Arab Popular Culture and the Media

Organized by The Institute for Media Training and Research (TIMTAR)

& the Department of Communication Arts

April 20

4:00 – 6:00 Registration—Faculty Lounge

April 21

9:30 Openning—Gulbenkian Theater

10:45 Coffee Break

Sheikh Zayed Hall

11:00 Session 1—Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Ralph Berenger

a)  Popular TV Shows, Nostalgia and Political Correctness

Abeer Al Najjar. The American University of Sharjah

b)  Youth-Generated Media, Notes on Arab Cultural Politics

Joe F. Khalil. The University of Southern Illinois

c)  Popular Culture and Politics: Theoretical Considerations

Marwan Kraidy. The University of Pennsylvania

d)  ‘Globalism, Regionalism and Problems of Cultural Security in the 21st Century" Alexander Fedorovski.

12:30 Session 2—Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Abeer Ismail Al Najjar

a)  Thinly Veiled. Michel Certeau and the Subversive Abaya

Michael Long College of the North Atlantic-Qatar and Byrad

Yyeland. Virginia Commonwealth University-Qatar

b)  Arab Culture and the Popularization of Religion

Makram Khoury-Machool. Cambridge University

c)  Islam Online Guides Husbands and Wives Towards Marital Bliss Via Popular Culture Mona Abdel Fadil. University of Oslo

1:30 Lunch – Cafeteria

2:30 Session 3—Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Nabelah Haraty

a)  Sunset Boulevard By Way of Wadi Shahrour: A Psychological Profile of Sabah Ahmad Oueini. Lebanese American University

b)  Performing the Body; Haifa Wehbi in the Becoming

Zeina Meskaoui. Lebanese American University

c)  The Brain Listeners

Marwan Fawzi. Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

4:00 Session 4 —Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Mahmoud Tarabay

a)  Arab Hip Hop in an International Frame

Caroline Rooney. The University of Kent

b)  Popular Music and Student Identity

Wael Khatib. Yarmouk University

c)  Palestinian Hip Hop: Youth, Identity and Nation

Sunaina Maira & Magid Shihade. University of California-Davis, Lahore University of Management Sciences

6:00 A Student Production: Seven Little Jewish Children – Gulbenkian Theater

7:30 Bus Leaves Lower Gate for Off-Campus Dinner

April 22

9:30 Session 5A —LRC 21

Moderator: Ramez Maluf

a)  Popularising Psychoanalysis: Representations of the Therapeutic in Arab

Literature Julia Borossa Middlesex University

b) Have Popular Arab Novels Displaced Conventions?

Afaf Bataineh. Zayed University

b)  Bride and Gawwaz el Salonat: an Arab Bridget Jones Blogger Who Gives Voice to Female Every-day Narratives

Azzurra Meringolo University of Rome 3

9:30 Session 5B -–Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Sunaina Maira

a)  Akhasmak Ah, Assebak La - Arabs and Concepts of Globalization

Tarek Joseph Chemaly. Beirut/NTSC (Never Twice Same City)

b)  Arab Popular Culture in University Outside the Arab World. A Canadian Viewpoint Daniela Firanescu, Dalhousie University

c)  Arabs in the Media in Australia: News Values and Negative Coverage

Lauren Rosewarne, University of Melbourne

10:45 Coffee Break

11:00 Session 6 – Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Derek Bouse

a)  Fragments of Identity: Perceptions and Visual Popular Culture in the Arab Region Tina Sleiman. Zayed University, Dubai, UAE

b)  The Changing Space of the Arab City: The Case of Dubai

Harris Breslow. American University of Sharjah

c)  Claiming Back the Aesthetic Spectacle

Hala AbouTaleb. University of Jordan

12:15 Lunch

1:15 Session 7 – Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Tarek Chemaly

a)  New Information Technology as a Major Aspect of Arab Popular Culture

Mahboub Hashem. American University of Sharjah

b)  Blogging and the Emergence of Civil Society in Bahrain

Magdalena Maria Karolak. New York Institute of Technology -

Bahrain Campus

c)  Do-It-Yourself Politicotainment: Lebanese Bloggers in the Arab Hub

Gail Ramsay and Kristina Riegert, Södertörn University College

2:30 11:00 Session 8 —LRC 21

Moderator: Samira Shami

a)  Palestinian Folklore Groups – Between National Representation and International Acknowledgement

Anna Schmidt. University of Berlin

b)  Fueling the Palestinian Road (Block) Movie: An International Deployment of ‘The Popular’

Kay Dickinson. Goldsmiths College, University of London

c)  The Challenges of Palestinian Film Production

Sabah Haider. Lebanese American University

7:00 Bus leaves for dinner

April 23

9:00 Session 10 –Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Hiba Mikdashi

a)  Arab Popular Culture in Advertising

Ilhem Allagui. American University of Sharjah

b)  Born Freej: The Cultural Impact of an Animated Phenomenon in the UAE

Ralph Berenger. The American University of Sharjah

c)  The Internet as Popular Culture

Ayman Itani Lebanese American University

10:00 Session 11A – LRC 21

Moderator: Hossein Shahidi

a)  Use of English in Journalism and Arab Identity

Hissa Al Dahari. Zayed University

b)  "Moving the Masses: A Comparison of Arabic and English Persuasive Appeals"

Don Love. American University of Sharjah

c)  Language as a Marker of a Pluralistic Identity: The Case of Lebanon

Elie Wardini. University of Stockholm

11:20 Session 11B - Irwin Conference Room (in Arabic)

Moderator: Latif Zeitouni

a)  Popular Arab Proverbs in Medicine and Health

Abdul Nasser Kaadan. Aleppo University

b)  Arab Proverbs in the Mouasker Region of Algeria

Nebia Dadoua Hadria CRASC, Oran

c)  The Rejection Song in the Arab Maghreb

Boumedini Belkacem Mouasker University

11:00 Coffee Break

11:20 Session 12A—Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Ahmad Oueini

a)  Exploring the Popularity of Turkish Soap Operas in the Arab World

Dima Issa. London School of Economics

b)  Pushing Boundaries of Imagination: Arabs and the Bombay Cinema

JM Ilias. India-Arab Cultural Center, New Delhi

c)  Dubbing into Arabic and the Popularization of Hollywood

Ramez Maluf Lebanese American University

1:00 Lunch - Cafeteria

2:00 Session 13A –LRC 21

Moderator: Elise Salem

a)  Features of Online Love Stories in the Gulf

Nele Lenze. University of Oslo

b)  Relationship Between Satellite TV and the Phone in Egypt

Iman Hamam. American University in Cairo

c)  Pride vs. Prejudice-LGBT Cyber-networks and the Challenge of Gender Based Violence in the Middle East

Luisa Gandolfo. Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies (IMEIS)

2:00 Session 13B –Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Fadi Kallab

a)  Classical Arab Singers in Turkey on Radio and Cinema

Murat Ozyildirim. mersin university

b)  Mutual Influence in Arab and Turkish-Popular Music

Mehmet Mutlu Ozdemir. Sakarya University

c)  Footsteps of Arabic Music in Orhan Gencebay’s Arabesk

Süleyman Cabir Ciplak, Istanbul Technical University

3:30 Session 14 – Irwin Conference Room

Moderator: Wafa Halawi

a)  Migratory Identities in Contemporary Arab Cinema

Aurora Tellenbach. University of Gothenburg

b)  Modernity in Early Egyptian Attitudes Towards the Cinema

Ifdal Elsaket. The University of Sydney, Australia

c)  The Representation of Men and Masculinities in Egyptian Contemporary Cinema

Koen Van Eynde. Netherlands-Flemish Institute, Cairo

4:15 Coffee Break

4:30 Closing session

5:15-- Bus to Downtown tour

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