The social injustices that define the conservative, post-colonial Near East are clearly—and intentionally—visible in the contemporary literature of the region. Much of the Arabic literature produced during the 20th century deals candidly with themes of poverty, unemployment, prostitution, drug and alcohol use, corruption, homosexuality, isolation, and rape. Because of their subject matter, many of these works have been banned in the region, finding audiences instead in Europe and North America. When the wave of revolts known as the “Arab Spring” swept the Middle East in early 2011, the protesters touted grievances of the same social injustices immortalized by Arab authors and employed lines of poetry and prose as their rallying cries. Despite the seemingly obvious connection between 20th-century Arabic literature and the Arab Spring, scholars still have not examined the extent to which this literature directly or indirectly influenced the revolts in the region. This panel proposes to use theories to analyze modern Arabic literature as a medium that mobilized the region in its quest for a better life.
Jean-Paul Sartre stands out as the most important post-colonial literary philosopher. In his work Qu’est-ce que la Littérature, he argues that literature, specifically in the form of prose, is the most powerful form of creativity. Unlike art and music, literature seeks to guide and inform the reader: “L’écrivain engagé sait que la parole est action: il sait que dévoiler c’est changer, et qu’on ne peut dévoiler qu’en projetant de changer” (Sartre, 23). Sartre draws the comparison that, much as laws exists so that we must take responsibility for our actions, so literature exists so that we must take responsibility for the world around us.
When literature became the rallying cry for literate and illiterate people alike during the Arab Spring, scholars such as Reem Saad remarked on the apparent power of literature over social science. In his article “The Egyptian Revolution: A Triumph of Poetry,” Reem states, “[Literature] was not only a source of inspiration but it also carried more explanatory power than the social sciences.” This sentiment can, and should, be taken one step further: how can literary theory illuminate the tangible role of literature in the Arab Spring?
This panel will examine these questions:
What is the overall impact of literature?
How does literature address human rights?
How does literature mobilize people?
Does dissent result in the granting of human rights?
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Dr. Youness Elbousty
This paper examines the Moroccan author Mohammed Shukri’s 1973 autobiographical novel Al-khobz al-Hafi as a harbinger of the February 20th Movement. Al-khobz al-Hafi, first published in English under the title For Bread Alone, follows the life of the young Shukri from his childhood until the age of twenty, the point at which he first entered school. According to Nirvana Tanoukhi from Stanford University, “Al-khobz al-Hafi was rejected by several publishers and was not printed until 1982 through a Casablanca press at the author’s expense. Even after it was published the Arabic version was initially censored for what was perceived as pornographic content and dismissed by many critics as nonliterary writing.”[1]The first two decades of his life are defined by parental abuse, abject poverty, addiction to alcohol and prostitution, a living made by theft, and an existence sans rights. Shukri unequivocally delineates these truths with complete translucence and without apology or excuse; Shukri paints himself neither as an antagonist nor a protagonist, but rather as one out of whom circumstance had created a degenerate. His story serves as a microcosm of the experiences of all Morocco’s have-nots, illuminating the immense inequalities in Moroccan society.
In Al-khobz al-Hafi, Moroccans had, for the first time, a work of literature that did not romanticize the state of affairs within the country. Though the book was banned, its subversive influence was tangible. In fact, the novel stirred up such revolutionary sentiment at the time it was written that the Moroccan government specifically spoke out against it. During the February 20th movement, many emerging radical artists, including Abdellah Taïa, cited Shukri’s work as inspiration. These artists were not alone; especially among the literate, Shukri’s manifesto was employed as a means of explaining just how extensive were the inequalities in Morocco. Once banned, Al-khobz al-Hafi stands today as a tool of change in Morocco.
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Dr. Muhammad Aziz
Does literature have the power to mobilize people and ideas? Islamic mysticism (Sufism) focuses on man’s journey in his quest for God. Some disciples commit to finding a Sufi network or brotherhood known as Tariqa institution and seek a master to guide them through a spiritual journey to enlightenment. In Sufi literature such as the Revival of Islamic Sciences (Ihay’ ulum al-din) by al-Ghazali (d. 1111) or, a century later, the Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din al-Attar, the Sufi master initiates the adepts by encouraging them to overcome many personal and spiritual hurdles such as pride and greed that impede their progress. While literary works in general may concentrate on personal growth, Sufism, on the other hand, tends to concern itself with spiritual enlightenment. Its focus is the heart of the warrior or the path seeker to God who can roam indefinitely or, if guided, shrink to the lowest degree of submission. This paper will attempt to highlight how Mahfouz (d. 2006) in his novel Ibn Fattouma included elements of Sufism to develop the protagonist. In order to achieve that goal, Mahfouz, presented two standards by presenting stages of Ibn Fattouma’s journey to the unknown in search of knowledge. One standard satisfies the modern intellectual critics whose desire is to analyze the political systems that range between absolute authoritarianism and democracy. Another standard, Mahfouz conveys, is a sincere quest for Sufi knowledge that starts in this corrupted world but that has some hope of eliminating it and moving to another world that is devoid of deception, wars, and greed and also dedicated to solely and fully to the utmost utopia and ultimate happiness. This paper will attempt to illuminate some of these stations in an accelerated form for the final journey to the other world, one that includes joy and rapture rather than sadness and misery.
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Mrs. Hasmik Tovmasyan
Just as the Orient of the Thousand and one Nights is for an average Westerner treacherous yet luring, dangerous yet full of unknown delights, so the harem for him is a mysterious abode where all his sensual dreams come true. Fatima Mernissi begins her autobiographical work Dreams of Trespass by debunking the Westerner’s idea of a harem as place of unrestricted indulgence. For her, a woman who spent her childhood and youth in its confines, a harem had nothing in common with this image of a sensual paradise. Above all, it was a place of hudud, boundaries and (real and imaginary) walls ― upon the freedom to move, to act, to think in a certain way: walls upon walls upon walls.
Having painted this image ― all too well known to a well meaning, condescending Westerner ― Mernissi assumes the persona of the witty harem heroine Sharhazade ― and goes West. Instead of a paradise of freedom, however, ― a “freedom” that the West enticingly holds before the eyes of a freedom-seeking Easterner ― Shahrazade finds new walls, new boundaries ― only these walls are more sophisticated and more subtle. In a telling passage, Mernissi describes her astonishment at the discovery that in the West, a woman has to fit the dress, not vice versa. Her Shahrazade Goes West presents a mirror image of the harem; here, the walls and boundaries of the East are replicated by new walls imposed upon a woman’s body, a woman’s mind.
In my presentation I look at Mernissi’s use of inverted analogy to showcase the real and imaginary walls that limit women’s lives not only in the patriarchal East but also in the West, to argue for a more nuanced understanding of a woman’s role in the East, and for a more honest understanding of her role in the “emancipated” West.
I will also look at the contribution Mernissi’s ideas made to societal change. “You have to learn to scream and protest, just the way you learned to walk and talk.” Viewed in the context of Islamic society, these and other words of Mersnissi are a blueprint for a revolution of values and attitudes. To what extent it has been instrumental in prompting change, will be discussed in the concluding part of my paper.
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Sarab Al Ani
Adonis, the great Syrian poet, essayist and critic, says that there is “literature of the revolution” and “literature that is a revolution.” The first point presents an afterthought to revolution -describing, celebrating, and maintaining the revolution. Whereas the second point suggests an instrument whose purpose is to mobilize the masses, motivate people to reject the unjust circumstances. An example of the first is the poem “Al Midan” (the square) referring to the Midan Al- Tahrir , the public square where the Egyptian revolution started by Abdul Rahman Al- Abnodie; the poetry of Ahmad Matar,, on the other hand, is an example of the second. In his poem, “Bah’th fi Ma’ana Al-aidie” (a search for the meaning of hands), he talks to the people of his country saying that God gave people hands to use them to bring down unjust rulers.
This presentation tries to answer the question: are the types of literature mentioned above the only two types of literature that relate or lead to mobilizing society? It takes a keen look at the novel Hikayatee SharH Yatool (The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story), by Hanan al-Shaykh , as an example of this literature. In this novel, it is clear that the main character (Kamela) is not a mere simple girl who struggles with a social structure that lacks basic human rights; rather, she is an outcry against unjust conditions. Kamela’s family
denied her education, married her off at the age of nine without so much as informing her, and received money and favors in return for this decision. She revolted against these conditions, not by going out on the streets, rallying crowds and demanding changes, but by going to the movies, dressing up in modern dresses, and following her heart. All these acts were against her family’s rules. Despite the fact that her methods of rebelling were of a personal nature, we see how these acts enlighten her children, and help reveal to the new
generation the gravity of the situation that estranged them from their mother (Kamela). It is this generation that took to the streets, shouted, and created the change. But this could not have happened without the realization, the knowledge, and the awareness. This awareness is a silent cry that comes before the first cry in demand of change.
