This paper explores how hip hop artists use music as a means to challenge the construction of images, specifically the conflation of the image of the terrorist with Arabs and Muslims. The work of the Narcycist, Lowkey, and the Palestinian group DAM will be explored in the paper. Through their songs, they challenge the trajectory that begins with the image of the terrorist and ends with a definition of terrorism. In this construction, a terrorist is an Arab or Muslim and therefore terrorism is an act that is only carried out by these groups. Rather, they reverse the direction by beginning with a definition of terrorism and terror in order to relay an image of the terrorist that is not determined by a specific cultural, ethnic, national, or religious affiliation. One of the central questions addressed by the work of these artists revolves around representation. The work of these hip hop artists decouple the term “terrorist” from the cultural and religious referent through their lyrics and in some cases music videos. The music videos, in particular, present a visual representation of the process of constructing a terrorist and offer a site to reappropriate the term within a framework where numerous acts of violence, including war, can be perceived as a form of terrorism. Each of these artists use hip hop as a means to challenge the rhetorical (and actual) violence that results from the dangerous association of the terrorist and terrorism with particular groups. By doing this, they also address the underlying power dynamics that determine the construction of images. Hip hop and rap have emerged as transnational forces in which artists are part of collaborative projects that articulate sociopolitical grievances. Through this medium, artists like Lowkey, the Narcycist, and DAM reject hegemonic narratives that aim to disregard grievances and silence resistance. Through the example of the image of the terrorist, I will trace how their music recognizes the disparities created by problematic power dynamics and counter narratives that have been constructed for and against Arabs, Muslims, and other marginalized groups.

Over the past decade, municipality-led beautification programs aimed at rejuvenating cityscapes through new public art installations have dramatically refashioned Iran’s urban landscape. Beginning almost immediately after the 1978-79 Revolution, the newly-established government sought to erase or subvert the symbols and public displays of the old regime and replace them with a new visual vocabulary situated within the grand narrative of the Islamic Republic. The development of Iran’s visual repertoire has become a popular example of state-sanctioned urban beautification, documented by scholars, filmmakers, and photographers alike. Many of these studies, however, do not elucidate the complex web of socio-political relations that are involved in the creation of such images. A capital-centric focus assumes that Tehran is representative of all of Iran and “the state” is responsible for all the processes of production of public art. By viewing public art in Tehran as a direct by-product of a single body, these discussions presume that there exists a centralized, top-down structure responsible for refashioning urban space through art. On the morning of June 5th, 2011, commuters in the city of Mashhad were shocked to find that a municipality-commissioned Shahnameh mural had been erased with white paint the night before. After several days of confusion, speculation, and public outcry fueled by local newspapers covering the erasure, it was revealed that Astan-e Qods-e Razavi, a semi-autonomous administrative organization and charitable endowment that manages the Imam Reza Shrine complex and other important waqf holdings, was behind the removal of the mural. What prompted the charitable foundation (bonyad) to erase the mural? The presence of two significant burial sites—that of Hakim Abdul-Qasem Ferdowsi and the 8th Imam of Shia Islam inform two distinct (but not necessarily opposing) visual narratives that have been subsumed under contemporary political discourse in the city. Through the utilization of a provincial perspective espoused by Setrag Manoukian, this presentation will demonstrate how various geographic, economic, and legal landscapes unique to the city of Mashhad affect the production and editing of public art. Similarly, local political actors like the including the Municipality, Astan-e Qods, the Friday Prayer Leader, and the Revolutionary Guards have all participated in the negotiation of public space, demonstrating that the various intuitions of power vie with one another in their visions of an ideal urban aesthetic.

In the preface to his Anthology of Black Humor (1940), the French Surrealist writer and cultural antagonist André Breton describes black humor as “a superior revolt of the spirit.” As we explore black humor in the films Divine Intervention (2002) and Where Do We Go Now (2011)—written and directed by the Palestinian and Lebanese filmmakers Elia Suleiman and Nadine Labaki, respectively—this word "revolt" will be our key. For in the midst of colonial oppression and religious violence—situations that would seem to warrant despair—these filmmakers’ comedic choices are a weapon of resistance. More than just “humor” in general, both Suleiman and Labaki turn specifically to surreal humor. Here we define surreal humor not only as black humor, based on Breton’s preface to his anthology, but also as that humor that turns at times to the magical or the fantastic. As Breton writes in his first Surrealist manifesto, “I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a sur-reality.” As we will see, both Suleiman and Labaki resort to the dream-like or to the fantastic as a way to reimagine the respective realities of Palestine and Lebanon. In this way the surreal becomes explicitly political, even utopian. For both filmmakers, humor is a means not only of ridiculing the institutions that oppress, but also of gesturing towards an alternative, more hopeful reality. But whereas Suleiman dreams of a nation-state, or at least of a home for Palestinians, Labaki ultimately surpasses the vision of a nation-state, choosing instead to elevate the local. With attention to cinematic form and the work of postcolonial theorists Hamid Dabashi and Ella Shohat, this paper contributes to the growing body of work on Middle Eastern film.

Although women have been subordinated by male domination, national resistance grants them a primary opportunity to contribute to their nation building. In her seminal article (you need to give ref. to article)“Masculinity and Nationalism,” Joane Nagel observes that in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries masculinity is tied to nationalism, colonialism, militarism, and imperialism; the masculine institution defines the national state. In this study, I will show how women affiliate in the Palestinian national resistance as revolutionary artists, in their role as political cartoonists. I will explore the impact of gendered discourse on the cultivation of the Palestinian national consciousness. My analysis is based on the political cartoons featured by the first Palestinian and Arab woman political cartoonist—Omayya Juḥa. Juḥa challenges traditional women’s role in the Arab world by drawing political cartoons in several Arab and Palestinian newspapers. This study addresses the question of authorship: In articulating Palestinian nationalism, do Juḥa’s cartoons differ stylistically from those of Palestinian male cartoonists (i.e. Nājī al-‘Alī and Mohammed Sabā‘nih)? This paper also addresses the question of representation: How do Juha’s cartoons present women in relation to the Palestinian national identity? The study is concerned with the role of female figures in forging the Palestinian communal identity. Beyond Joane Nagel, I argue that women’s role in enacting nationalism is governed by their traditional roles as symbol of national honor, raising their children, and supporting their husbands. The analysis reveals that in contrast to Nājī al-‘Alī’s and Mohammed Sabā‘nih’s cartoons, which visibly feature motherhood by depicting women educating their children and mobilizing them in opposition to the Israeli occupation, Juḥa's cartoons feature “the failure of motherhood” (Nadia Yaqub 205) by depicting children alone and/or suffering from occupation. Further, her cartoons show that women’s full participation in the national liberation is still missing. The cartoons of male and female cartoonists depict women in constructing nationalism as auxiliary. This marginalized role of women in constructing Palestinian nationalism emphasizes the central stereotype, the primacy of male. For future research, it is conceivable to see how women’s participation in the national liberation deployed in cartoons by female and male cartoonist change over time. Works Cited Nagel, Joane. “Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality in the making of nations.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21.2 (1989) : 242-269. Print. Yaqub, Nadia. Gendering the Palestinian political cartoon. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 2.2 (2009) : 187-213. Print.