Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning interest in the realm of art activism within the Southwest Asia and North Africa region, shedding light on the political implications of aesthetic representation. Nevertheless, a critical inquiry into how political aesthetics can formulate both discernible and imperceptible resistance strategies in response to resurging authoritarianism and counter-revolution after the 2011 uprisings in the region remains conspicuously absent.
This book delves into a comprehensive examination of diverse art forms, ranging from street art and cinema to performance art, as well as music and theatre, scrutinizing the manifestations of aesthetic resilience at the epicentre of the political resistance against oppression and authoritarianism in Sudan, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria. The editors employ a multifaceted approach to investigate artistic activism, encompassing analysis of visibility, ephemerality, and speech within the public sphere, the establishment and perpetuation of collective transnational solidarities, the portrayal of suppressed identities and narratives, and the innovation of alternative mechanisms for producing and disseminating art.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
Chapter 1: Al Sar’a Alna? (The Street is Ours?), Erin Cory
Chapter 2: Remapping Political Music in Morocco, Farouk El Maarouf and Moulay Driss El Maarouf
Chapter 3: Creative Space and Uprising In Algeria, Dominique Lounés Laleg
Chapter 4: Monumental Re-Bourguibization, Joachim Ben Yakoub
Chapter 5: After Images of the 2011 Egyptian Uprisings, Bjørn Ørskov
Chapter 6: Walls and Revolution in Sudan, Josepha Wessels and Ahmad al-Naji[
Chapter 7: Revolutionary Women in Iran, Rassa Ghaffari
Chapter 8: War on Walls, Mansour Ali M. Al-Maswari
Chapter 9: Literary Writing in Syria, Brigitte Herremans
Index
About the Author :
Tijen Tunali is an Andrew Mellon Fellow at the Columbia University Global Centers | Amman. She is the editor of Art and Gentrification in the Changing Neoliberal Landscape (2021) and co-editor of Contemporary Art Across Political Divides: Difficult Conversations (2023).
Josepha Wessels is an associate professor in Media and Communication Studies at the School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University, Sweden. She is the author of Documenting Syria: Film-making, Video Activism and Revolution (2019, I.B.Tauris).
Review :
Looking at the complex interaction of aesthetics and politics, this volume investigates the emancipatory power of radical art. With a focus on the two waves of uprisings in the Swana region in the years 2010s, the authors show how artistic performances of different types and following genres are developed and spread in the streets, on the walls or in the internet, catalyzing resistance to authoritarianism, but also to neoliberal capitalism, militarism and colonialism. An important book to read for social movement scholars.
