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Nadia Yaqub is Professor of Arabic Language and Culture and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research has examined Arab medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry, as well as modern prose fiction and visual culture. I spoke to her about three of her books: Bad Girls of the Arab World, which is about women and transgression in the Arab world, Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution, which is an invaluable study of Palestinian resistance through the lens of Third Cinema, and her most recent edited anthology, Gaza on Screen. I learned a lot in this conversation about humility, opacity and the limits of solidarity across distance and across gaps in exposure to vulnerability. Yaqub has a deep understanding of the politics of the so-called “humanitarian image,” which is something she is very conflicted about in her work. She asks whether humanitarian images of Palestinian suffering “are always depoliticizing or victimizing, or whether the depoliticization occurs through the inherently ideological frameworks in which such images circulate.” I ask, as my first question to Nadia, what that idea of the framework means in the current moment, where Palestinians are limited in using artistic practices to demand freedom. I think a lot of us are wondering about the political forces that exist around the overwhelmingly terrifying images we're receiving of total war being waged on Palestine's civilian population and infrastructure. Nadia's insight are really helpful here. There's this idea in her work that the visual practices of Palestinians make up what she calls an “image archive of steadfastness.” Steadfastness is a core value in Palestinian culture. Yaqub is picking it up in a unique way to say that, especially in terms of art and storytelling, steadfastness is about trying to sustain a sense of community. There's power in this idea for thinking about the role that communication plays in providing the conditions for political sympathy with Palestinian liberation.
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don’t think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Modeled on Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), Bad Girls of the Arab World (University of Texas Press, 2017), edited by Nadia Yaqub and the late Rula Quawas stands apart from the edited volume crowd. It includes, not only academic entries, but personal essays and reflections on art by their artists, all centered on the theme of transgression, or to put it in the language of Bad Girls of the Arab World itself, bad girls. And there is no one bad girl. Some bad girls of the Arab world use their linguistic and cultural heritage to empower them, some rail against them. Some ally themselves with the West, some don't think about the West and the East as binaries, but rather, apply a complicated, nuanced worldview to their universes. However, all are allotted their agency. Bad Girls of the Arab World will be a resource for students of the Middle East and the general public on gender and the Arab world. Nadia Yaqub is an associate professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she is also chair of the Department of Asian Studies and adjunct associate professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature. She is also associate editor for film and theater at the Review of Middle East Studies, an editorial collective member with the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies and an advisory board member with the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Her research interests include Arab cultural texts ranging from medieval literature and contemporary oral poetry to modern prose fiction and visual culture. She is the author of many articles and a book Pens, Swords, and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling of Palestinian Weddings in the Galilee (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006) and Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution will be coming out from University of Texas Press in July 2018. Nadirah Mansour is a graduate student at Princeton University's Department of Near Eastern Studies working on the global intellectual history of the Arabic-language press. She tweets @NAMansour26 and produces another Middle-East and North Africa-related podcast: Reintroducing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices