone, Chaïbia Talal, Karin Van Nieuwkerk, William Young, Sherifa Zuhur.

Steel & Silk

Steel & Silk
Author: Sami M. Moubayed
Publisher: Cune Press
Total Pages: 628
Release: 2006
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781885942401

This book consists of profiles of 200 men and women. Syria has led the Arab World in many ways for the past 100 years. It was the headquarters of the Arab nationalist movement in the 1910s and leader of women's emancipation in the 1920s. It was among the first Arab countries to achieve independence from colonial rule in 1946, and among the region's earliest and healthiest democracies in the 1950s. From this point on, Syria produced an array of leading poets, writers, and painters. In the 1970s, Syria was the first Arab country to appoint women as judges, parliamentary deputies, ministers, and ambassadors. Meet the nationalists who led the independence struggle in Syria. Meet the politicians who maneuvered its politics into becoming a central power-broker in the Middle East. Meet the poets, the painters and thinkers as well as the diplomats, journalists, and civil servants. Meet the women and men who shaped 20th century Syria. This book includes a workshop for journalists and researchers that includes an annotated timeline of 20th Century Syria, facts on Syria, and brief bios of the current leadership.

Transnational Arab Stardom

Transnational Arab Stardom
Author: Kaya Davies Hayon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2024-01-25
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1501393235

Building on the work of star studies scholars, this collection provides contextual analyses of off-screen representation, as well as close textual analyses of films and star personas, thereby offering an in-depth study of the Arab star as text and context of Arab cinema. Using the tools of audience reception studies, the collection will also look at how stars (of film, stage, screen and new media) are viewed and received in different cultural contexts, both within and outside of the Arabic-speaking world. Arab cinema is often discussed in terms of political representation and independent art film, but rarely in terms of stardom, glamour, performance or masquerade. Aside from a few individual studies on female stardom or aspects of Arab masculinity, no major English-language study on Arab stardom exists, and collections on transnational stars or world cinema also often neglect to include Arab performers. This new book seeks to address this gap by providing the first study dedicated entirely to stardom on the Arab screen. Structured chronologically and thematically, this collection highlights and explores Arab film, screen and music stars through a transnational and interdisciplinary set of contributions that draw on feminist, performance and film theories, media studies, sound studies, material culture, queer star and celebrity studies, and social media studies.

Yusif Sayigh

Yusif Sayigh
Author: Yūsuf ʻAbd Allāh Ṣāʼigh
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2015
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 977416671X

An acclaimed economist and lifelong Palestinian nationalist Yusif Sayigh (1916-2004) came of age at a time of immense political change in the Middle East. Born in al-Bassa, near Acre in northern Palestine, he was witness to the events that led to the loss of Palestine and his memoir therefore constitutes a vivid social history of the region, as well as a revealing firsthand account of the Palestinian national movement almost from its earliest inception. Family and everyday life, co-villagers, landscapes, pleasures, outings, schooling, and political figures recreate the vanished world of Sayigh's formative years in the Levant. An activist in Palestine, he was taken prisoner of war by the Israelis in 1948. Later, as an economist, he wrote extensively on Arab oil, economic development, and manpower, teaching for many years at the American University of Beirut and taking early retirement in 1974 to work as a consultant for a number of pan-Arab and international organizations. A single chapter on Palestinian politics provides insights into his later activist work and experiences of working as a consultant with the Palestine Liberation Organization to produce an economic plan for an eventual Palestinian state. This fascinating memoir by a pioneer and major figure of the Palestinian national movement is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Palestinian life during the first half of the twentieth century as well as an account of some of the most pressing political and economic issues to have faced the Arab world for the better part of the twentieth century.

Arab World Cinemas

Arab World Cinemas
Author: Marle Hammond
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2024-03-05
Genre:
ISBN: 1474435807

From the exaggerated emotions of 1930s Egyptian melodrama to the cryptic allegories of late 20th-century Palestinian cinema, Arab World Cinemas guides you through 28 Arabic-language feature films released between 1933 and 2021, including Muhammad Khan's 'Dreams of Hind and Camilia' (1989), Moufida Tlatli's 'Silences of the Palace' (1994) and Elia Suleiman's 'Divine Intervention' (2002). Written specially for students, the book is split into 3 parts: Egypt, North Africa and the eastern Arab world. Each part begins with an introductory essay that highlights the aesthetic and socio-historical trends and currents in the cinematic traditions particular to that region. Marle Hammond then dedicates individual chapters to a group of films from the highlighted region, interpreting their form and content through the lenses of cinematic technique and concepts drawn from various disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Middle East Perspectives

Middle East Perspectives
Author: Bassil A. Mardelli
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2010-04-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1450211186

Middle East Perspectives is the first book of a trilogy about the Middle East and it addresses the period from 1947 to 1967. The author seeks to portray personal recollections of events that occurred mainly in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, over a span of twenty years. Decisions made by key political players have influenced their lives, and many readers can offer a concise preliminary account of their experiences in the Middle East and provide a dramatic journal of observations. Contributions in terms of personal perspectives and interpretations focus on international affairs not personal minutiae. The author talked with many people from Egypt and the Levant, who left there but who voluntarily allowed him to draw on their knowledge and experiences. He kept diaries from his high school days as well as personal memoirs to which he often referred to look up particular dates, for instance, the demonstrations that were started during his high school days for the causes of Algeria and Patrice Lumumba and the launching of Lebanons first rockets. Volume One addresses the period beginning with an early stage when the Middle East was still experiencing the unforeseen repercussions of the victorious Allied Forces over Germany in World War II, until the commencement of the one hundred and twenty hours of the Arab-Israeli War in 1967. In fact, the ensuing situation is still one of the factors behind the turmoil in the Middle East. When the governing elite begin to compete and fight among themselves, there is every certainty that their journey will be hazardous, and there is no guarantee they will arrive safely. It is true that their differences in the end will prove to be illusory, and in the absence of any serious effort at reconciliation, rebellious second raters will take over. The prestige and importance of the incoming rebels is considered to exceed by far that of those of the outgoing rulers themselves. The political powers of the newcomers are interwoven with the material rewards of offices. When the rebels become rulers, the palaces, jewels, and treasures of the deposed monarchs (as for example in the cases of Kings Farouk I of Egypt and Faisal II of Iraq) are taken over and distributed among the minority of their successors. Eventually these rebels begin to establish a tradition for which they have perceived hereditary rights to their new important offices, each to retain the position as heirs or next heirs to the authority. This fact, strangely typical of its kind up to now, should be borne in mind when considering the explosive relations between clans at this juncture of Middle Eastern history. And that will continue to be true as long as a constitutional Statehood is not in place. One of the primary objectives of the junta is to figure out how to preserve their presence and maintain power. Deeply moving is when foreign intervention begins to capitalize on such weaknesses; thence, the wheel begins to turn full circle. As the realm flounders in inflation, the intellectual elite and upper-middle classes leave their home countries, which can no longer satisfy their needs. Thus begins the influx of immigrants arriving in Australia, Europe, and America.

Calligraphers Secret

Calligraphers Secret
Author: Rafik Schami
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2014-01-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1906697310

Even as a young man, Hamid Farsi is acclaimed as a master of the art of calligraphy. But as time goes by, he sees that weaknesses in the Arabic language and its script limit its uses in the modern world. In a secret society, he works out schemes for radical reform, never guessing what risks he is running. His beautiful wife, Noura, is ignorant of the great plans on her husband’s mind. She knows only his cold, avaricious side and so it is no wonder she feels flattered by the attentions of his amusing, lively young apprentice. And so begins a passionate love story of a Muslim woman and a Christian man.