Generations of Dissent - by Alexa Firat & R Shareah Taleghani (Hardcover)

About the Book

Firat and Taleghani's volume maps the complicated trajectories of artistic and creative dissent across time and space, showing how artists have challenged institutions and governments over the past six decades.

Book Synopsis

Situated in the fields of contemporary literary and cultural studies, the ten essays collected in Generations of Dissent shed light on the artistic creativity, cultural production, intellectual movements, and acts of political dissidence across the Middle East and North Africa. Born of the contributors' research on dissidence and state co-option in a variety of artistic and creative fields, the volume's core themes reflect the notion that the recent Arab uprisings did not appear in a cultural, political, or historical vacuum. Rather than focus on how protestors "finally" broke the walls of fear created by authoritarian regimes in the region, these essays show that the uprisings were rooted in multiple generations and various acts of resistance decades prior to 2010-11. Firat and Taleghani's volume maps the complicated trajectories of artistic and creative dissent across time and space, showing how artists have challenged institutions and governments over the past six decades.

Review Quotes

An important book. . . . It is sure to have a wide audience beyond just Middle East studies: media studies, gender studies, comparative literature, and anthropology.-- "Benjamin Koerber, author of Conspiracy in Modern Egyptian Literature"

The book probes the interplay between ruling powers and rebellious artists, as the latter vacillate between outright opposition and betrayal of their own stance vis-à-vis the hegemonic system. This well-researched book has expanded the discussion on dissent across nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, and identity. Highly recommended.-- "Choice"

This is an illuminating and insightful collection that connects cultural production, state authority, and dissent across North Africa and the Middle East. The various essays explore aesthetics and politics in art, film, journalism, and literature, and offer detailed cases for the critical analysis of cultural politics. I can think of few books so incredibly relevant to social scientists and cultural scholars.-- "Michael Allan, author of In the Shadow of World Literature"

About the Author

Alexa Firat is assistant professor of Arabic studies at Temple University. She has published articles and reviews on Arab cultural productions as well as literary translations.

R. Shareah Taleghani is an assistant professor and director of Middle East Studies at Queens College, City University of New York. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Readings in Syrian Prison Literature: the Poetics of Human Rights.