While folk media in the Arab world were a driving force of spreading information and mobilizing p... more While folk media in the Arab world were a driving force of spreading information and mobilizing peoples against authorities and regimes, they were also celebrated forms of poetry and storytelling. A hakawati is a storyteller who would relay woven tales over several sittings in large settings of social interactions such as ‘qahwas (traditional coffee shops) or in the open-air. Their tales helped to preserve Arab heritage and civilization, not only in their content but also in their setting. We plan to understand how it has become a dying art form, especially in the age of the Internet and social media, whether its fading popularity mirrors other aspects of lost Arab tradition. We will, however, show that the hakawati as a genre is alive--at least in Lebanese theatre production, as we take Yehya Jaber’s “Beirut: Tariq al-Jadideh” as a case study.
This paper will endeavor to analyze critically the effects of capitalism and consumer culture on ... more This paper will endeavor to analyze critically the effects of capitalism and consumer culture on the self and the self-esteem of women by producing and reproducing a certain ideal body type through mass media. I will focus on the roles of consumer culture, advertising and literature in the upbringing of a new generation of dissatisfied women. Contrary to common belief, this isn"t a recent phenomenon, for indeed women have been objectified through their bodies since the early 20 th century, and has been proliferating since the early 1950s with the introduction of commercials. This paper, then, is an examination of the ruling class" control on the masses" bodies by looking at the women"s state through a Marxist and Foucaultian approach in a postmodern world.
While folk media in the Arab world were a driving force of spreading information and mobilizing p... more While folk media in the Arab world were a driving force of spreading information and mobilizing peoples against authorities and regimes, they were also celebrated forms of poetry and storytelling. A hakawati is a storyteller who would relay woven tales over several sittings in large settings of social interactions such as ‘qahwas (traditional coffee shops) or in the open-air. Their tales helped to preserve Arab heritage and civilization, not only in their content but also in their setting. We plan to understand how it has become a dying art form, especially in the age of the Internet and social media, whether its fading popularity mirrors other aspects of lost Arab tradition. We will, however, show that the hakawati as a genre is alive--at least in Lebanese theatre production, as we take Yehya Jaber’s “Beirut: Tariq al-Jadideh” as a case study.
This paper will endeavor to analyze critically the effects of capitalism and consumer culture on ... more This paper will endeavor to analyze critically the effects of capitalism and consumer culture on the self and the self-esteem of women by producing and reproducing a certain ideal body type through mass media. I will focus on the roles of consumer culture, advertising and literature in the upbringing of a new generation of dissatisfied women. Contrary to common belief, this isn"t a recent phenomenon, for indeed women have been objectified through their bodies since the early 20 th century, and has been proliferating since the early 1950s with the introduction of commercials. This paper, then, is an examination of the ruling class" control on the masses" bodies by looking at the women"s state through a Marxist and Foucaultian approach in a postmodern world.
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Papers by Azza El Masri