Full Description
Comic books for adults have become one of the most novel and colourful forms of cultural expression in the Arab world today. During the last ten years, young Arabs have crafted stories explaining issues such as authoritarianism, resistance, war, sex, gender relations and youth culture. These are distributed through informal channels as well as independent bookstores and websites. Events like the annual Cairocomix festival in Egypt and the Mahmoud Kahil Award in Lebanon evidence the importance of this cultural phenomenon.
Comics in Contemporary Arab Culture focuses on the production of these comics in Egypt and Lebanon, countries at the forefront of the development of the genre for adults. Jacob Hoigilt guides the reader through the emergence of independent comics, explores their social and political critique, and analyses their visual and verbal rhetoric. Analysing more than 50 illustrations, included here, he shows that Arab comics are revealing of the changing attitudes towards politics, social relations and even language. While political analysts often paint a bleak picture of the Arab world after 2011, this book suggests that art and storytelling continue to nourish a spirit of liberty and freedom despite political setbacks. Comics in Contemporary Arab Culture provides a fresh and original insight into the politics of the Middle East and cultural expression in the Arab World.
Contents
1. Introduction
Scope and themes
The analysis of comics
Structure of the book
2. Mapping the scene
3. Resistance against authoritarianism and war: adult comics before 2011
A tradition of political critique: War comics in Lebanon
Critique of authoritarianism in Samandal magazine
4. Comics in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Egypt
Drawing a revolution
Revolutionary criticism and humour in Egyptian comics
5. Gender relations
Gender relations: a core issue
Slapstick humour and exaggerations
Visual symbolism
The rhetoric of the panels
In favour of the sensitive man
6. Youthfulness and the vernacular
The marginalization of youth in the Arab world
Asserting youthfulness
Individuality and alienation
Youthfulness and the vernacular
7. Comics and sociolinguistics: informal literacy, voice and language ideology
Inhabiting a third space
Voice
Diglossia and written Arabic
Language Ideology and the illusion of zero-sum games
Informal literacy and the ideology of diglossia
8 Conclusion: Ideology, resistance and voice
Bibliography
