The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East

The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is designed to help readers navigate the important questions of the region and better understand the global cultural and media transformations that shape the debates and challenges of the twenty-first century. Bringing together contributions by a trans-regional panel of established experts and new voices, this interdisciplinary volume offers a fresh perspective on the cultures of the Middle East and their media production, distribution, and consumption.

Rather than viewing the Middle East as a monolithic culture operating within a limited media framework, the book examines the multi-local characteristics of knowledge production, media, and culture in the region. Particular emphasis is placed on the necessity for moving away from universalism in favor of theoretically- and historically-grounded integrated analysis. Throughout the text, the authors address the central questions of media and culture in the Middle East while contextualizing the region’s competing histories, geopolitical and socio-economic issues, and ongoing cultural and media debates.

• Describes the intellectual landscape of the field, including its historic emergence and evolution, key theoretical approaches and empirical research, and possible future directions
• Presents rich analyses anchored in contemporary research and broad historical and geopolitical contexts
• Focuses on the symbiotic and dynamic relationship between old and emerging media
• Offers case studies in cultural production and mainstream and alternative media.
• Discusses the role of empire and its consequences for communication, culture and politics
• Engages with culture as a dynamic site of struggle and contestation

Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Global Handbooks in Media and Communication Research series, The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is essential reading for academics and researchers in the field and an excellent textbook for students of global studies, media and communication, journalism, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, and history.

Sommaire :

Media and Culture in the Middle East : An Introduction

Part I : Theories, Ideologies, and Problematics

Orientalism and Culture, Annabelle Sreberny
Muslims, Art, and Invisible Modernities, Nabil Echchaibi
Development and Modernization in the Middle East, Karin Gwinn Wilkins
Hybridity as Dazzlement: Rethinking Fusion Through Joseph Tonda’s Postcolonial Imperialism, Marwan M. Kraidy
“Arab” Cultural Studies: Phenomenology Being Digital, and Other Notes, Tarik Sabry

Part II : Politics, Gender, Minorities, and Class

Intellectuals, Modernities, and the Emerging Public Sphere, Gholam Khiabany
Feminisms and Feminist Movements in the Middle East, Gül Aldıkaçtı Marshall
The State, the Media, and the Revival of Labor Activism in the Middle East, Anne Alexander
The Meaning and Purpose of “Minority Media” in the Middle  East and North Africa, Elizabeth Monier

Part III : Media Industries, Markets, and Technologies

Media Policy in the MENA: The Political Impact of Media Confluence, Tourya Guaaybess
Journalism in MENA : Triumph and Tragedy in the Struggle to Speak Truth to Power, Lawrence Pintak
Purposes and Practices of MENA Television: Components of an  Ever-evolving  Medium, Naomi Sakr
Digital MENA : An Overview of Digital Infrastructure, Policies, and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, Carola Richter
Documents, Archives, Absence : Current Challenges and Insights  from Media Research in the Middle East and Beyond, Hatim El-Hibri and Kaveh Askari

Part IV : (Mass) Media, Cultures, and Contexts

Freedom of Expression and Media Challenges in the Mena Region :  A Legal and Regulatory Perspective, Joan Barata
Arabic News Channels in the Middle East: Development and Transformation, Yushi Chiba
MENA Independent Media : Negotiating the Logics of Media Development Programs, Yazan Badran
Divergence or Convergence between Mainstream and Independent  Journalism in Turkey ? : The Coverage of Operation Peace Spring, Ozan As ̧ık
Kurdish Cinema : Politics, Aesthetics, and Transnational Pathways, Suncem Kocer
Aesthetic Arabism : The Syrian Musalsal Beyond Borders, Christa Salamandra
The Dynamics of Advertising in MENA : An Empirical Model, Ilhem Allagui
Reconfigurations of Religiopolitical Traditions and Identities: Mediated Religion in the Arab Countries, Ehab Galal
Constructing a New Identity: Women’s Work in the Iranian Broadcast Media, Asemeh Ghasemi
Mediations of Political Identities in Arab Animation, Omar Sayfo
Breaking Barriers: The Emergence of a Video Game Culture and Industry in the Arab World, Vít Šisler, Lars de Wildt, and Samer Abbas

Part V : Alternative, Independent, and Social Media 

Taking Revolution Seriously : A Keywords Approach to Middle East Studies, Omar  Al-Ghazzi
Alternative and Citizen Journalism(s) in the Middle East, Marianna Ghiglia
A Revolution of Smiles ? : The Function of Humor in Algerian Media During the 2019–2020 Protests, Ali Sonay
Creating Emotional Echo-Chambers: Activism and Self-Expression  on Social Media, Hande  Eslen-Ziya
Mnemotechnics : Digital Epistemologies and the Techno-Politics  of Archiving a Revolution, Anthony Downey
Media Technologies and Politics in Iran, Mehdi Semati
Reframing Jihadism : Deciphering the Identity, Politics, and Agenda  of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Northwest Syria, Ines Khalifa Barnard and Charlie Winter
Beyond the Arab Uprisings : Politics of Rap in the Middle East, Stefano Barone
Egyptian Graffiti : Collective Action and Institutionalization, Mohammad Abdel Hamid
Quiet Queer Activism in Repressive Contexts in the Middle East Through the Stories of Three Egyptian Women, Shaimaa Magued
Social Media and Fourth Wave Feminism in Morocco, Naziha Houki, Alka Kurian, and Kenza Oumlil
The Kurdish Media in the Middle East and Diaspora : Alternative Public and Participatory Spaces for a Non-State Nation, Jiyar Aghapouri
Arab American Media, William Lafi Youmans
Contemporary Arab Media and Cultural Landscape in Istanbul, Franck Mermier

Part VI : Perspectives 

Cultural Politics of the Diaspora, Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli and Yigal Nizri
Dialectics of Resistance : Youth in the Middle East, Joe F. Khalil
Borders, Helga Tawil-Souri
Activism and Surveillance in the Middle East, Bilge Yesil