Arab society and culture : an essential reader

Arab Society and Culture provides wide-ranging essays and supplementary readings that examine recent social and cultural change in Arab societies.

From investigations of consumerism and Islam on the Internet to changing attitudes toward sex, gender, and homosexuality, this collection challenges stereotypes and assesses the impact of increasingly global and mobile lifestyles on family structure, public space, and private life. Emphasis is placed on how local cultures are adapting to global and postmodern transformations.

Samples are taken from a wide range of writings on the Middle East, including essays by Orhan Pamuk, Bertrand Russell, Edward Said, Amin Maalouf, and Nawal El Saadawi. Many of the contributors have US academic posts and affiliations.

Samir Khalaf is a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Behavioral Research at the American University of Beirut. He has held academic appointments at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and New York University, and is most recently the co-editor of Sexuality in the Arab World (Saqi Books, 2006).

Roseanne Saad Khalaf is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at the American University of Beirut, and she is the co-editor of Transit Beirut (Saqi Books, 2006).

• Note from the Editors
• 1 Promises of the Sociological and Literary Imagination p. 11
• Introduction p. 13
• My Father's Suitcase p. 16 Orhan Pamuk
• The Promise p. 25 C. Wright Mills
• From The Native's Point Of View: On The Nature of Anthropological Understanding p. 31 Clifford Geertz
• Three Malaises p. 42 Charles Taylor
• What I Have Lived For p. 47 Bertrand Russell
• 2 Cultural Variations in Everyday Life p. 49
• Introduction p. 51
• Hüzün p. 55 Orhan Pamuk
• The Veil Becomes a Movement p. 61 Fadwa El Guindi
• Women's Community Service In Beirut p. 73 Lara Deeb
• Growing Up in Morocco p. 77 Susan Schaefer Davis
• 3 Negotiating Identities in Dissonant Worlds p. 87
• Introduction p. 89
• Between Worlds p. 94 Edward Said
• Damaged Identities and Violence p. 104 Amin Maalouf
• Living Between Worlds p. 110 Roseanne Saad Khalaf
• Maghrebi Youth: Between Alienation and Integration p. 118 Mohamed Farid Azzi
• Saudi Identity: Negotiating Between Tradition and Modernity p. 129 Mai Yamani
• 4 Behavioral Departures and Alternative Lifestyles p. 141
• Introduction p. 143
• Circumcision of Girls In Egypt p. 149 Nawal El Saadawi
• A Dishonorable Affair: Chastity and Honor Killing in Syria p. 159 Katherine Zoepf
• The Commercialization of Sexual Outlets in Lebanon p. 167 Samir Khalaf
• Transition Beirut: Gay Identities, Lived Realities-The Balancing Act In The Middle East p. 174 Jared Mccormick
• 5 The Empowerment of Marginalized Groups p. 187
• Introduction p. 189
• On Roots And Routes: The Reassertion Of Primordial Loyalities p. 192 Samir Khalaf
• Maroc-Hop: Music And Youth Identities p. 208 Miriam Gazzah
• Between Empowerment & Paternalism p. 212 Egbert Harmsen
• 6 Gender Revisited p. 217
• Introduction p. 219
• Youth, Gender, and The State in Cairo: Marginalized Masculinities And Contested Spaces p. 223 Salwa Ismail
• Consumption, Display, And Gender p. 40 Christa Salamandra
• Missed Opportunities: Me And My Gender p. 252 Mai Ghoussoub
• 7 Shifting Family Patterns p. 257
• Introduction p. 259
• Marriage, Family, and Household in Cairo p. 262 Homa Hoodfar
• Brother-Sister Relationships: Connectivity, Love, and Power in the Reproduction of Patriarchy in Lebanon p. 278 Suad Joseph
• Wives Or Daughters: Structural Differences Between Urban and Bedouin Lebanese Co-wives p. 293 Najla S. Hamadeh
• 8 Religion and Ritual p. 309
• Introduction p. 311
• Immigrant Children In Europe: Constructing a Transnational Identity p. 314 Nadia Hashmi
• Karbala as Sacred Space among North American Shi'a p. 322 Vernon James Schubel
• Piety, Privilege and Egyptian Youth p. 331 Asef Bayat
• 9 The Construction of Space: Local And Global Identities p. 335
• Introduction p. 337
• Al-Dahiyya: Sight, Sound, Season p. 343 Lara Deeb
• Re-Imagining The Global: Relocation And Local Identities in Cairo p. 355 Farha Ghannam
• The Bourj as a Cosmopolitan Public Sphere p. 368 Samir Khalaf
• "This Is A Muslim Home": Signs of Difference in The African-American Row House p. 380 Aminah Beverly Mccloud
• 10 Eroticism, Desire and Sexual Identity p. 387
• Introduction p. 389
• Variations on Eroticism: Misogyny, Mysticism and Mujun p. 395 Abdelwahab Bouhdiba
• Narration and Desire: Shahrazâd p. 408 Fedwa Malti-Douglas
• Worlds Apart: Sexual Life for Women and Men in Iraq, Attitudes Towards Sex p. 417 Sana Al-Khayyat
• Breaking The Silence: What AUB Students Really Think About Sex p. 428 Roseanne Saad Khalaf
• 11 Beyond Expectations: The New Media in The Arab World p. 447
• Introduction p. 449
• Mass Media in the Middle East: Patterns of Political & Societal Change p. 452 Kai Hafez
• The Arabic Satellite News Network: Al-Jazeera p. 462 Ahmed Abdalla
• The Music Video and Muslim Piety: Satellite Television and Islamic Pop Culture In Egypt p. 469 Patricia Kubala
• 12 Focus on Transnational Islam p. 475
• Introduction p. 477
• To Be a European Muslim p. 483 Tariq Ramadan
• Muslim Migrants in Europe: Between Euro-Islam and Ghettoization p. 494 Bassam Tibi
• Travelling Islam: Mosques without Minarets p. 508 Jan Nederveen Pieterse
• Sexuality and the Politics of the Veil p. 522 Joan Scott
• Contributors p. 535
• Index p. 541