Course Description
This course is an introduction of the most significant topics of contemporary Arabic literature and cinema: the legacies of colonialism, repressive nature of post-independence regimes, discourses on nationalism, religion v. secularization, gender relations, representation of cultural otherness, and the Arab Springs. The course will explore the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts in which texts films are written and exhibited. That said, I would be cautious about understanding this course as a comprehensive “survey” of Arabic literature and cinema: it is more accurately a “sampling.” And because these books and films, and their cultures are fairly unfamiliar, we will move slowly through them, taking time to reflect on our own process of reading.
Sample of literature: A Compass for the Sunflower (Palestine); Season of Migration to the North (Sudan); The Committee (Egypt); Him, Me, Muhammad Ali (Palestinian-American). Sample of movies: The Time That Remains (Palestine); Caramel (Lebanon); Cairo 678 (Egypt); The Yacoubian Building (Egypt).
Enrollment Details
African 300: Contemporary Arabic Literature and Cinema
Professor Névine El Nossery
Tu/Th 11:00-12:15, Van Hise 254
Spring 2017
About the Instructor
Névine El Nossery is an associate professor of French and an associate professor of African Cultural Studies.