How can Edward Said's ideas help people better understand Yoko Ono's performance art, pre-colonial rhythms from Africa or the music of Christian missionaries in Japan? The Edward W. Said Days in Berlin marking 20 years since the literary scholar's death explored a whole range of questions. Ceyda Nurtsch reports
How can Edward Said's ideas help people better understand Yoko Ono's performance art, pre-colonial rhythms from Africa or the music of Christian missionaries in Japan? The Edward W. Said Days in Berlin marking 20 years since the literary scholar's death explored a whole range of questions. Ceyda Nurtsch reports
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri is without a doubt one of the most important contemporary Arab intellectuals. His work focuses on the failure of the Enlightenment in the Islamic world and the search for an Arab identity in modernity. Sonja Hegasy introduces the Moroccan philosopher
Habermas, philosopher of communication, rejects dialogue
Philosopher Juergen Habermas was due to be awarded a major Arab prize in Abu Dhabi, but has turned it down following criticism. This decision torpedoes Arab efforts at a substantive cultural dialogue and exposes the West’s moral hubris, says Stefan Weidner
Recently, a mood of optimism has been spreading through the Gulf region: Saudi Arabia is talking to its arch enemy Iran; the Gulf States are ending the isolation of the unruly emirate of Qatar. A few of them have even made peace with Israel, often in the face of resistance from their own population.
The importance of Arabic in the scholarly world, our experts agreed, needs to be recognized by bringing more of it to the wider conversation.
Image: Publishing Perspectives
‘So Many Discussions Going On’
In a program presented Tuesday (March 9) by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and
Publishing Perspectives, there was agreement among our expert panelists that the perception of there being too little representation of Arabic topics and Arabic writers’ work and research in world scholarship is accurate.
The factors that frame the situation, however, are complex. Certainly, there was agreement all around that the kind of value the Zayed Book Award and other such programs create particularly with translation of the highest quality work is essential. And what came out of the exchange was a clearer understanding of the need for earnest analysis and sustained effort to widen the presence and impact of Arabic on the international stage.