Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Naked Blogger of Cairo
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1972
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/marwan-m-kraidy-phd * https://www.sas.upenn.edu/mec/people/MarwanKraidy * https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/marwan-m-kraidy
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.:
n 2002047714
LCCN Permalink:
https://lccn.loc.gov/n2002047714
HEADING:
Kraidy, Marwan M., 1972-
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__ |a Global media studies, 2003: |b CIP t.p. (Marwan Kraidy) galley (Marwan M. Kraidy; American University) data sheet (b. June 14, 1972)
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__ |a Reality television and Arab polictics, 2009: |b ECIP t.p. (Marwan M. Kraidy) data view (b. 6/14/1972; assoc. prof. of communication, Annenberg School for Communication, Univ. of Pennsylvania)
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__ |a Communication and power in the global era, 2013: |b t.p. (Marwan M. Kraidy) data view (b. June 14, 1972- ; Professor of Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut. His latest book, Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life, has won three major awards)
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PERSONAL
Born June 14, 1972, in Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.
EDUCATION:Notre Dame University, Lebanon, B.A., 1992; Ohio University, M.A., 1994, Ph.D., 1996.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Ohio University, Athens, instructor, 1995-96; University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, assistant professor of critical-cultural studies and director of graduate studies, 1996-2001; American University, Washington, DC, assistant professor of international relations, 2001-07; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Annenberg School for Communication, professor of global communication, 2007—, director of Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication, 2013—, Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture, 2014—. Visiting professor at numerous universities, including American University of Beirut, 2011-12, University of Paris-Sorbonne, 2012, Stockholm University, 2015, and others in China, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, and United States.
AWARDS:Best Book Award in Global Communication and Social Change, International Communication Association, 2010, and Diamond Anniversary Best Book Award, National Communication Association, and Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award in Political Communication, National Communication Association, both 2011, all for Reality Television and Arab Politics; Best Book Award in Global Communication and Social Change, International Communication Association, 2017, for The Naked Blogger of Cairo. Grants and fellowships include Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellow, 2011; Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars fellow; Andrew Carnegie Fellow, 2016-17; and grant from United States Institute of Peace.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Kuala Lumpur Calling: Al Jazeera English in Asia; Essays, Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, DC), 2008; and Arab Cultural Studies: Mapping the Field, edited by Tarik Sabry, I.B. Tauris (New York, NY), 2012. Contributor to professional journals and other periodicals, including Afkar/Ideas, Arab Media and Society, Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies, Communication and the Public, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Foreign Policy, History News Network, International Journal of Communication, Media Industries, Orient-Institut Studies, Popular Communication, Public Culture, Television and New Media, and Washington Post.
SIDELIGHTS
Marwan M. Kraidy, a professor of global communication and the director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, specializes in the study of media within the Arabic world. According to a biographer for the Annenberg School for Communication website, “Kraidy’s work is distinctive for its deep reliance on primary materials, theoretical grounding in a multilingual literature, and a global, comparative approach across historical periods, geographical sites, cultural forms, and media platforms. Ongoing research focuses on war machines in the digital age (particularly ‘Islamic State’), speed, spectacle and security in global communication, and the transnational geopolitics of Turkish media and culture. He teaches courses on globalization; comparative media systems; the body in digital culture; culture and revolution; music video; transnational public spheres, and the geopolitics of global popular culture.” Kraidy is the editor of Communication and Power in the Global Era: Orders and Borders; the coeditor of Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, The Politics of Reality Television: Global Perspectives, and American Studies Encounters in the Middle East; the coauthor of Arab Television Industries and Global Media Studies; and the sole author of Hybridity; or, The Cultural Logic of Globalization, Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life, and The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World.
The Naked Blogger of Cairo—the title a reference to daring protesters such as the woman who defied social norms by taking nude photos of herself in Egypt—grew out of Kraidy’s study of Arab media in general and of his concentration on the revolutionary Arab Spring of 2010 to 2012. “Growing up in Lebanon, I witnessed firsthand the advent of the Arab information revolution and the ensuing shifts in inter-Arab and Arab-Western relations,” Kraidy stated on the Wilson Center website. “In 1994 I began researching the cultural implications of this phenomenon for my Ph.D. dissertation, using ethnographic fieldwork and television criticism to understand young people’s interaction with global, regional and local popular culture in Lebanon. Since then, I have been developing an interdisciplinary approach using a multilingual literature … to analyze the role of media and popular culture in intercultural and international relations.”
Early analysis of the Arab Spring—which resulted in the collapse of governments in Libya and Tunisia—suggested that it was driven primarily by social media, including Facebook and Twitter, which allowed better communications between revolutionary cells and the wider world in general. Kraidy suggests that a better metaphor for the Arab Spring is not technology but the human body. “Kraidy’s account of the Arab Spring, The Naked Blogger of Cairo,” continued the contributor to the Annenberg School for Communication website, “… is an innovative reappraisal of the body politic in the digital age. It considers the uprisings through the human body as a physical, symbolic and aesthetic locus of power and rebellion, and features an engrossing cast of characters—self-immolators, puppets, superheroes, poets, street artists, digital videographers, satirists, and of course, the naked blogger—who confronted scorned dictators.” “Through these vivid stories of sacrifice and heroism, of venality and depredation, of creativity and audacity,” Kraidy stated in an interview with a writer for Jadaliyya, “the book grapples with questions about what ‘media’ means, why the body is fundamental to power and resistance, how we can exit the sterile body-mind dichotomy and associated dualities.” “The Naked Blogger of Cairo is a superb and important work not just for scholars but for anyone who cares about the relationships between art, the body, and revolution,” concluded Hans Rollman in a review for the website Pop Matters. “Creative insurgency is a phenomenon worthy of all the attention it’s being given, for not only are these methods of creative insurgency certain to stay with us for a long time, as Kraidy notes, but ‘in these styles of rebellion, human resilience and creativity flourish, and the will to live, despite the specter of death, implores us to be awed, over and again.’”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ProtoView, June, 2016, review of The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World.
ONLINE
American Council of Learned Societies Website, https://www.acls.org/ (September 6, 2017), author profile.
Annenberg School for Communications Website, https://www.asc.upenn.edu/ (September 6, 2017), author profile.
Harvard University Press Website, http://www.hup.harvard.edu/ (September 6, 2017), review of The Naked Blogger of Cairo.
Jadaliyya, http://www.jadaliyya.com/ (March 1, 2017), review of The Naked Blogger of Cairo.
Pennsylvania State University, Middle Eastern Studies Website, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/ (September 6, 2017), author profile.
Pop Matters, http://www.popmatters.com/ (July 11, 2016), Hans Rollman, review of The Naked Blogger of Cairo.
Project on Middle East Political Science Website, http://pomeps.org/ (November 29, 2016), “Creativity and the Arab Uprisings: A Conversation with Marwan Kraidy.”
Wilson Center Website, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/ (September 6, 2017), author profile.
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YOU ARE HEREHOME › PEOPLE › FACULTY › MARWAN M. KRAIDY, PH.D.
Marwan M. Kraidy, Ph.D.
The Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics & Culture
Director, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication
Marwan M. Kraidy is Professor of Communication, the Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture, and the Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, where he is also affiliated with the Middle East Center. A scholar of global communication and an authority on Arab media, politics and culture, he studies the relationship between culture and geopolitics, theories of identity and modernity, and global media systems and industries. Kraidy is currently an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Kraidy’s work is distinctive for its deep reliance on primary materials, theoretical grounding in a multilingual literature, and a global, comparative approach across historical periods, geographical sites, cultural forms, and media platforms. Ongoing research focuses on war machines in the digital age (particularly “Islamic State”), speed, spectacle and security in global communication, and the transnational geopolitics of Turkish media and culture. He teaches courses on globalization; comparative media systems; the body in digital culture; culture and revolution; music video; transnational public spheres, and the geopolitics of global popular culture.
Kraidy has published 10 books, penned 120 essays and chapters, won more than 50 awards for teaching and scholarship, delivered keynote addresses and named lectures worldwide, and advised universities, civil society organizations, museums, foundations, and governments. Notable books include Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (link is external) (Temple University Press, 2005), and Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life (link is external)(Cambridge University Press 2010), supported by a Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a grant from the United States Institute of Peace, and winner of three major prizes: the Diamond Anniversary Best Book Award and the Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award in Political Communication, National Communication Association; and Best Book Award in Global Communication and Social Change, International Communication Association.
Kraidy’s account of the Arab Spring, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World (link is external) (Harvard University Press, 2016, May) is an innovative reappraisal of the body politic in the digital age. It considers the uprisings through the human body as a physical, symbolic and aesthetic locus of power and rebellion, and features an engrossing cast of characters—self-immolators, puppets, superheroes, poets, street artists, digital videographers, satirists, and of course, the naked blogger—who confronted scorned dictators. He crafted the book in Wassenaar, as a Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences and Humanities (NIAS) and of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and revised it in Philadelphia as a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The book won the International Communication Association’s Outstanding Book Award, in addition to the ICA’s Division of Global Communication and Social Change Best Book Award.
Other recent books include Global Media Studies (with Toby Miller, Polity, 2016), and American Studies Encounters the Middle East (with Alex Lubin, University of North Carolina Press, 2016).
In 2011, Kraidy was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his work in media and cultural studies.
In 2016, Kraidy was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for his work on war machines in the age of global communication.
In 2017, Kraidy became the only scholar to have twice won the Best Book Award from the International Communication Association’s Division of Global Communication and Social Change, first in 2011 for Reality Television and Arab Politics, and again in 2017 for The Naked Blogger of Cairo.
Kraidy’s leadership roles include elected President of the Student Cabinet at his alma mater, Notre-Dame University, Director of Graduate Studies at the University of North Dakota, and Founding Director of the Arab Media in Public Life (AMPLE) Project at American University, Washington, DC. In 2013, he launched the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School, which in 2016 became the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC), an institute for advanced study that produces and promotes advanced research on global communication and public life under the rubric of inclusive globalization. A dynamic and innovative ideas laboratory, CARGC engages interdisciplinary scholarship in enduring global questions and pressing contemporary issues. CARGC is dedicated to understanding the stunning diversity of global media and cultures.
Currently serving on the Board of Directors of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in New York, and on the International Advisory Board of the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) at the American University of Beirut, Kraidy also advises various research projects funded by the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research, the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Helsingin Salomat Foundation in Finland. Previously he served on the Advisory Board of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University, Washington DC, and on the International Advisory Board of the National Museum of Qatar.
Kraidy has been the Edward W. Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut, the Albert Bonnier Jr. Professor of Media Studies at Stockholm University, the Chaire Dupront at Sorbonne-Universités in Paris, and visiting professor at universities in China, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the USA. Previously he held appointments in International Relations at American University, Washington, DC, and in Critical-Cultural Studies at the University of North Dakota. A graduate of Notre Dame University, Lebanon, Kraidy’s MA and PhD are from The Ohio University.
Fluent in Arabic and French, and conversant in Spanish, Kraidy is a regular media contributor worldwide and tweets @MKraidy (link is external).
Selected Publications
The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World. Harvard University Press, 2016.
Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization. Temple University Press, 2005.
Global Media Studies. Wiley, 2016.
American Studies Encounters the Middle East. University of North Carolina Press, 2016.
Communication and Power in the Global Era: Orders and Borders. Routledge, 2012.
The Politics of Reality Television: Global Perspectives. Routledge, 2011.
Arab Television Industries. British Film Institute, 2009.
Global Media Studies: An Ethnographic Perspective. Routledge, 2003.
"Terror, Territoriality, Temporality: Hypermedia Events in the Age of Islamic State." Television and New Media, 2017.
"This is Why the Islamic State Shocks the World with its Graphically Violent Imagery." The Washington Post's Monkey Cage, 2017.
"Creative Insurgency and the Celebrity President: Politics and Popular Culture from the Arab Spring to the White House." Arab Media and Society, 2017.
“ISIS and Communication Technology.” Interview with Eurasia Foundation Group, 2016.
"Why It's Been So Effective to Ridicule Syria's Bashar al-Assad as a Pathetic Finger Puppet." History News Network, 2016.
"Trashing the sectarian system? Lebanon’s 'You Stink' movement and the making of affective publics." Communication and the Public, 2016.
"The Politics of Revolutionary Celebrity in the Contemporary Arab World." Public Culture, 2015.
"Crossing the Red Line: Public Intimacy and National Reputation in Saudi Arabia." Critical Studies in Media Communication, 2014.
"Media Industries in Revolutionary Times." Media Industries, 2014.
"The Body as Medium in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities." Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies, 2013.
"A Heterotopology of Graffiti: A Preliminary Exploration." Orient-Institut Studies, 2013.
"Contention and Circulation in the Digital Middle East: Music Video as Catalyst, Television and New Media." Television & New Media, 2012.
"Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere." Popular Communication, 2013.
"La Modernidad y la Telerealidad Arabe." Afkar/Ideas, 2010.
"Arquob's Promise." Foreign Policy, 2010.
"Neo-Ottoman Cool 2: Turkish Nation Branding and Arabic-Language Transnational Broadcasting." International Journal of Communication, 2013.
Fewer Publications
Videos
Teaching and Learning Global Media Studies
Teaching and Learning Global Media Studies
CARGC Panel: Teaching and Learning Global Media Studies
Uploaded on Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 2:08pm
March 2, 2017: On the occasion of the launch of Global Media Studies (Toby Miller & Marwan M. Kraidy, Polity, 2016), a distinguished panel of...
Marwan M. Kraidy talks about his new book, The Naked Blogger of Cairo
Marwan M. Kraidy talks about his new book, The Naked Blogger of Cairo
Marwan M. Kraidy Talks About His New Book, The Naked Blogger of Cairo
Uploaded on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - 11:32am
Uprisings spread like wildfire across the Arab world from 2010 to 2012, fueled by a desire for popular sovereignty. Investigating what drives people...
Reality TV and Arab Politics
Reality TV and Arab Politics
Reality TV and Arab Media
Uploaded on Friday, May 30, 2014 - 3:40pm
Professor Marwan M. Kraidy talks about his book Reality TV and Arab Media.
Faculty Profile - Marwan M. Kraidy
Faculty Profile - Marwan M. Kraidy
Professor Marwan Kraidy Talks About His Research
Uploaded on Thursday, January 30, 2014 - 8:23pm
Marwan M. Kraidy, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Director of the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC), talks about...
Marwan Kraidy at a Penn Engaging Minds event
Marwan Kraidy at a Penn Engaging Minds event
Professor Kraidy Speaks at the University of Pennsylvania "Engaging Minds" Event
Uploaded on Saturday, December 1, 2012 - 12:00am
Annenberg's Marwan M. Kraidy talks to Penn alumni during a December 1, 2012 "Engaging Minds" event in New York City, discussing reality television in...
Related News
28 Jul 2017 Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication Releases CARGC Paper 6 14 Jul 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, Summer 2017 10 Jul 2017 Annenberg Presentations at IAMCR 2017 06 Jun 2017 Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication, Second Edition Edited by Paul Messaris and Lee Humphreys (Ph.D. ‘07) 31 May 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, May 2017 31 May 2017 Annenberg Faculty, Students, and Alumni Win Divisional Awards at ICA 30 May 2017 Marwan M. Kraidy Receives 2017 ICA Outstanding Book Award 27 Apr 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, April 2017 30 Mar 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, March 2017 10 Mar 2017 Annenberg Presentations at ICA 2017 27 Feb 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, February 2017 26 Jan 2017 ASC@Penn News Digest, January 2017 19 Dec 2016 Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication Releases CARGC Paper 5 by Mimi Sheller 17 Nov 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, November 2016 02 Nov 2016 Sandra Ristovska Receives Outstanding Dissertation Award from National Communication Association 24 Oct 2016 Annenberg Presentations at NCA 2016 21 Oct 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, October 2016 17 Oct 2016 Two New Books by Marwan M. Kraidy: American Studies Encounters the Middle East and Global Media Studies 21 Sep 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, September 2016 09 Aug 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, August 9 04 Aug 2016 Annenberg Launches Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication 29 Jun 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, June 29 22 Jun 2016 Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication Releases PARGC Paper 4 by Arjun Appadurai 02 Jun 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, June 2 26 May 2016 Annenberg Presentations at ICA 2016 23 May 2016 New Book by Marwan Kraidy: The Naked Blogger of Cairo 04 May 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, May 4 19 Apr 2016 Marwan M. Kraidy Receives Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to Study the Spectacle of the Islamic State 13 Apr 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, April 13 29 Feb 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, Feb. 29 04 Feb 2016 ASC@Penn News Digest, Feb. 4 20 Jan 2016 Annenberg Faculty Visit Cuba 11 Dec 2015 ASC@Penn News Digest, Dec. 11 23 Oct 2015 ASC@Penn News Digest, Oct. 23 09 Oct 2015 ASC@Penn News Digest, Oct. 9 02 Jul 2015 Annenberg's Inaugural Symposium at Penn Wharton China Center a Rousing Success 21 May 2015 Kraidy Talks About Television with BBC World Service 01 May 2015 Kraidy Delivers Talks in Paris and Vienna 01 May 2015 Kraidy to Visit Stockholm University’s Department of Media Studies as Bonnier Guest Professor 31 Mar 2015 International Conference on Communication and the Public: Social Media and Public Engagement 26 Nov 2014 Kraidy Makes Presentations at the University of Tampere and the University of Leeds 19 Nov 2014 Kraidy Analyzes ISIS’ Media Strategy and Anti-ISIS Satire in Recent Radio Interviews 04 Nov 2014 Kraidy Presents Keynote at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Rotterdam 04 Nov 2014 Al-Ghazzi, Kraidy, Mourad and Sastre Present at “Inverting Globalisation” conference at the University of Amsterdam 27 Oct 2014 Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication Releases PARGC Paper 2 by Donatella Della Ratta 30 Sep 2014 Kraidy Presents on Body Politics at the University of Amsterdam 15 Apr 2014 Kraidy Receives ACLS Fellowship 10 Apr 2014 "Before This It Was Just A Wall" Exhibit in Plaza Lobby 02 Apr 2014 Kraidy Recognized by NEH 29 Jan 2014 Turow, Kraidy, Price Receive Penn Global Engagement Fund Grant 10 Sep 2013 Kraidy Contributes Chapter to New Book 20 Aug 2013 Prof. Marwan Kraidy Publishes Essay on Graffiti in the Middle East 15 Jul 2013 Annenberg Creates the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication 08 Jan 2013 Kraidy Leads Workshop at Qatar University 02 Jan 2013 Prof. Kraidy Interview Regarding his Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications article 04 Dec 2012 Kraidy Edits Book Based on Scholars Program Symposium 18 Jun 2012 Kraidy's Talks and Publication Activities 04 Jun 2012 Kraidy, Mourad Win ICA Top Paper Award 27 Oct 2011 Kraidy’s Book, “Reality Television and Arab Politics”, Honored by NCA 25 Oct 2011 Marwan Kraidy to Deliver Two Talks at Izmir Economics University, Turkey - Addresses Audience in Lisbon via Skype 26 Sep 2011 Kraidy Promoted to Full Professor 07 Apr 2011 Kraidy Named a Guggenheim Fellow 07 Mar 2011 Kraidy Argues for al-Jazeera to be Included in Comcast’s Cable Channels 25 Feb 2011 Annenberg Trio Lead Panel on Arabs and the Arab World in American Media 14 Feb 2011 Prof. Kraidy Discusses Egyptian uprising during Penn Nursing panel 03 Feb 2011 Kraidy Discusses the Economic Impact of the Egyptian Protests 26 Jan 2011 Kraidy Writes About Media Reform in Lebanon 11 Jan 2011 Kraidy Named a Penn Fellow for 2011 23 Nov 2010 Books by Faculty and Alumnus Make Almanac List 08 Nov 2010 Kraidy and Sender's New Book on Reality Television 18 Sep 2010 Kraidy Pens Essay on Controversial Middle East Music Video 07 Sep 2010 Kraidy Discusses His Book on Reality Television 11 May 2010 ICA Honors Prof. Marwan Kraidy’s New Book, Reality Television and Arab Politics 06 Apr 2010 Christian Science Monitor cites Kraidy Book About Arab Reality TV 25 Mar 2010 Marwan Kraidy discusses his new book in The Washington Times 16 Mar 2010 New book by Prof. Marwan M. Kraidy: Arab Television Industries 29 Oct 2009 New book on reality television in the Middle East by Annenberg Prof. Marwan Kraidy 29 Jul 2009 Professor Marwan M. Kraidy published in the Journal of Communication 05 Jul 2009 Annenberg's John L. Jackson, Jr. and Marwan M. Kraidy promoted 17 Dec 2008 Delli Carpini, Zelizer, and Kraidy Contribute to Television & New Media 01 Sep 2008 Annenberg's Marwan Kraidy co-authors lead article in Communication Theory 25 Aug 2008 Annenberg's Marwan Kraidy publishes article on reality television in the Middle East 31 Mar 2008 Marwan Kraidy to Discuss Al Jazeera at D.C. Panel 11 Mar 2008 Marwan Kraidy gives multilingual media commentary 31 Jan 2008 Marwan Kraidy publishes essay in Global Media and Communication 23 Oct 2007 Annenberg's Marwan Kraidy publishes chapter in new book on global media and democratization 01 Oct 2007 Annenberg's Marwan Kraidy publishes chapter in new book on global communication 25 Mar 2007 Marwan Kraidy to join Annenberg Faculty in the Fall 23 Jan 2007 Annenberg welcomes new Scholars in Residence for the Spring 2007 semester Fewer Articles
Courses Taught
COMM 402: The Arab Uprisings: Local and Global Representations
COMM 419: Communication, Culture & Revolution
COMM 485: Globalization and the Music Video
COMM 702: Global and Comparative Media Systems
COMM 813: Theory and History in Global Communication
COMM 816: Communicating Publics
COMM 850: The Body: Theory, Method Discourse
COMM 885: Old Media and Digital Communication in Revolutionary Times
In the News
2017
Marketplace: “Why Ramadan is a big deal for Arab TV networks (link is external)" (May 26, 2017)
The National: “Prank Shows Chasing Laughs Leave Victims Traumatized (link is external),” (May 25, 2017)
UC Boulder Daily: “Religion and the Digital Focus on New Research (link is external)” (May 17, 2017)
The New Arab: “The Arab World’s Obssession with Reality TV (link is external)" (May 9, 2017)
Penn Gazette: “When Lies Go Viral (link is external)" (May/June 2017)
al-Bawaba: "The Strange Obsession - and Political Weight - that Comes with Arab Reality TV (link is external)" (May 14, 2017)
2016
Project for Middle East Political Science: "Creativity and the Arab Uprisings: A conversation with Marwan Kraidy (link is external)" (November 29, 2016)
Status Hour: Feature Interview about The Naked Blogger of Cairo (link is external) (July 16, 2016) ,
Al-Jazeera's The Listening Post: “Egypt's Press Syndicate Under Fire (link is external)" (November 26, 2016)
Politiken.dk: “Hold mediefri søndag, og luft ud i offentligheden (link is external)” (November 1, 2016)
The Michigan Daily: “Author discusses Arab Spring through the lens of the human body (link is external)" (September 15, 2016)
Washington Post's Monkey Cage: “What to read this summer about the Middle East (link is external)" (June 29, 2016)
Daily Mail: “'Way to go Brits!' Game of Thrones fans fear the hit show will be thrown into chaos after Brexit vote raises risk bosses won't be able to finish filming in Northern Ireland (link is external)" (June 24, 2016)
The Independent: “Something very different is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador (link is external)" (June 7, 2016)
Noticias 24: “¡Pánico! Fans de Juego de Tronos temen que el Brexit ponga en riesgo la serie (link is external)" (June 23, 2016)
Vocativ: “Dark Net: Trying to Kill ISIS with Cuteness (link is external)” (March 3, 2016)
MENA Tidningen: “Biopolitics and Humor in Revolutionary Times (link is external)" (February 9, 2016)
Libération: “Printemps arabes, du ‘cyberutopisme’ au ‘cyberpessimisme’ (link is external)" ( January 16, 2016)
Kraidy studies the relationship between culture and geopolitics, theories of identity and modernity, and global media systems and industries. The recipient of Andrew Carnegie, Guggenheim, NEH, ACLS, Woodrow Wilson and NIAS fellowships, and award-winning author of 120 essays and 10 books, Kraidy is currently researching war machines in the age of global communication and the transnational geopolitics of Turkish media and culture.
Phone:
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Email:
mkraidy@asc.upenn.edu
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===cv===
ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
MARWAN M. KRAIDY
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6220 USA, [215] 746-6546, kraidy@asc.upenn.edu
Skype mkraidy –Twitter @Mkraidy - LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marwan-mkraidy/
26/52b/804 - Web http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Faculty/Faculty-Bio.aspx?id=165
I. CURRENT POSITIONS
Professor of Communication
The Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture
Founding Director, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Affiliated Faculty, Middle Center, University of Pennsylvania
Andrew Carnegie Fellow, Carnegie Corporation
II. FELLOWSHIPS
2016-2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, The Carnegie Corporation, New York, NY, USA
2015-2016 National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC, USA
2014-2015 American Council of Learned Societies, New York, NY, USA
2014-2015 Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences,
Wassenaar, The Netherlands
2011-2013 Penn Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2011 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, NY, USA
2005-2006 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, USA
1996-1997 Alice T. Clark Fellow, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
III. ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2007- The Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture &
Professor of Communication (2007-2011, Associate Professor), Annenberg
School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
2001-2007 Assistant Professor of International Relations
School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC.
1996-2001 Assistant Professor of Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, School of
Communication, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
2
IV. ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS
2016- Director, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC),
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
2013-2016 Founding Director, Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication
(PARGC), Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
2006-2007 Founding Director, Project on Arab Media in Public Life (AMPLE), School of
International Service, The American University, Washington, DC.
1998-2001 Director of Graduate Studies, School of Communication, University of North
Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota.
V. VISITING APPOINTMENTS
2016 (June) Visiting Professor, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
2016 (February) Visiting Professor, University of Helsinki and University of Tampere, Finland
2015 (June) Visiting Professor, College of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang
University, Hangzhou, China
2015 (May) The Albert Bonnier Jr. Guest Professorship, Department of Media Studies,
Stockholm University, Sweden
2015 (May) Visiting Professor, Department of Asian, Middle Eastern & Turkish Studies,
Stockholm University, Sweden
2014- Research Associate, Authoritarianism 2.0, Institute of Political Science, Leiden
University, the Netherlands
2014 (December) Visiting Professor, School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of
Tampere, Finland
2012 (September) Chaire Dupront, CELSA, Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France
2011-2012 The Edward W. Said Chair in American Studies, American University of Beirut,
Lebanon
2011-2012 Visiting Professor, Media Studies Program, American University of Beirut,
Lebanon
2011 (October) Visiting Professor, Faculty of Communication, Izmir University of Business and
Economics, Turkey
2007 (Jan-May) Scholar-in-Residence, Scholars Program in Culture and Communication
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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VI. ADVISORY BOARDS
2017-2021 Board of Directors, American Council of Learned Societies, New York, USA
2015- “The Geopolitics of Activism” Project, Erasmus University, Rotterdam,
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Netherlands
2015- “The Visuality & Visibility of Contentious Politics in Egypt, Syria and Palestine,”
Stockholm University, The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social
Sciences, Sweden
2015- “Charlie Hebdo Project,” University of Tampere, Helsingin Salomat Foundation,
Finland
2012- International Advisory Board, Center for American Studies and Research
(CASAR), American University of Beirut
2010-2014 International Advisory Board, National Museum of Qatar, Doha
2006-07 Advisory Board, Center for Democracy and Election Management, American
University, Washington, DC
VII. EDUCATION
1996 Ph.D. in Mass Communication, The Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
1994 M.A. in Telecommunications, The Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
1992 B.A. in Communication Arts [With High Distinction]
Notre-Dame University, Louaizé, Lebanon
1989 Lebanese Baccalaureate, Humanities & Social Sciences
Saint Joseph College, Antoura, Lebanon
1989 Baccalauréat français [With Honors], Lettres et langues, Independent Candidacy
VIII. LANGUAGES
Arabic: Native Fluency (writing, reading, speaking)
French: Full Fluency (writing, reading, speaking)
Spanish: Proficiency (full reading ability, good speaking and writing)
German and Italian: Basic reading ability
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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IX. PUBLICATIONS
A. Authored Books
2016 GLOBAL MEDIA STUDIES [co-author Toby Miller] Cambridge, UK: Polity; 256 pp.; cloth ISBN
9780745644318; ISBN10 0745644317.
2016 THE NAKED BLOGGER OF CAIRO: CREATIVE INSURGENCY IN THE ARAB WORLD [singleauthor],
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 304 pp.; cloth ISBN 9780674737082.
2017 Paperback edition, ISBN; 304 pp. paperback ISBN 9780674980051.
Awards
* 2017 OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION
* 2017 BEST BOOK AWARD, DIVISION OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL CHANGE,
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION
Reviews:
Books of the Year 2016 (2016, December 22), Times Higher Education,
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/reviews-best-books-of-the-year-2016
Herrera Santoyo, Héctor (2016, December 4), La bloguera desnuda de el Cairo y sus lecciones para América
Latina, Razon Publica, http://www.razonpublica.com/index.php/lectura-pública/9903-la-bloguera-desnudade-
el-cairo-y-sus-lecciones-para-américa-latina.html#.WFfmVi-uXeY.twitter
Lynch, Marc (2016, June 29) “What to Read this Summer about the Middle East,” The Monkey
Cage/Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/06/29/what-to-readthis-
summer-about-the-middle-east/
Shook, Karen (2016, June 30) “New & Noteworthy,” The Times Higher Education Supplement, New and
Noteworthy, p. 49.
Rollman, Hans (2016, July 11) “'The Naked Blogger of Cairo' Combines Erudition with Style and Wit,”
PopMatters, http://www.popmatters.com/review/the-naked-blogger-of-cairo-combines-erudition-with-styleand-
wit/
John Lennon (2016, November 15), Journal of the Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World,
http://sctiw.org/sctiwreviewarchives/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/137-The-Naked-Blogger-of-Cairo-John-
Lennon.pdf
Elizabeth Monier, The Middle East Journal, 71(1) (2017), pp. 168-170.
Yasmine Nachabe Taan, Journal of Communication, 67(1) (2017), pp. E7-E9
Johanna Sumiala, European Journal of Communication, 32(2) (2017), pp. 175-176.
Creative Insurgency in the Arab World, Carnegie Corporation, April 17, 2017,
https://www.carnegie.org/news/articles/marwan-kraidy/#.WQHzBeehZNw.twitter
Brian Ekdale, Journal of Communication Inquiry, June 4 2017,
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0196859917713400
Shane T. Moreman, Text and Performance Quarterly, 36(4), June 14, 2017, DOI:
10.1080/10462937.2017.1332774, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10462937.2017.1332774
2010 REALITY TELEVISION AND ARAB POLITICS: CONTENTION IN PUBLIC LIFE [single-author],
Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press; 272 pp.; paper ISBN-13 9780521749046;
cloth ISBN-13 9780521769198].
Awards
* 2011 DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY BEST BOOK AWARD, NATIONAL COMMUNICATION
ASSOCIATION
* 2011 RODERICK P. HART OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD, POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
DIVISION, NATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION
* 2010 BEST BOOK AWARD, DIVISION OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL CHANGE,
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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Reviews: Arab Media and Society, 10, http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=743; International Journal of
Communication, 2010, 4, 808-809, http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/ 886/452; Political
Communication, 2010, 27(3), 341-343, http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/606136_915031386_925294579.pdf,
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 43(3), http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?
fromPage=online&aid=8330553&fulltextType=BR&fileId=S0020743811000699; Arab Studies Quarterly, 2011,
33 (3/4), 85-86; International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 2012, 7(1), pp. 85-99; Canadian Journal of
Communication, 37(3), http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2576/2327.
2009 ARAB TELEVISION INDUSTRIES [first author with Joe Khalil], British Film Institute/Palgrave
Macmillan; 197 pp.; paper ISBN 978-1-84457-302-8; cloth ISBN 978-1-84457-303-5.
Review: Arab Media and Society, 10, http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=743
2013 Korean translation, Communication Books, Seoul
2005 HYBRIDITY OR, THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF GLOBALIZATION [single-author]. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press; 240 pp.; paper ISBN 1-59213-144-1; cloth ISBN 1-59213-143-3.
Reviews: American Quarterly, 2007, 59(2), 459-466; International Journal of Communication, 2007, 1(1), 48-50;
Global Media and Communication, 2006, 2 (3), 367-369; European Journal of Communication, 2006, 21(1),
138-139; Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2006, 30, 193-196; Multicultural Review, 2006 (Summer), 88;
Communication Booknotes Quarterly, 2005, 36 (3), 177-180.
2007 South-East Asia edition, Pearson Publishing, India.
B. Edited Volumes (Books, Journal Special Issues & Collective Monographs)
[2017] IS THERE A GLOBAL DIGITAL CULTURE? Special Section of International Journal of
Communication, with CARGC Press [in press].
2017 THE ARAB REVOLUTIONARY PUBLIC SPHERE [First editor with Marina Krikorian], Special
Issue of Communication and the Public, 2(2), with CARGC Press.
2016 AMERICAN STUDIES ENCOUNTERS THE MIDDLE EAST [co-editor Alex Lubin]. Chapel Hill,
NC: University of North Carolina Press; 328 pp.; ISBN-10: 1469628848; ISBN-13: 978-1469628844.
2013 THE TURKISH TOUCH: EGEMONIA NEO-OTTOMANA E TELEVISONE TURCA IN MEDIO
ORIENTE, Carney, J. Kraidy, M. M., Nocera, L and S. M Torelli. Rome, Italy: Le monografie di
Arab Media Report, N. 1, 51 pp. [Creative Commons License].
2012 COMMUNICATION AND POWER IN THE GLOBAL ERA: ORDERS AND BORDERS, [editor].
London & New York: Routledge; 208 pages; paper ISBN 978-0-415-62735-1; cloth ISBN 978-0-415-62734-4.
2010 THE POLITICS OF REALITY TELEVISION: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES [first co-editor with
Katherine Sender, London and New York: Routledge; 224 pages; paper ISBN 978-0-415-58825-6; cloth
ISBN 978-0-415-58824-9].
2003 GLOBAL MEDIA STUDIES: ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES [second co-editor with Patrick
D. Murphy]. London & New York: Routledge. 313 pages; paper ISBN 0-415-31441-0; cloth ISBN 0-415-
31440-2
Reviews: Canadian Journal of Communication, 2004, 29 (3), 427-429; Journal of Mass Media Ethics,
2004, 19 (3/4); Cultural Dynamics, 2005, 17(1), 93-97; European Journal of Communication, 2004,
19(3), 426-427
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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C. Articles & Essays in Refereed Academic Journals
1. Published [or in press]
[2017] Is There a Global Digital Culture? Introduction to Special Section of International Journal of
Communication [in press].
[2017] The Projectilic Image: Islamic State’s Digital Visual Warfare and Global Networked Affect, Media,
Culture & Society [in press].
2017 Revisiting Hypermedia Space in the Era of Islamic State, The Communication Review, 20(3), 1-7,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2017.1343601.
2017 The Revolutionary Public Sphere: The Case of the Arab Uprisings [First author With Marina
Krikorian], Communication and The Public, 2(20, 111-119.
2017 Terror, Territoriality, Temporality: Hypermedia Events in the Age of Islamic State, Television and
New Media, 18(6), DOI: 10.1177/1527476417697197.
2016 Trashing the Sectarian System? Lebanon’s #YouStink movement and the Making of Affective
Publics, Communication and the Public, 1(1), 19-26.
2015 The Politics of Revolutionary Celebrity in the Contemporary Arab World, Public Culture, 27(1-75),
161-183.
2014 Crossing the Red Line: Public Intimacy and National Reputation in Saudi Arabia, Critical Studies
in Media Communication, first author with Sara Mourad, 31(5), 380-394.
2014 Media Industries in Revolutionary Times, Media Industries Journal, 1(2)
http://www.mediaindustriesjournal.org/index.php/mij/article/view/45.
2013 Neo-Ottoman Cool 2: Turkish Nation Branding and Arabic-Language Transnational Broadcasting,
International Journal of Communication, 7, pp. 2341-2360, second author with Omar Alghazzi,
http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1881/1006.
2013 The Body as Medium in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities, Communication and
Critical-Cultural Studies, 10(2-3), 285-290.
2013 A Heterotopology of Graffiti: A Preliminary Exploration, Orient-Institut Papers (3),
http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/orient-institut-studies/2-2013/kraidy_graffiti.
Revised and reprinted [2015] as Graffiti, Hypermedia and Heterotopia After the Arab
Uprisings: New Media Practices and Configurations, in Nadja-Christina Schneider and
Carola Richter (Eds.). New Media Configurations and Socio-Cultural Dynamics in Asia
and the Arab World? (pp. 319-344), Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos & Bloomsbury.
2013 Contention and Circulation in the Digital Middle East: Music Video as Catalyst, Television and
New Media, 14(4), 271-285.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2012 Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere, Popular
Communication,11(1), 17-29, first author with Omar Alghazzi.
2012 Les Médias en Arabie Séoudite: Lutte Politique et Controverse Sociale de Star Academy au
Printemps Arabe [Media in Saudi Arabia: Political Struggle and Social Controversy from Star
Academy to the Arab Uprisings], Anthropologie et Sociétés, 36,1-2, 181-200.
2012 The Revolutionary Body Politic: Preliminary Thoughts On A Neglected Medium In The Arab
Uprisings, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 5(1) pp. 68-76.
2010 Hypermedia and Global Communication Studies: Lessons from the Middle East, Global Media
Journal, 8(16), available http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/sp10/gmj-sp10-article8-kraidymourad.
htm [invited], first author with Sara Mourad.
2009 Reality Television, Gender and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia, Journal of Communication, 59, 345-
366.
2009 My (Global) Media Studies, Television and New Media, 10(1), pp. 88-90 [invited].
2008 Shifting Geertz: Toward a Theory of Translocalism in Global Communication Studies, (First
co-author with Patrick D. Murphy), Communication Theory, 18, 335-355.
2008 Reality TV and Multiple Modernities in the Arab World: A Theoretical Exploration, Middle East
Journal of Culture and Communication, 1(1) 49-59.
Revised and reprinted [2010] as “Reality Television and Politics in the Arab World: The
Contentious Elaboration of Modernity,” in L. Baruh & J. H. Park (Eds.), Reel Politics:
Political Discourse and Reality Television, Cambridge Academic Press.
Revised and reprinted [2009] as “Rethinking the Local-Global Nexus through Multiple
Modernities: The Case of Arab Reality Television,” in A. Moran (Ed.) TV Formats
Worldwide: Localising Global Programs (pp. 27-38). Intellect Books/University of Chicago
Press.
2008 Star Academy as Arab Political Satire (quick study), International Journal of Middle East Studies,
40(3), 369-371 [invited].
2007 Race, Ethnicity and Global Communication Studies, Global Media and Communication, 3(3),
371-383 [invited review essay, 5000 words].
2007 Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and the Changing Arab Information Order, International Journal of
Communication, 1(1), 139-156, available http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/18/22.
Revised and reprinted [2011, in press] as “The Social and Political Dimensions of Global
Television Formats: Reality Television in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia,” in T. Oren and S.
Shahaf (Eds.), Global Television Formats: Circulating Culture, Producing Identity,
Routledge.
2006 Governance and Hypermedia in Saudi Arabia, First Monday, 11(9), available
http://firstmonday.org/issues/special11_9/kraidy/index.html.
2006 Reality Television and Politics in the Arab World (Preliminary Observations), Transnational
Broadcasting Studies [peer-reviewed paper edition] 2 (1), 7-28 [LEAD ARTICLE], electronic
version available http://www.tbsjournal.com/Kraidy.html.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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Reprinted [2008] in G. Radha Krishna (Ed.), Dubai Economy: Insights (pp. 194-221).
Hyderabad, India: Icfai University Press.
Revised and reprinted [2007] as “Reality Television, Politics and Democratization in the
Arab World,” in (Isaac Blankson and Patrick Murphy, Editors), Negotiating Democracy:
Media Transformations and Political Practice in New and Emerging Democracies (pp.
179-198), Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
2003 Glocalization as an International Communication Framework? Journal of International
Communication, 9(2), 29-49.
2003 International Communication, Ethnography, and the Challenge of Globalization, Communication
Theory, 13(3), 304-323 [Second co-author with Patrick D. Murphy].
2003 Transnational Advertising and International Relations: Public Discourse on the 'We on Death
Row' Benetton Advertising Campaign in the US Elite Press, Media, Culture & Society, 25(2), 147-
166 (First Co-Author with Tamara Goeddertz) [LEAD ARTICLE].
2002 Ferment in Global Media Studies, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 46(4), 630-640
[invited review essay].
2002 Arab Satellite Television Between Regionalization and Globalization, Global Media Journal, 1(1),
available http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/new_page_1.htm [invited inaugural article].
2002 Hybridity in Cultural Globalization, Communication Theory, 12(3), 316-339.
Reprinted in Thussu, D. (2009). International Communication: A Reader, London:
Routledge.
2000 Transnational Satellite Television and Asymmetrical Interdependence in the Arab world: A
research note, Transnational Broadcasting Studies, 5, available http://www.tbsjournal.com.
1999 The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Glocalization, Critical Studies
in Mass Communication, 16(4), 458-478 [2000 OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP AWARD FOR
BEST ARTICLE IN INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, NATIONAL
COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION].
Reprinted in Taylor, S. (Ed.) (2001). Researching the Social: Recent Studies in the
Ethnographic Tradition, Milton Keynes, U.K.: Open University Press.
Reprinted in Ritzer, G. (Ed.). (2010). Readings in Globalization. London: Blackwell
1999 State Control of Television News in 1990s Lebanon, Journalism and Mass Communication
Quarterly, 76(3), 485-498.
1998 Broadcasting Regulation and Civil Society in Post-War Lebanon, Journal of Broadcasting and
Electronic Media, 42(3), 387-400.
1998 Satellite Broadcasting from Lebanon: Prospects and Perils, (Research in Brief) Transnational
Broadcasting Studies, 1, available http://www.tbsjournal.com.
1997 Betrayed, Bewitched or Bewildering: What Meaning in Keating? Palma Journal, 4(7), 27-40.
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D. Public Scholarship Articles, Reports, Essays, Author Interviews & Notes
2017 New Texts Out Now: Alex Lubin and Marwan M. Kraidy, Eds. American Studies Encounters the
Middle East, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26150/new-texts-out-now_alex-lubin-andmarwan-
m.-kraidy-, March 6.
2017 New Texts Out Now: Marwan M. Kraidy, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the
Arab World, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/26134/new-texts-out-now_marwan-m.-kraidythe-
naked-blogg, March 1.
2017 This is Why the Islamic State Shocks the World with its Graphically Violent Imagery, The Monkey
Cage, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/09/this-is-why-theislamic-
state-shocks-the-world-with-its-graphically-violentimagery/?
postshare=8391486648976374&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.28f001bb6c8d, February 9.
2017 “Creative Insurgency and the Celebrity President: Politics and Popular Culture from the Arab
Spring to the White House,” Arab Media and Society, 23 (Winter/Spring)
http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=989, January 15.
2016 “ISIS and Communication Technology,” Interview with Eurasia Foundation Group,
https://www.facebook.com/eurasiagroupfoundation/posts/1811762019057772:0, August 29.
2016 “Why It’s Been So Effective to Ridicule Syria’s Bashar al-Assad as a Pathetic Finger Puppet -
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/163081#sthash.NO74V6oz.dpuf, History News Network July
11.
2014 “No Country for Funny Men: Comedian Bassem Youssef returns to Egypt's fear-gripped media
environment,” Al-Jazeera America, http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/no-country-forfunnymen.
html, February 25.
2014 Turkish Al-Jazeera? TRT-AlArabiya, Flow, http://flowtv.org/2014/01/the-turkish-al-jazeera-trt-alturkiyya/,
second author with Omar Alghazzi, January.
2013 “TrT7 al-Turkiyya. I primi tre anni del canale tv satellitare turco in lingua araba” (pp. 23-32) (TRT
al-Turkiyya) Turkey’s Arabic Language Television Channel, in Carney, J. Kraidy, M. M. , Nocera,
L and S. M Torelli, The Turkish Touch: Egemonia neo-ottomana e televisone turca in Medio
Oriente. Rome, Italy: Le monografie di Arab Media Report, N. 1, Dicembre 2013.
2013 Il cool neo-ottomano. Televisione e cinema turchi nel discorso pubblico arabo (pp. 11-22). Neo-
Ottoman Cool: Turkish Television and Cinema in Arab Public Discourse, in Carney, J. Kraidy, M.,
Nocera, L and S. M Torelli, The Turkish Touch: Egemonia neo-ottomana e televisone turca in
Medio Oriente. Rome, Italy: Le monografie di Arab Media Report, N. 1, Dicembre 2013.
2013 Turkish Rambo: Geopolitical Drama as Narrative Counter-Hegemony, FlowTV,
http://flowtv.org/2013/11/“turkish-rambo”-geopolitical-drama-as-narrative-counter-hegemonymarwan-
m-kraidy-university-of-pennsylvania-omar-al-ghazzi-university-of-pennsylvania/, first
author with Omar Alghazzi
2013 New Texts Out Now: Marwan M. Kraidy, The Revolutionary Body Politic, Jadaliyya,
http://egypt.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/9321/new-texts-out-now_marwan-m.-kraidy-therevolutiona
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2011 Comcast Should Add Al-Jazeera English [op-ed], Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, p. C5, also
available http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110306_Comcast_should_add_Al-
Jazeera_English.html
2011 Media Reform in Lebanon: New Media, New Politics? Arab Reform Bulletin, January, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC,
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/arb/?fa=show&article=42368
2010 La Modernidad y la Telerealidad Arabe [Modernity and Arab Reality Television], Afkar/Ideas, 27,
http://www.afkar-ideas.com/2010/10/telerrealidad-y-modernidad-arabe
2010 Arqoub’s Promise, ForeignPolicy.com, http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts
/2010/09/17/music_videos
2010 What Reality Television Tells Us About the Arab World: An Interview with Marwan Kraidy (Part
Two), May 12, Confessions of an Aca-Fan, The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins,
http://henryjenkins.org/2010/05/marwan_kraidy.html
2010 What Reality Television Tells Us About the Arab World: An Interview with Marwan Kraidy (Part
One), May 10, Confessions of an Aca-Fan, The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins,
http://henryjenkins.org/2010/05/marwan_kraidy.html
2009 A Step in the Right Direction; Not a Game Changer [Obama’s interview with al-Arabiya], Think,
The Stanley Foundation, March, http://www.stanleyfoundation.org//think/2009think3.html
2008 Dimming the Lights on Arab Satellites, The Daily Star, March 31, available http://
www.dailystar.com.lb/ article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=90418#
2008 Arab States: Emerging Consensus to Muzzle Media? Arab Reform Bulletin, 6 (2) [March].
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, available http://www.
carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=19968&prog=zgp&proj=zdrl,zme
#kraidy
2008 We must address poor image of United States in the Arab world, DesMoines Register, January
24.
2008 Arab Media and U.S. Policy: A Public Diplomacy Reset, Policy Brief. Muscatine, IA: The Stanley
Foundation, available http://stanleyfdn.org/publications/pab/PAB08Kraidy.pdf, January [5000
words]
2007 Performing Baghdad: Reality TV and Arab Modernity, [video curator], In Media Res, April 29,
available http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/videos/
2007 Public Media in the Arab World: Exploring the Gap Between Reality and Ideals. Washington, DC:
Center for Social Media, February 23, available http://www.centerfor socialmedia.org / files/
pdf/arab_public_media.pdf [funded by the Ford Foundation]
2006 Die Politisierung des Unterhaltungsfernsehens in der arabischen Welt [The Politicization of
Entertainment Television in the Arab World], TelevIZIon, 19(2), 27-29.
2006 Putting an Islamic Spin on Global Popular Culture, The Daily Star Egypt, November 8 [re-print of
November 7 CGNS article], available http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3818.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2006 Islamic Popular Culture, Common Ground News Service, November 7, available http://www.
commongroundnews.org/article.php?sid=1&id=3099.
2006 Syria: Media Reform and its Limitations, Arab Reform Bulletin, 4 (3) [May]. Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, Washington, DC, available http://www.carnegieendowment.org/
publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=18341#media.
2006 Popular Culture as a Political Barometer: Lebanese-Syrian Relations on Superstar, Transnational
Broadcasting Studies, June, available http://www.tbsjournal.com.
E. Chapters in Books & Encyclopedia Articles
[2017] Biopolitical and Phenomenological Underpinnings of Embodied Contestation: Further Reflections
on Creative Insurgency, in R. Celikates, E., J de Kloet E. Peeren & T. Poell, eds. Global Cultures
of Contestation: Mobility, Sustainablity, Connectivity & Aesthetics. London: Palgrave Macmillan
[in press].
[2017] “Media and Communications,” Contributing Author to chapter for International Panel on Social
Progress [in press].
2017 Music Videos as Digital Media: The View from the Arab World, in P. Messaris and L. Humphreys,
Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication, 2nd Edition (pp. 255-262). New York:
Peter Lang.
2017 Hybridity, in J. Gray and L. Ouellette, Eds. Keywords for Media Studies (pp. 90-94). New York:
New York University Press.
2017 Does Islamic State Have a Media Doctrine? In M. Lynch, The New Islamic Media, POMEPS
Studies 23, pp. 59-60, February 10.
2016 Introduction: American Studies Encounters the Middle East, in A. Lubin and M. M. Kraidy,
American Studies Encounters the Middle East (pp. 1-29). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North
Carolina Press, second author with Alex Lubin.
2016 Public Space, Street Art and Communication in the Arab Uprisings, in S. Mirgani and M. Zayani
(Ed.), Bullets and Bulletins: Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings (pp. 107-125).
New York: Oxford University Press.
2016 Revolutionary Creative Labor, in M. Curtin and K. Sanson, Precarious Creativity: Global Media,
Local Labor (pp. 231-240). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
2015 Popular Culture and Contentious Politics in the Arab World: A Preliminary Comparative Approach
to the Reality Television and Music Video Controversies, in A. S. Roald and L. Jayyusi (Eds.),
Media and Political Contestation in the Contemporary Arab World: A Decade of Change (pp. 187-
210) London: Palgrave.
2015 Graffiti, Hypermedia and Heterotopia After the Arab Uprisings: New Media Practices and
Configurations, in Nadja-Christina Schneider and Carola Richter (Eds.). New Media
Configurations and Socio-Cultural Dynamics in Asia and the Arab World? (pp. 319-344), Baden-
Baden, Germany: Nomos & Bloomsbury.
2015 Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, Media Mogul, in N. Sakr, J. Skovgaard-Petersen, and D. Della Rata
(Eds.). Arab Media Moguls (pp. 113-128). London: I.B. Tauris.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2014 Reality Television from Big Brother to the Arab Spring: Liberal, Neoliberal and Geopolitical
Considerations, in L. Ouellette (Ed.). Companion to Reality Television (pp. 541-556). London:
Wiley-Blackwell.
2013 Mapping Arab Television: Multiple Scales and Proximities, in J. Straubhaar, K. Wilkins, and S.
Kumar (Eds.) Global Communication: New Agendas in Communication (pp. 35-49). London and
New York: Routledge.
2013 Saudi-Islamist Rhetorics about Visual Culture, in C. J. Gruber and S. Haugbolle (Eds.), Visual
Culture in the Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image (275-292). Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press.
2013 Television Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Challenges of Transnationalization and Digitization,
1991-2011, in Tourya Guaybess (Ed.), National Broadcasting and State Policy in Arab Countries
(pp. 21-48). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
2012 The Cultural and Political Economies of Hybrid Media Texts,” reprinted from Hybridity, or the
Cultural Logic of Globalization, in L. Ouellette, (Ed.), The Media Studies Reader (pp. 300-312).
New York: Routledge.
2011 The Rise of Transnational Media Systems: Implications of Pan-Arab Media for Comparative
Research, in D. Hallin and P. Mancini (Eds.), Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western
World (pp. 177-200). Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press.
2011 Localizing Modernity: ‘Abdullah al-Ghathami and the Saudi Culture Wars, in T. Sabry (Ed.), Arab
Cultural Studies: Mapping the Field (pp. 234-254). London: I.B. Tauris.
2011 Universities and Globalization: Models and Countermodels, in B. Zelizer (Ed.), Making the
University Matter (pp. 84-91). London & New York: Routledge.
2011 The Emergent Supranational Arab Media Policy, in R. Mansell and M. Raboy (Eds.) The
Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy (pp. 293-305). London: Blackwell.
2010 Reality Television in New Worlds, in M. Kraidy and K. Sender (Eds.), Real Worlds: Global
Perspectives on the Politics of Reality Television (pp. 207-218), London and New York:
Routledge.
2010 Globalizing Media and Communication Studies: Further Thoughts on the Translocal and the
Modern, in G. Wang (Ed.), De-Westernizing Communication Research: Altering Questions and
Changing Frameworks (pp. 50-57), London and New York: Routledge.
2009 Télé-Réalités arabes: La modernité arabe mise en scène [Arab reality televisions: Arab Modernity
Disposed], in Y. Gonzalez-Quijano &. T. Guaybess (Eds.) Les Arabes parlent aux Arabes. La
révolution de l'information dans le monde arabe (pp. 168-179) [Arabs speaking to Arabs: The
Information Revolution in the Arab World]. Paris: Acte Sud.
2008 “Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera English: A Comparative Institutional Analysis,” in M. Kugelman (Ed.),
Kuala Lumpur Calling: Al-Jazeera English in Asia (pp. 23-30), Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars [LEAD CHAPTER].
2008 “The Arab Audience: From Activity to Interactivity,” in (K. Hafez, Editor) Arab Media: Power and
Weaknes (pp. 77-88). New York, NY: Continuum.
2008 “Hybridity Theories,” in (W. Dombasch, Editor), International Encyclopedia of Communication,
Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2008 “Arab Satellite Television News,” in (W. Dombasch, Editor), International Encyclopedia
of Communication, Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
2008 “Youth, Media, and Culture in the Arab world,” in (Sonia Livingstone and Kristin Drotner, Editors),
International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture (pp. 330-344), London: Sage [first author
with Joe F. Khalil].
2008 “Critical Transculturalism and Arab Satellite Television: Theoretical Explorations,” in (P.
Chakravartty and Y. Zhao, Editors), Global Communications: Toward a Transcultural Political
Economy (pp. 189-200), Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
2007 “Idioms of Contention: Star Academy in Lebanon and Kuwait,” in Arab Media and Political
Renewal: Community, Legitimacy and Public Life (pp. 44-55), (N. Sakr, Editor), London, UK:
I. B. Tauris.
2007 “The Middle East: Transnational Arab Television,” in The Media Globe: Trends in International
Mass Media (pp. 79-98). (L. Artz and Y. Kamalipour, Editors), Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
[first author with Joe F. Khalil].
2004 “From Culture to Hybridity in International Communication,” in Frontiers in International
Communication Theory (pp. 247-262) (M. Semati, Editor), Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
2003 “Covering ‘The Battle in Seattle’: U.S. Prestige Press Framing of Resistance to
Globalization,” in The Globalization, of Corporate Media Hegemony (pp. 79-92) (L. Artz & Y.
Kamalipour, Editors), Albany, NY: State University of New York Press (second author with
Tamara Goeddertz) [LEAD CHAPTER].
2003 Three chapters in Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, [co-edited with Patrick D.
Murphy], London & New York: Routledge.
“Globalization Avant la Lettre? Cultural Hybridity, Media Power, and Audience Ethnography in Lebanon,”
(pp. 276-296) [Single author].
“Media Ethnography: Global, Local or Translocal?” (pp. 299-307) [Concluding chapter, first
author with Patrick D. Murphy].
“Towards an Ethnographic Approach to Global Media Studies” (pp. 3-20) [Introductory chapter,
second author with Patrick D. Murphy]
2002 Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, Oxford, UK: EOLSS, and Paris: UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
Honorary Editor, Section “The Internet as a Mass Communication Medium.”
Author of topic level article, “The Internet as a Mass Communication Medium” [15,000 words]
2002 Encyclopedia of Communication and Information, (J. Reina Schement, Editor). New York:
Macmillan Reference.
Article on “Globalization of Culture Through the Media.”
Article on “Social Change and the Media.”
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2001 Between Globalization and Localization: Television, Tradition and Modernity, in Media, Sex,
Violence and Drugs in the Global Village (pp. 261-272) (Y. R. Kamalipour and K. R. Rampal,
Editors), Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
2000 From Cyberimperialism to Glocalization: A Theoretical Framework, in Cyberimperialism? Global
Relations on the Information Frontier (pp. 27-42) (B. Ebo, Editor), Westport, CT: Greenwood.
2000 Television Talk and Civic Discourse in Postwar Lebanon, in Civic Discourses in the Middle East
and Digital Age Communications (pp. 1-17) (L. Gher and H. Amin, Editors), Norwood, NJ: Ablex
[LEAD CHAPTER].
1998 Intertextual Maneuvers around the Subaltern: Aladdin as a Postmodern Text, in Postmodernism
and the Cinema (pp. 45-59) (C. Degli-Esposti, Editor), Oxford, U.K & Rhode Island: Berghahn
Press.
1997 Information Gap or Information Bridges? Glocalization as Sustainable Development, in Elohimjl,
Parra-Luna, F. & Stuhler, E. A., Sustainable development: Towards measuring the performance
of integrated socioeconomic and environmental systems, Vol. 2. (conference proceedings).
Madrid, Spain: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
1995 The Predicament of Advertising Culture at the End of the Twentieth Century: Globalization or
G/Localization, in Advertising and Marketing Communications in Lebanon and the Middle East,
1990s, (K. Darouny, Editor), Louayze, Lebanon: Notre-Dame University Press.
F. Book Reviews
2013 Review of The Production of Modernization: Daniel Lerner, Mass Media, and The Passing of
Traditional Society, by H. Shah, Contemporary Sociology, 42, pp. 106-108.
2008 Review of Globalization and American Popular Culture, by L. Crothers, Rowman and Littlefield,
Global Media Journal, 7(3), available http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa08/issue-bookreviews/
kraidy.htm
2007 Review of The Culture of Al-Jazeera: Inside an Arab Media Giant, by M. Zayani and S. Sahraoui,
McFarland, International Journal of Communication, 4 pp., available http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/
ijoc/article/view/198/103.
2005 Review of Media and the Path to Peace, by G. Wolfsfeld, Cambridge University Press,
Perspectives on Politics, 3(3), 697-698 (American Political Science Association).
2002 Review of The Israeli-Egyptian Peace Process in the Reporting of Western Journalists, by
M. el-Nawawy, Ablex, Middle East Journal, 56(4), 726-727 (The Middle East Institute).
2002 Review of Media in the Diaspora, by C. Ogan (Lexington Books, Rowan and Littlefield),
Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, (Association of Educators in Journalism and
Mass Communication).
1999 Review of the Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles, by H. Naficy, University
of Minnesota Press, Edebiyat: A Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures (Oxford University Press).
1999 Review of Fantasy or Ethnography? Irony and Collusion in Subaltern Representation, (S. Webber
& M. Lynd, Eds.), MESA Bulletin (Middle Eastern Studies Association).
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X. GRANTS & AWARDS
A. Research Grants [Selected, $ 1000 and up]
2017 Global Engagement Fund, University of Pennsylvania, for a conference on “Cuban Media and
Cuban Media Studies in Transition,” $ 15,000
2015 Workshop Grant, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social
Sciences, Wassenaar (Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences), €3.860
(approximately US $ 4,300)
2014-15 Global Engagement Fund, University of Pennsylvania, with Monroe Price and Joe Turow, for a
lecture series on global mobile communication, $ 20,000
06-07 Program Development Grant, “Arab Media in Public Life,” Ford Foundation/Center for Social
Media, $ 12,525
05-06 Research Grant, United States Institute of Peace, $ 42,000
2005 Research Competition Award, American University (AU), $ 6,200
2004 Curriculum Development Award, AU, $ 2,000
2004 Research Competition Award, AU, $ 2,500
2004 Junior Faculty Teaching Release, AU, January to May 2004 [half academic year salary]
2003 Research Competition Award, AU, $ 5,080
2000 Senate Scholarly Activities Research Grant, University of North Dakota (UND), $ 5,000
2000 Senate Scholarly Activities Research Grant, UND, $ 1,000
2000 Summer Graduate Research Professorship, UND, $ 5,400
1999 Arts and Humanities Scholarly Activities Material and Equipment Grant, UND, $ 2,426
1998 Summer Instructional Development Grant, UND, $ 2,900
1997 Research Grant, UND, $1,000
1997 Instructional Technology Grant, UND, $1, 000
1997 Instructional Development Grant, UND, $1,000
1997 Summer Graduate Research Professorship, UND, $5,400
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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B. Scholarly and Teaching Awards
International Communication Association
2017 Outstanding Book Award, International Communication Association (at-large), for The Naked
Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World
2017 Best Book Award, Global Communication & Social Change Division, for The Naked Blogger of
Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World
2012 Top Paper Award, Feminist Studies Division
2010 Best Book Award, Global Communication & Social Change Division, for Reality Television and
Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life
2006 Top Paper Award, Popular Communication Division
2004 Top Paper Award, Intercultural and Development Communication Division
National Communication Association
2011 Diamond Anniversary Best Book Award, National Communication Association (at-large), for
Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life
2011 Roderick P. Hart Best Outstanding Book Award, Political Communication Division, NCA, for
Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life
2009 Nominated for Article of the Year Award, International and Intercultural Communication Division,
for Shifting Geertz: Toward a Theory of Translocalism in Global Communication Studies, (First
co-author with Patrick D. Murphy), Communication Theory, 18, 335-355
2003 Top Four Paper Award in International and Intercultural Communication
2001 Top Two Paper Award in International and Intercultural Communication
2000 Outstanding Scholarship Award in international and intercultural communication for “The Global,
the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Glocalization,” Critical Studies in Mass
Communication 16(4) (December 1999)
2000 Top Two Paper Award in International and Intercultural Communication
1998 Ralph Cooley Award for Top Paper in International and Intercultural Communication
Global Fusion Consortium
2003 Honorable Mention Paper Award, Austin, Texas
2000 Prosser/Sitaram Award for Excellence in International Communication Theory, St Louis
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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American Political Science Association
2004 Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science.
Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication
2000 First Place, International Communication Open Paper Competition
Broadcast Education Association
1996 Top Two Student Paper Award, International Division
Arab-US Association for Communication Educators (AUSACE)
2005 Top Paper Award (English Language)
Institutional Awards
2004 Outstanding Teaching Award, School of International Service, American University
1997 Graduate Certificate of Recognition, UND, for “patience, inspiration and dedication”
1994 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, School of Telecommunications, Ohio University
92-96 Graduate Scholarship, School of Telecommunications, OU
92-96 Dean’s List, College of Communication, OU
1996 Outstanding Ph.D. Student, School of Telecommunications, OU
1992 Top Graduate G.P.A. (3.8/ 4.0) and Valedictorian, Class of 92, Notre-Dame University (NDU)
89-92 Distinguished List, (G.P.A. above 3.5/4.0), NDU, Lebanon
XI. RESEARCH AND WORKING GROUPS
[2018-] Director, Digital Sovereignty Research Group, Center for Advanced Research in Global
Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.
2017- Member, Public Religion and Public Scholarship in the Digital Age Working Group, Center for
Media, Religion and Culture, University of Colorado Boulder.
2017- Member, Genealogies of Arab Media and Culture Studies Working Group, New York University,
University of Westminster, and Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania.
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2016- Director, The Geopolitics of Popular Media Research Group (GeoPop), Center for Advanced
Research in Global Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania.
2016- Director, The Jihadi Networks of Culture and CommunicationS Research Group (JINCS), Center
for Advanced Research in Global Communication, Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania.
2013-14 Member, Politics and the Media in the Post Arab Spring Middle East, Working Group, Center for
International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.
XII. INVITED LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS
A. Keynotes and Named Lectures
[2017] The Projectilic Image: Islamic State’s Visual Warfare, The Robert M. Pockrass Memorial
Lectureship, Pennsylvania State University, September 18.
[2017] “Producing Image Activism after the Arab Uprisings,” University of Stockholm, September 7-9
[Concluding Keynote].
2017 Islamic State as War Machine: Terror, Territoriality, Temporality, Media Fields VI: Ruins,
University of California, Santa Barbara, April 6-7, Mellichamp Keynote.
2016 Creative Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency, “Media in Muslim Contexts,” The Aga Khan
University, London, November 2-3 [Keynote].
2016 The War Machine in the Age of Global Communication, Global Fusion 2016, “Media and the
Global City,” Philadelphia, October 21-23 [Keynote].
2016 Security, Speed, Spectacle: The Body and the War Machine in the Digital Age, The 2nd
International Conference on Communication and the Public: “Body, Lived Space, and Mobile
Media,” Beijing, China, June 16-18 [Keynote].
2016 Hypermedia Events: Power, Voice, Speed,” response to Andreas Hepp, “Media, Event and Social
Theory-Transnational Challenges” workshop, University of Tampere, February 18 [Keynote
panel].
2015 Burning Man and Laughing Cow: Entangled Corporeal Aesthetics of Contestation, “Global
Cultures of Contestation” conference, University of Amsterdam, October 15-16 [Keynote].
2015 Burning Man and Laughing Cow: Digital Dissent and Democratic Divides, “Frontiers of New
Media” Conference, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, September 22 [Keynote].
2015 Symbolic Catalysts of Public Engagement: The Human Body and Public Contention, “Social
Media and Public Engagement” conference, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, June 14 [Keynote].
2015 Burning Man and Laughing Cow: Two Modes of Revolutionary Activism, Bonnier Lecture,
University of Stockholm, Sweden, May 13.
2015 The Body as Image, Metaphor, and Medium in the Arab Uprisings: A Visual Creative Insurgency?
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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The Integrated Social Sciences “New Beginnings” Lecture, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany,
March 18.
2014 Bodies as Media in Revolutionary Times, COMET Lecture, University of Tampere, Finland,
December 3.
2014 Pop Music Celebrity as Political Practice in the Arab Uprisings, “A Long Way to the Top: The
Production and Reception of Popular Music,” Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands,
November 6 [Keynote].
2014 Creative Insurgency Between Old and New Media, “New Media and the Im/Possibilities of
Control,” Bahçeşehir University at Galata, Istanbul, Turkey, May 9-10 [Keynote].
2013 The Arab Public Sphere: Continuity and Change in the Social Media Era, The Henriette van
Lynden Lecture, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amsterdam/The Hague, November 21.
2013 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as Battles of Representation, “Rethinking Risk and
Security: New Perspectives for a Globalized World,” University of South Florida, Tampa, April
[Keynote].
2013 Wit Under Fire: Revolutionary Humor Between Old and New Media, The Cohen Lecture,
Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA, USA, February 21.
2012 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as Battles of Representation, The Edward W. Said
Lecture, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, February 28.
2011 Remixing Global Culture: Arab Music Video and Creative Syncretism, Keynote Address, The
Culture of Remix Conference, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal, October
[Keynote, via Skype].
2011 The Arab Music Industry: Changing Structures of Financing, Production and Distribution,
Conference on Entrepreneurship and Investment in Arab Media, University of Westminster,
London, April 15, [Keynote].
2011 From Media Revolution to Street Revolution: Twenty Years of Arab Satellite Television,
Northwestern University Qatar, Grand Hyatt, Doha, Qatar, April 10 [Keynote panel].
2011 Net Activism, Closing Keynote Panel Speaker and Chair of the AUSACE (Arab-US Association of
Communication Educators) conference, American University of Beirut, October.
2009 Multiple Modernities and Global Communication: A Theoretical Proposal, Opening Keynote
Panel, Global Fusion, Austin, Texas, October.
2008 Idiom of Contention: Reality TV and Arab Politics, Reel Politics: Reality Television as Platform
for Political Discourse, International Conference, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey,
September 12-14.
2007 “Marketplace Goes to the Middle East,” Public Radio Program Directors Convention, Minneapolis,
September 28.
2001 "Culture and Policy," annual meeting of the Health Control and Prevention Department, Pan-
American Health Organization, Arlington, Virginia, November 2.
2001 Faculty Lecture, “Scenarios of Cultural Globalization: An Interdisciplinary Exploration,” North
Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND, January 27.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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B. Public Lectures and Plenaries
[2017] “Islamic State’s Postcolonial Cultural Production,” Islamic Visualities in the Twentieth and Twenty-
First Centuries, Leiden University Center for the Study of Islam and Society, Leiden, December
13-15.
2017 Creative Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in the Arab World, in Numérique et diversité
culturelle, Journée d’étude de la Chaire des Bernardins, Paris, February 23.
2016 The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World, Leiden University Center for
the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS), The Hague, The Netherlands, October 11.
2016 The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World, The Netherlands Institute for
Advanced Study (NIAS), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 10.
2016 The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Towards an Inclusive Global Media Studies, Global Media Studies
Initiative, University of Michigan, September 15-16.
2015 Burning Man and Laughing Cow: Theorizing the Arab Uprisings Through the Body, Crown Center
for Middle Eastern Studies Inaugural Conference, “Theorizing Current Transformations in the
Middle East and North Africa,” Northwestern University, October 23.
2015 Media and Public Engagement in a Contentious Decade: The Arab World, 2005-2015, Summer
Workshop, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, June 13-14.
2013 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as Battles of Representation, New Media
Configurations—Changing Societies? Current Research Perspectives on South Asia, Southeast
Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, Plenary Address, Humboldt University Berlin, November.
2013 The Impact of Digital Visual Media on Protests around the World, Plenary Talk, Visual Legal
Advocacy Roundtable, Plenary Address, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia.
2011 Plato’s Digital Cave: Epistemological Challenges in Studying The Role of the Media in the Arab
Spring: Examples from Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia, International Association of Media and
Communication Research, Closing Plenary Session, Istanbul, July.
2011 “Global Reality Television Studies Beyond Neoliberalism, or what Star Academy has to do with
the Arab uprisings,” We Are Who We Watch: Reality Television, Citizenship, and Celebrity, Brown
University, Providence, RI, April.
2009 Why the “Global” Matters in Media Studies, Connections: The Future of Media Studies, University
of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, April 2-4.
2007 “Hybridity as Threat: Television and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia,” Indiana University, November
30.
2005 “The Hybridity of Global Media Texts: New Directions in Globalization,” Global Fusion, Athens,
Ohio, September 30-October 2.
2004 “The Globalization of Arab Television,” Global Fusion, Saint Louis, MO, October 29-31.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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C. Lectures, Talks, Presentations & Responses
2017 "The Arab Spring: What Now?,” “Lunch and Learn” talk organized by the Wharton Politics and
Public Policy Club and Wharton MENA Club, April 3.
2017 “American Studies Encounters the Middle East,” book talk with Alex Lubin and Adam Waterman,
Center for American Studies and Research, American University of Beirut, March 6.
2017 “The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World,” Cultural Studies Program,
Villanova University, February 14.
2017 “The Middle East in Global Media Research: History and Theory,” closing roundtable, “Rethinking
Media Through the Middle East,” American University of Beirut, January 14.
2016 “Islamic State’s Image Warfare,” Workshop on Islam, Islamism and the Media in a Changing
Middle East, Project on Middle East Political Science, George Washington University, October
28.
2016 “Elements of a Theory of Rogue Digital Culture via Daesh” presentation (self-invited) at
“Disjuncture and Difference in Global Digital Culture,” Second Symposium of the Project for
Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC), Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania, April 7.
2016 “The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World,” University of Helsinki,
Finland, February 16.
2016 “The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World,” Media Studies Program,
American University of Beirut, January 11.
2015 “From Neo-Ottoman Cool to Neo-Ottoman Kitsch: The Rise (and Fall?) of Turkey in Arab Media
Space," Conference on Turkish Politics and Media, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome, Italy,
October 27 [via Skype].
2015 “Subtitling Islam: Translation, Mediation, Critique,” critical response to Yasmin Moll, Kevorkian
Center for Middle East Studies, New York University, September 28.
2015 Studying Social Media and Civic Engagement Comparatively: History, Nation, Platform, Global
Communication Research in the Twentieth Century, A Symposium at the Penn-Wharton Center,
Beijing, June 16.
2015 Thoughts on the Future of Global Communication Studies in China and the United States, A
Symposium at the Penn-Wharton Center, Beijing, June 16.
2015 Burning Man and Laughing Cow: The Body in the Arab Uprisings, Centrum für Nah- und
Mittelost-Studien, Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany, May 21.
2015 Virginity, Virulence, Vigilance: Unbounded Bodies of the Arab Uprisings, Bonnier Seminar,
Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, May 13.
2015 Puppets and Masters: Art, Activism, and the Body in the Arab Uprisings, Middle East Center,
Stockholm University, Stockholm, May 8.
2015 Salafi Selfies and Other Episodes in the Short History of Islamic State, Milton Wolf Seminar,
Vienna, April 20, 2015.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2015 L’Homme qui brûle et la vache qui rit: Images, métaphore, et politique du corps dans les
révolutions arabes, public lecture, semaine arabe, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, April 17.
2014 Digital Activism of Another Kind, University of Leeds, UK, December 10.
2014 The Centrality of Body Politics to Revolutionary Activism, NIAS Seminar, Netherlands Institute for
Advanced Study, Wassenaar, November 19.
2014 Revolutionary Dissent in the Digital Era: The Centrality of Body Politics, “Politics of the Digital
Lecture Series,” University of Leiden, The Netherlands, October 29.
2014 Materialities and Virtualities in the Arab Uprisings, Symbolic Dimensions of Activism, Social
Science Research Council (SSRC), Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication
(PARGC), Annenberg School for Communication, and Penn Sociology, University of
Pennsylvania, September 26.
2014 “The Revolutionary Body Politic: Corporeal and Digital Activism in the Arab Uprisings” Amsterdam
Middle East Studies Lecture Series, University of Amsterdam, September 23.
2014 “Creativity in Dark Times,” Precarious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor, Carsey-Wolf Center,
University of California, Santa Barbara, April 24-25.
2014 “Neoottoman Cool and the Geopolitical Drama of Arab-Turkish Relations,” Film Diplomacy in the
Digital Age, Cinema Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania, April 18-19.
2014 Critical Response to “New Media and Civil Society Panel,” “New Media, the Internet and a
Changing China,” Center for the Contemporary Study of China, University of Pennsylvania,
January 22.
2013 “Celebrity and Revolution in the Digital Era,” Celebrities and Publics in the Internet Era, Institute
for Public Knowledge, New York University, November 1-2.
2013 Dislocating Television? Notes on Revolutionary Video, “Locating Television: Zones of
Consumption,” The Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia, September 5-6.
2013 Digital Dissent: Revolutionary Humor Between Old and New Media, Postdoctoral Colloquium,
University of South Florida, April.
2013 Of Puppets and Masters: Creative Dissent and Political Rhetoric in the Syrian Uprising,
International Studies Lecture Series, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA, February
25.
2013 Digital Dissent: Revolutionary Humor between Old and New Media, School of Media and
Communication, Temple University, February 19.
2013 A Short History of Beirut Graffiti: From War Slogans to Museum Art, From Tehran to Tahrir:
Public Space Redefined, Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for
Communication, Philadelphia, February 8.
2013 The Globalization of Arab Media in Revolutionary Times, Georgetown University-Qatar, Doha,
Qatar, January 5-6.
2012 Wit Under Fire: Political Humor in the Arab Uprisings, Engaging Minds Lecture Series, Cipriani
42nd Street, New York City, USA, December 1.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2012 Walls of Contention: Virality, Remix and Self-Reflexivity in Revolutionary Graffiti in Beirut and
Cairo, Orient-Institut, Beirut, Lebanon, October 6.
2012 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as Battles of Representation, Université Paris-Sorbonne
(Paris IV), CELSA, Paris, France, September 26.
2012 Mass Media After the Revolution: The Policy, Creative and Editorial Environment, Jordan Media
Institute, Amman, Jordan, May 26.
2012 Turkey’s Foreign Policy and Popular Culture in Arab Public Discourse, Izmir University of
Business and Economics, Izmir, Turkey, May 10-11.
2012 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Hypermediation of the Arab Uprisings, Center for Contemporary Arab
Studies Symposium, USA, “The People Want the Fall of the Regime,” Georgetown University,
Washington, DC, March 21-22.
2012 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as a Battle of Representation, Stockholm University,
Sweden, March 2 [declined].
2012 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings as a Battle of Representation, Georgetown University
Qatar, Doha, Qatar, January 24.
2011 Al-Waleed Bin Talal: Media Moguls and Media Capital, Arab Media Moguls Symposium, Danish-
Egyptian Dialogue Institute (DEDI), Cairo, Egypt, November.
2011 Plato’s Digital Cave: The Arab Uprisings and the Politics of Media Research, Izmir University of
Business and Economics, Izmir, Turkey, October.
2011 Art, Politics and Commerce: Reflections on Arab Music Videos, Izmir University of Business and
Economics, Izmir, Turkey, October.
2011 The Role of the Media in the Arab Spring: A Preliminary Assessment, United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), Beirut, August.
2011 “Political Agency and Media Impact in the Arab Uprisings,” CMOFPSC [Center for Middle Eastern
Studies], Madrid, Spain, June [declined].
2011 Researching Media Impact in Revolutions: Challenges and Opportunities, Northwestern
University Qatar, Doha, Qatar, April 9.
2011 Arab Music Videos: Circulation and Contention, University of California, Santa Barbara, February
11.
2011 Arab Music Videos: Circulation and Contention, Stanford University, February 9.
2010 Exploring Arab Music Videos, University of Texas, Austin, October 21.
2010 The Contentious Politics of Arab Music Videos, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, October 19.
2010 Rethinking Music Video: An Iconophilic Public Sphere Between “Old” and “New” Media,
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, April.
2010 Reality Television and Arab Politics: Contention in Public Life, Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, March.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
24
2010 The Contentious Politics of Arab Music Videos: Preliminary Research, Symposium on
“Information Evolution in the Arab World,” Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown
University, Washington, DC, March.
2009 Taking Arab Entertainment Television Seriously, conference on “Arab Media in the Global
Information Market,” Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, December.
2009 The University and Globalization: Models and Counter Models, Symposium on “Making the
University Matter,” Scholars Program in Culture and Communication, Annenberg School for
Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, December.
2009 Mapping Arab Television: Structures, Flows, and Scales, New Agendas in Global
Communication, College of Communication, University of Texas, Austin, October.
2009 Reality Television in the Arab World: Taming Modernity, Performing Politics, Swarthmore College,
Swarthmore, PA, September.
2009 An Institutional Approach to the Entertainment/Politics Nexus: Lessons from the Arab Reality
Television Controversies, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, American University of
Beirut, Lebanon, May 5.
2009 Media Policy and in the Arab World: Promises and Tensions” Center for Global Communication
Studies (ASC) and Jordan Media Institute, Amman, Jordan, April 26.
2009 Controversial Entertainment Programs on Satellite Television: Understanding the Policy/Culture
Nexus,” Center for Global Communication Studies (ASC) and Jordan Media Institute, Amman,
Jordan, April 28.
2009 Reality Television and Arab Politics: Taming Modernity, Performing Modernity, Department of
Radio-TV-Film, University of Texas, Austin, April 15.
2009 Rethinking Comparative Media Research: Toward a Theory of Inter-Institutional Mimesis,
Department of Radio-TV-Film, University of Texas, Austin, April 15.
2009 Why (and How) Gender Matters in Global Media Studies, Connections: Media Studies and the
New Interdisciplinary, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, April 2-4.
2009 The New Saudi-Islamist Rhetoric About Television, Rhetoric of the Image: Visual Culture in
Political Islam, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 21-22.
2009 Resetting U.S. “Public Diplomacy”: An Agenda for the Obama Administration, Stanley Foundation
and University of Pittsburgh, February 6.
2008 The Role of Arab Media in Political Change, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Panel,
Middle East Studies Association Convention, November 24.
2008 Negotiating Modernity: The Reality TV Wars in Saudi Arabia, Temple University, April 16
2008 Media Institutions and the State in Egypt, Washington, Ambassadorial Seminar, U.S. Department
of State, Meridian Center, Washington, DC, April 10.
2008 Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera English: A Preliminary Comparison, “Al-Jazeera English and Muslim
Southeast Asia,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, April 7.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
25
2008 A Theory of Hypermedia Events: Reality TV and Public Contention in the Arab World, Global
Media, Diasporic Cultures Lecture Series, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, April 3.
2008 Negotiating Modernity: The Reality TV Wars in Saudi Arabia, Cultural Studies Conference,
Villanova University, March 29, KEYNOTE.
2008 U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East, Palestine Center, Washington, DC, March 13.
2008 The Lebanese Impasse through the Eyes of the Media, Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, Washington, DC, February 19.
2008 La Télé-Realité et les Modernités arabes, Colloque International sur les “Nouveaux Médias dans
le Monde Arabe,” Groupe de Recherches et d’Études sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient,
Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France, February 8-9.
2007 From Diktat to Conversation: Elites, Masses & New Media in the Arab Middle East, State
Department, Washington, DC, December 4.
2007 Untitled participation, Levant Security—Lebanon: Will it Be Left Behind?, Stanley Foundation,
St Michaels, Maryland, June 14-15.
2007 Idioms of Contention: Reality Television and Arab Politics, Scholar Public Lecture, Annenberg
School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, April 10.
2007 Beyond Al-Jazeera: The Social and Political Impact of Arab Entertainment Television, National
Defense University, Washington, DC, March 6.
2007 Reality Television and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia, University of Texas, Austin, March 1.
2007 On Media and States: Roles, Norms and Power in Global Communication Studies, Annenberg
School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, February 27.
2007 Reality Television and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia, Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, February 14.
2007 Reality Television and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia, University of Maryland, College Park,
February 2.
2007 Reality Television and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
January 11.
2006 Hizbollywood? Hizbollah’s media campaign in the recent Israel-Hezbollah war, Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, Washington, DC, October 17.
2006 Understanding Arab Popular Culture, roundtable, Schwarz Bookstore, Milwaukee,
September 12.
2006 The Arab Media Revolution and U.S. Middle-East Foreign Policy, Editorial Board of the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee, September 12.
2006 The Arab Media Revolution, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Stanley Foundation,
Milwaukee, September 12.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
26
2006 Understanding Arab Popular Culture, roundtable, Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, September
11.
2006 The Social and Political Impact of Arab Entertainment Television, University of Iowa and Stanley
Foundation, Iowa City, September 11.
2006 U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Popular Culture, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,
Georgetown University, September 8.
2006 Lebanon Media and Politics Country Report: An Evaluation, International Foundation for Election
Systems, Beirut, Lebanon, June 30.
2006 Untitled participation, The Hyperlinked Society: Questioning Connection in the Digital Age,
Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, June 9.
2006 Invited Respondent, “Current Issues in Kuwait: A Non-Governmental View,” Kuwait Information
Office, Embassy of Kuwait, Washington, DC, May 18.
2006 Beyond Al-Jazeera: The Social and Political Impact of Arab Entertainment Television, Center for
Contemporary Arab Studies and the Middle East National Resource Center, Georgetown
University, Washington, DC, May 17.
2006 Comments on U.S. Lebanon Policy, Greenberg House of the Syracuse University, Maxwell
School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Washington, DC, May 5.
2006 Beyond Al-Jazeera: The Social and Political Impact of Arab Entertainment Television, National
Defense University, Washington, DC, March 28.
2006 Television, Hybridity and Authenticity in the Arab World, University of Texas, Austin, TX,
March 23.
2006 Governance and Hypermedia Space in the Arab World, Communication Technology and Social
Policy in the Digital Age: Expanding Access, Redefining Control, Organized by the Annenberg
Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern
California, Palm Springs, CA, March 9-11.
2006 Beyond Al-Jazeera: The Social and Political Impact of Arab Entertainment Television, Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, March 6.
2006 Subverting Globalization? Arab Television and the Question of Authenticity, University
of Wisconsin, Madison, February 16.
2006 Can Lebanon Escape Confessional Politics? The Role of the Media, United States Institute
of Peace, Washington, DC February 10.
2005 Untitled Participation, Middle East Security in an Era of Open Media and Transitioning Societies,
Stanley Foundation, Dubai, UAE, December 19-21.
2005 “Television and Terrorism,” Conference jointly organized by the Social Science Research Council
and the United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, September 20.
2005 Arab Politics After Reality Television, Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI),
University of Westminster, United Kingdom, June 11.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
27
2005 Hypermedia, Gender and Social Change in Saudi Arabia, Command Lines: The Emergence
of Governance in Global Cyberspace, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, April 28-30.
2005 The Political Impact of Entertainment Television in the Arab World, Springtime in the Middle
East? Factoring in Arab Media, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, April 19.
2005 Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity, University of Texas,
Austin, February 21.
2004 Media and Mediations in the Arab World, Connectedness, Content and Security, Highlands
Forum, Washington, DC, December 6.
2004 Hybridity as a Communication Problématique in Cultural Globalization, “Epidemics and
Transborder Violence: Communication and Globalization under a Different Light,” international
conference organized by the Centre for Media and Communication Research, Hong Kong Baptist
University and the Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster,
Kowloon, Hong Kong, December 17-18.
2004 New Media Technologies and National Identities in the Arab World, Workshop on Information
Technology and Social Cohesion, Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS),
Washington, DC, September 23.
2004 Screens of Contention: Television and Arab Societies in Transition, English Lecture Series,
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, September 16.
2004 The Arab Information Revolution and U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Middle East, Tri-College World
Studies Seminar Series, Fargo, ND, September 15.
2003 Mass Media Effects and Public Opinion in the Arab World, U.S. State Department, Washington,
DC, April 14.
2003 Cultural Hybridity and Global Media Studies: A Historical Perspective, Department of
Communication and Culture, New York University, New York, March 3.
2003 Arab Media Regulation and Political Development, Middle East Institute, Washington, DC,
January 16.
2002 The Mass Media in Contemporary Lebanon: Challenges and Promises, René Moawad
Foundation Annual Conference, Washington, DC, November 9.
2002 The role of the mass media in cultural globalization, SIS Ph.D. Seminar, School of International
Service, American University, Washington DC, April.
2001 Racial Profiling and Cultural Categories, German Marshall Fund of the United States,
Washington, DC, February.
2001 Globalization, Media and Hybridity, Media, University of Wisconsin, Madison, December 6.
2001 Glocalizing Education: Globalization, Culture and Technology in the Classroom, Rochester
Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, January 15.
2000 Culture in International Relations, School of International Service, American University,
Washington, DC, December 9.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2000 News in an Age of Media Globalization, Northern Interscholastic Press Association, Grand Forks,
North Dakota, October 9.
2000 The role of the media in economic globalization: A critical analysis, Response to Peter Engardio,
Business Week Asia Editor, The Role of the Media in Economic Globalization, Grand Forks
Herald Community Room, Grand Forks, North Dakota, April 27.
1999 Forward to the past: When the new technologies are old, North Dakota Professional
Communicators [NDPC] annual conference, Grand Forks, North Dakota, May 15.
1999 The role of culture in international relations, International Center Lecture Series, University
of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, February 2.
1996 Information technology and the glocalization of culture, Department of Chemical Engineering
Graduate Seminar, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, October 22.
1996 Towards a theory of glocalization: International media, cultures and identity, School of
Communication, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, March 18.
1996 Towards a theory of international critical/cultural studies, Department of Communication and
Theatre Arts, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, February.
1995 Culture online: Virtual communities on the Internet, Notre-Dame University, Louaizé, Lebanon,
August 22.
1995 The Other as interlocutor in Trinh T. Minh Ha’s shots and words, Notre-Dame University, Louaizé,
Lebanon, July 15.
XIII. EXHIBITS PRODUCED AND CURATED
2017 “Before This It Was Just a Wall,” an exhibit of Beirut graffiti about the body, as part of “Fields of
Vision and Mediation: Arab Cinema and Political Posters,” Media Studies Program and AUB
Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department, American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
2014 “Before This It Was Just a Wall,” an exhibit of Beirut graffiti about the body, Project for Advanced
Research in Global Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
XIV. SYMPOSIA, WORKSHOPS, PANELS ORGANIZED
2017 “Emerging Work on Communicative Dimensions of Islamic State,” JIhadi Networks of Culture and
CommunicationS Research Group Workshop, Center for Advanced Research in Global
Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, May 4.
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2017 “Teaching and Learning Global Media Studies,” panel and book launch, Center for Advanced
Research in Global Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of
Pennsylvania, March 2.
2016 “Disjuncture and Difference in Global Digital Culture,” Second Symposium of the Project for
Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC), Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania, April 6-7.
2016 “Turkey’s Long Decade: Media, Politics & Culture in the Transnational Era,” Project for Advanced
Research in Global Communication (PARGC) workshop, Annenberg School for Communication,
Co-Sponsored by the Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania, February 4.
2015 “Corporeality in Arab Public Culture: The State of the Field,” workshop co-sponsored by
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) and the
Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC), NIAS, Wassenaar, the
Netherlands, October 19-20.
2015 “The Force that Calls Itself the Islamic State: Managing Representations on the World Stage,”
panel moderated, Milton Wolf Seminar, “Triumphs and Tragedies: Media and Global Events in
2014, Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, April 20.
2014 “The Symbolic Dimensions of Activism,” symposium co-sponsored by Project for Advanced
Research in Global Communication (PARGC), with the Social Science Research Council,
Annenberg School for Communication, and Penn Sociology, September 26.
2014 “The Revolutionary Public Sphere: Aesthetics and Politics in the Arab Uprisings,” Inaugural
Symposium of the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC),
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, April 10.
2013 “In the Shadow of Official Ambition: National Cultural Policy Confronts Media Capital,” Inaugural
Distinguished Lecture in Global Communication, Project for Advanced Research in Global
Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, September.
2011 “Arabs and the Arab World in the American Media,” panel with Karin Wilkins and Melani
McAlister, Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania, February
2010 “Orders and Borders: Communication and Power in the Global Era,” Annual Symposium,
Scholars Program in Culture and Communication, Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania, December.
2010 Member, Organizing Committee, Global Fusion Conference, Texas A & M University, October.
2009 “Media Policy and Culture in the Arab World,” Institute, Center for Global Communication Studies
(ASC) and Jordan Media Institute, Amman, Jordan, April [co-organized with Monroe Price and
Susan Abbott].
2009 “Iran’s Media 30 Years after the Revolution: The State, New Spaces, and Identity in the Islamic
Republic,” one day symposium, Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School of
Communication, University of Pennsylvania, January 23 [co-organized with Monroe Price and
Ibrahim al-Marashi].
2008 “Real Worlds: Reality TV and Global Politics,” one-day symposium, Scholars Program in Culture
and Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, December 5 [co-organized with K.
Sender].
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2008 “Revisiting Comparative Media Research,” panel moderator, Annenberg School for
Communication Colloquium [Ph.D. students from my spring 2008 “Global and Comparative Media
Systems” course present their research papers], October 3.
2007 “Alternative Media in the Arab World,” panel moderator, Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Pennsylvania, October 8 [with Daoud Kuttab and Yahya Shukair].
2007 “Beyond Censorship: Speech and the State in the Middle East and North Africa,” one-day
symposium co-organized with Monroe Price and Flagg Miller, Center for Global Communication
Studies, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, April 20.
2007 “Public Media in the Arab World: Exploring the Gap Between Reality and Ideals,” one-day
symposium organized by the Arab Media and Public Life (AMPLE) project, American University,
February 23.
2006 “Arab Media and the Public Interest,” Inaugural Meeting of the Arab Media and Public Life
(AMPLE) project, American University, Washington DC, November.
2001 Media Ethnography and Transnational Audiences, Global Fusion, Pre-Conference, Saint Louis,
October12-14, with Patrick D. Murphy.
XV. MEDIA
2017 Quoted by Olivia Sylvester in “University meme groups help to build student communities,” July 9,
2017, Asbury Park Press, http://www.app.com/story/news/education/collegenews/
2017/07/09/university-meme-groups-help-build-student-communities/383758001/
2017 Interviewed by Ian Masters on “The Qatar Standoff is All About Shutting Down AlJazeera,” July 5,
Background Briefing with Ian Masters, https://www.ianmasters.com
2017 Interviewed on “Gulf Crisis: Al-Jazeera in the Crosshairs,” June 27, The Listening Post, Al-
Jazeera English, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2017/07/gulf-crisis-aljazeera-
crosshairs-170701083401374.html 2017 Interviewed by Kai Ryssdal and Maria
Hollenhorst, “Why Ramadan is a big deal for Arab TV networks,” May 26,
https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/26/life/why-ramadan-big-deal-arab-tv-networks.
2017 Quoted in Joshua Wood, “Prank Shows Chasing Laughs Leave Victims Traumatized,” May 25,
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/prank-shows-chasing-laughs-leave-victimstraumatised#
page2
2017 Cited in “Religion and the Digital Focus on New Research,” UC Boulder Daily, May 17,
http://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/05/18/religion-digital-age-focus-new-research
2017 Quoted in Loubna Mrie, “The Arab World’s Obssession with Reality TV,” The New Arab, May 9,
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/society/2017/5/10/the-arab-worlds-obsession-with-reality-tv
2017 Quoted in Samuel Hughes, “When Lies Go Viral,” Penn Gazette, May/June 2017, pp. 50-57,
http://thepenngazette.com/when-lies-go-viral/
2017 Quoted in The Strange Obsession - and Political Weight - that Comes with Arab Reality TV, al-
Bawaba, http://www.albawaba.com//news/strange-obsession-and-political-weight-comes-arabreality-
tv-973990
2016 Creativity and the Arab Uprisings: A conversation with Marwan Kraidy, with Marc Lynch, Project
for Middle East Political Science, November 29, 2016, http://pomeps.org/2016/11/29/creativityand-
the-arab-uprisings-a-conversation-with-marwan-kraidy/
2016 Feature Interview about The Naked Blogger of Cairo with Katty Al-Hayek, Status Hour, July 16
(posted November 26), 2016, http://statushour.koeinbeta.com/en/Interview/177,
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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2016 Interviewed on “Egypt's Press Syndicate Under Fire,” The Listening Post, Al-Jazeera, November
26, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2016/11/face-egypt-press-syndicate-
161126083731344.html
2016 Cited in Sune Haugbolle, “Hold mediefri søndag, og luft ud i offentligheden,” Politiken.dk
(Denmark), November 1, http://politiken.dk/debat/debatindlaeg/ECE3428618/hold-mediefrisoendag-
og-luft-ud-i-offentligheden/
2016 “Author discusses Arab Spring through the lens of the human body,” Ethan Levin, The Michigan
Daily, September 15 https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/author-discusses-humanbodys-
role-medium-expression-arab-spring
2016 The Naked Blogger of Cairo featured in Marc Lynch, “What to read this summer about the Middle
East,” The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), June 29,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/06/29/what-to-read-this-summerabout-
the-middle-east/
2016 Quoted (via Twitter) in Anthony Joseph “'Way to go Brits!' Game of Thrones fans fear the hit show
will be thrown into chaos after Brexit vote raises risk bosses won't be able to finish filming in
Northern Ireland,” June 24, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3658532/Game-Thrones-fansfear-
hit-thrown-chaos-Brexit.html
2016 Quoted in Hans Rollman, “Something very different is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador,”
The Independent, June 7, http://theindependent.ca/2016/06/07/something-very-different-ishappening-
in-newfoundland-and-labrador/
2016 Quoted in “¡Pánico! Fans de Juego de Tronos temen que el Brexit ponga en riesgo la serie,”
Noticias 24, http://www.noticias24.com/gente/noticia/140412/panico-fanaticos-de-juego-detronos-
temen-que-el-brexit-ponga-en-riesgo-la-serie/
2016 Interviewed in Jennings Brown, “Dark Net: Trying to Kill ISIS with Cuteness,” Vocativ, March 3,
http://www.vocativ.com/news/291750/isischan-dark-net/
2016 Interviewed in Joel Abdelmoez, “ Biopolitics and Humor in Revolutionary Times,” MENA
Tidningen (Stockholm), February 9, http://www.menatidningen.se/english/biopolitics-and-humorin-
revolutionary-times
2016 Quoted in Amaelle Guitton, “Printemps arabes, du ‘cyberutopisme’ au
‘cyberpessimisme’,”Libération [Paris], January 16,
http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2016/01/16/printemps-arabes-du-cyberutopisme-aucyberpessimisme_
1426826
2015 Quoted in Susannah Butter, “The Internet’s Battle to Defeat ISIS, one Meme at a Time,” The
Evening Standard, December 1, http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-internetsbattle-
to-defeat-isis-one-meme-at-a-time-a3127071.html
2015 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “Behind the Sentencing of Journalists in
Egypt,” August 31, http://ianmasters.com/content/august-31-obamas-mixed-message-alaskabehind-
sentencing-journalists-egypt-ugly-face-ukrainia,
2015 Quoted in Assia Labbas, “Satirists, led by Muslims, find much to mock in ISIS,” The New York
Times, March 13, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/world/satirists-led-by-muslims-find-muchto-
mock-in-isis.html
2015 Quoted in Maria LaMagna, “How to Troll Islamic State Like a Pro,” BloombergView, February 10,
2015, http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-10/anonymous-hackers-and-how-to-trollislamic-
state
2015 Quoted in Sophia A. McLennen, “The Anti-Extremist Satire Noone is Talking About,” Huffington
Post, January 23, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sophia-a-mcclennen/the-antiextremistsatire-_
b_6519000.html
2015 Quoted in Mona Sarkis, “Oberflächliche Kritik am Fanatismus: Arabische Parodien auf den IS,”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 20 [Zurich, Switzerland]
http://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/medien/oberflaechliche-kritik-am-fanatismus-1.18464273
2014 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “The Islamic State’s Use of the Media,”
November 18, http://ianmasters.com/content/november-18-islamic-states-use-mediaendangered-
house-democrats-and-possible-republican-shut
2014 Interviewed by Audie Cornish on All Things Considered, National Public Radio, for “Anti-ISIS
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
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Satire Lampoons Militant Group’s Hypocrisy,” November 9, http://www.npr.org/2014/11/10/
363101475/anti-isis-satire-lampoons-militant-groups-hypocrisy
2014 Interviewed by Korea TV for documentary on global reality television, October 17.
2014 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “The Islamic State’s Use of the Media,”
September 1, http://ianmasters.com/content/september-1-failure-west-understand-putinpakistans-
army-orchestrates-latest-political-crisi
2014 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “The General Jails Journalists then Gets
US Aid,” June 23, http://ianmasters.com/content/june-23-general-jails-journalists-then-gets-usaid-
who-secretly-taped-polish-politicians-pop,.
2014 Quoted in “The State of Egypt’s News Media,” The Listening Post, Al-Jazeera English, April 4,
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2014/04/state-egypt-news-media-
2014459245328966.html
2014 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “The Egyptian military’s crackdown on
the press,” January 29, http://ianmasters.com/content/january-29-ukraine-brink-civil-war-egyptianmilitarys-
crackdown-press-life-and-legacy-pete-s
2013 Interviewed for Tim Fitzsimmons, “Pop, Sex and Politics,” The Economist,
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/09/music-arab-world September 10.
2013 Featured in “Syrian Conflict a worry and a puzzle to many,” The Philadelphia Inquirer,
http://articles.philly.com/2013-08-31/news/41622075_1_warring-factions-syrian-conflict-unitedarab-
emirates, August 31.
2013 Quoted in G. Ramírez, “Al Jazeera llega a EE. UU. Y trata de convencer el public, El Mercurio,
[Chile], http://www.asc.upenn.edu/news/Kraidy_El_Mercurio.pdf, August 21.
2013 Quoted in Jane N. Von Bergen, “How Will Al-Jazeera Play in Philly?,” The Philadelphia Inquirer,
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20130822_How_will_Al_Jazeera_ play_in_Philly_.html,
August 23.
2013 Quoted in Jérôme Marin, Al-Jazira se lance à la conquête des Etats-
Unishttp://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2013/08/20/al-jazira-s-implante-aux-etats-unismalgre-
son-deficit-image-dans-le-pays_3463719_3236.html, August 23.
2013 Interviewed on The Listening Post, Al-Jazeera English, about unconventional sources of
information in the Syrian conflict.
2013 Quoted in Kelly McEvers, “Iraq’s Sectarian Divide Deepens Amid Syrian Conflict,” NPR News,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=205058162, July 24.
2013 Featured in Kelly McEvers, “AlJazeera Under Fire for its Coverage of Egypt,” NPR News,
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/18/202970802/Al-Jazeera-Under-Fire-For-Its-Egypt-
Coverage, July 18.
2013 Quoted in John Timpane, “Turkey, Egypt, Show Two Sides of Social Media,” Philadelphia
Inquirer, http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20130716_Social_media_twoedged_
sword_for_protestors.html, July 16.
2013 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters for “Proxy Media Wars in Egypt,” July 9,
http://ianmasters.com, July
2013 Quoted in Jerôme Marin, “Al-Jazira met le prix fort pour relancer sa conquête des Etats-Unis,” Le
Monde, http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2013/01/04/al-jazira-met-le-prix-fort-pourrelancer-
sa-conquete-des-etats-unis_1812816_3234.html, January 4.
2013 Quoted in Ryan Nakashima, “Al-Jazeera pays $ 500M for Current TV,” Associated Press,
January 3; carried by numerous media outlets, including: ABC News, Business Week,
Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, WRIC Richmond, Virginia, WFSB, Connecticut,
Sacramento Bee, California, KATV, Arkansas, Centre Daily, Pennsylvania, ABC-7 Fort Myers,
Florida, KFVS12, Kentucky, CBS, Atlanta,The Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, WSET,
Lynchburg, Virginia, KansasCity.com, Kingsport Times News, Tennessee, LA Daily News,
Almagordo Daily News, San Jose Mercury News, California, The Daily News, Galveston County,
Texas, Times Standard
Tulsa World, WRCB, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Contra Costa Times, California, Kentucky.com ,
13ABC, Toledo, Ohio, Bradenton Herald, Sarasota, Florida, WTVM, Columbus, Ohio,
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
33
WSMV.com, Record Courier, Ohio, San Antonio Express, KWQC, Moline, Iowa, Denver Post,
Colorado, Azfamily.com, Arizona, KMPH Fox 26, Fresno, California,The Herald, Rock Hill, South
Carolina, Jsonline.com, WFIE 14,The Seattle Times, “Sale of Al Gore’s Current TV gives Al-
Jazeera way into US homes,” Times Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, CTV News,
Canada, Washington Examiner
2012 Quoted in Mona Sarkis, Wenn Wände schreien: Revolutionsgraffiti in Ägypten und Syrien, Neue
Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich), December 20.
2012 Quoted in Dorothy Pomerantz, “Alleged Filmmaker Says He Has No Regrets About Movie that
Sparked Mideast Violence,” Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/
2012/09/14/alleged-filmmaker-says-he-has-no-regrets-about-movie-that-sparked-mideastviolence/
September 14.
2012 Quoted in John Timpane, “An Obscure Film Fans the Flames,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September
13, http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20120913_An_obscure_film_fans_the_flames.
html
2012 Interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters about the media war between Iran and
Saudi Arabia over the Syrian uprising, August 14, http://ianmasters.com
2012 Quoted in Sam Dagher, “Arab Media Clash Over Syria,” the Wall Street Journal, March 24,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203961204577269081450598296
2012 Interviewed on “Free Syria Army Joins Media War,” The Listening Post, al-Jazeera English,
February, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/02/20122101
22123200893.html, February.
2012 Interviewed about the propaganda war in the Syrian uprisings, WHYY-Philadelphia
2011 Featured interview on Marketplace, National Public Radio, “Twitter Gets Royal Treatment,” a
story about Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal’s $ 300 million investment in social media Twitter,
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/twitter-gets-royal-treatment, December 20.
2011 Quoted in Sterling, Joe, “A Year Later, Bouazizi’s Legacy Still Burns,”
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/17/world/meast/arab-spring-one-year-later/index.html, December
2011 Interviewed on “The Media Story of the Arab Uprisings: A Year in Review,” The Listening Post, al-
Jazeera English, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2011/12/201112271
23348635772.html, December 17.
2011 Featured guest, Izmir University of Economics Television, Izmir, Turkey,
http://iletisim.ieu.edu.tr/video/?p=751 November.
2011 Featured in “Twitter değil, haysiyet devrimi,” http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?
aType=RadikalEklerDetayV3&ArticleID=1059178&Date=09.08.2011&CategoryID=42, Radikal
[Turkey], August 9 [About the role of media in the Arab spring].
2011 Featured in “Anatomy of an uprising,” http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0511/feature1_1.html, The
Penn Gazette (pp. 30-45), May/June.
2011 Featured in “Power shifting in Middle East media industry,” http://www.bime.
com/main.php?id=52125&t=1&c=129&cg=4&mset=1011, Business Intelligence Middle East,
April 13.
2011 Featured in “IT, media advances boost people power: panelists,” http://www.gulftimes.
com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=427792&version=1&template_id=36&parent
_id=16, Gulf News, April 12.
2011 Featured in “Arab Media Undergoing Rapid Change: Experts,” http://www.gulftimes.
com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=427360&version=1&template_id=36&parent
_id=16, Gulf Times, April 10,
2011 Featured in Greg Johnson, “Assessing the balance of TV news from the Arab world,” Penn
Current, http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/features/040711-3.html, April 7.
2011 Interviewed and quoted in El País [Madrid], “Miedo u cautela en la calle árabe: La coalición aliada
cuneta con la complicidad de canal catarí Al Yazira,”
http://wap.elpais.com/index.php?module=elp_gen&page=elp_gen_noticia&idNoticia=20110322el
pepiint_13.Tes&seccion=int, by Ana Carbajosa, March 23
2011 Featured interview on National Public Radio’s Marketplace, “How state-controlled media work in
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
34
Libya and the Arab world,” http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/22/pm-howstate-
controlled-media-work-in-libya-and-the-arab-world/, March 22
2011 Interviewed and quoted in El Pais [Costa Rica], Al jazira hace nuevos y poderosos amigos en
Estados Unidos, http://www.elpais.cr/articulos.php?id=42356, March 9.
2011 Interviewed and quoted in “Al-Jazeera makes powerful new friends in the US,” by Andy Goldberg,
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/news/article_1624374.php/ANALYSIS-Al-
Jazeera-makes-powerful-new-friends-in-US, March 8.
2011 Interviewed by German Press Agency about the role of al-Jazeera in the Arab uprisings, March
2011 Interviewed by El Pais [Madrid] about the relationship between al-Jazeera and the Qatari
government, February.
2011 Featured in “Al-Jazeera’s Impact on Libya,” The World [BBC, PRI, WGBH], February 25,
http://www.theworld.org/2011/02/al-jazeera-impact-on-libya/
2011 Interviewed by The Daily Pennsylvanian, about US student consumption of global news, February
24.
2011 Interviewed by Penn Current magazine, about the Arab uprisings of 2010 and 2011, with a focus
on the role of media technologies and institutions, February 24.
2011 Expert guest appearance on NBC10@Issue, Philadelphia, about the role of social media in the
Arab popular uprisings, February 20, http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/results/?
keywords=Highsmith&x=0&y=0
2011 Interviewed by America Abroad Media, “Media and Politics in Lebanon,” February 17.
2011 Interviewed by BBC World News about the economic and political impact of the Internet
shutdown in Egypt, January 30.
2011 Featured interview on National Public Radio’s Marketplace, “The Economic Impact of Egypt’s
Protests and Internet Shutdown,” http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/
2011/01/28/pm-the-economic-impact-of-egypts-protests-and-internt-shutdown/, January 28
2010 Featured in På kant med Allah, about reality television, politics and religion in the Middle East, in
Information, Denmark’s Independent Daily, April 20.
2010 Featured in ‘Move Over American Idol: Hissa Hilal in finals of Arab reality TV poetry context,” The
Christian Science Monitor, April 7.
2010 Featured in “Reality TV Spices Arab Politics,” The Washington Times, March 26
2009 Featured in “TV Shows Aim to Settle Conflict,” about reality TV shows aiming to reconcile Arabs
and Israelis, in The National daily newspaper (United Arab Emirates), March 10.
2009 Featured in “Too Much Television,” about the economics of the pan-Arab television market in The
National daily newspaper (United Arab Emirates), February 28.
2008 Interviewed by The Sunday Indian magazine (India), about new religious reality television shows
in the Middle East, December 20.
2008 Feature interview on The Current, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, to discuss the relationship
between reality television and democratization, December 5.
2008 Interviewed and quoted in article in The National (UAE) about new religious reality television
shows in the Middle East, September 4
2008 Interviewed and quoted in article in El Mercurio (Chile) about Al-Jazeera English, “Al Jazeera
English: Señal en inglés de Al Jazeera alista desembarco en EE.UU.,” July 17
2008 Interviewed and quoted in article in Christian Science Monitor about Al-Jazeera English,
“Al-Jazeera English looks at news through different lens,” July 10
2008 Featured commentary on national Public Radio’s marketplace, “Middle Eastern TV Goes
Interactive,” March 5, http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/
2008/03/05/meaw_mmr3_arab_media/
2008 Featured guest, Backstage of Arab Media, Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, Paris, France, to discuss
ongoing research on Arab media [47 minutes, in Arabic], February 18.
2008 Interviewed by Radio Charpenne Tonkin, Lyon, France, on the relationship between
entertainment television and politics [in French], February 8.
2006 Appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, “Another Language for Al-Jazeera,” Public
Broadcasting Service, November 17.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
35
2006 Guest on On the Media, “All That Jaz,” with Bob Garfield, National Public Radio, to discuss
Al-Jazeera English [replay of a segment of October 14, 2005 interview], November 17.
2006 Guest on The Diane Rehm Show, “Al-Jazeera English,” National Public Radio (WAMU), “,”
November 16.
2006 Interviewed by El-Mercurio (Chile), about the impending launch of Al-Jazeera International,
November 1.
2006- Interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, about the impending launch of Al-Jazeera
International, October 30.
2006 Quoted in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial “We must overcome simplistic view of good-vsevil
in Mideast,” September 16.
2006 Appeared on International Focus, Milwaukee Public Television, to discuss “Emerging Arab
Media,” September 12 [aired in Washington on channel 56].
2006 Featured in article in The Daily Iowan, Iowa City, “Two Experts Talk about Mideast,”
September 12.
2006 Featured in article in The Daily Iowan, Iowa City, “Two Mideast Experts to speak,” September 11.
2006 Quoted in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial “We must overcome simplistic view of good-vsevil
in Mideast,” September 16.
2006 Appeared on “The World Today,” Milwaukee Public Television, to discuss “Emerging Arab
Media,” September 12 [aired in Washington on channel 56].
2006 Featured in article in The Daily Iowan, Iowa City, “Two Experts Talk about Mideast,” September
12.
2006 Featured in article in The Daily Iowan, Iowa City, “Two Mideast Experts to speak,” September 11.
2006 Quoted by Asharq al-Awsat, a pan-Arab daily newspaper based in London, for a story on Arab
and Muslim characters in U.S. popular culture after 911, September 10.
2006 Interviewed on “The World,” National Public Radio, on Islamic music videos, September 4.
2006 Interviewed by U.S. News and World Report about Al-Jazeera International, August 30.
2006 Interviewed by BBC World Service for a story about Islamic music videos, August 23.
2006 Guest on “The Diane Rehm Show,” National Public Radio (WAMU), “Public Opinion in the
Israel/Hizbollah conflict,” August 16.
2006 Interviewed by the New York Times for a story on the television viewing habits of Muslim-
American soldiers deployed in Iraq, June 7.
2006 Appeared in live interview on “Across the Ocean,” Al-Arabiya [one of the two leading Arab
satellite television news channels], to discuss Arab satellite television news performance, June 2.
2006 Interviewed by ABC Radio for a story on Arab media coverage of the Haditha shootings, June 2.
2006 Interviewed by NHK [Japanese Broadcasting Corporation] for a story on Al-Jazeera International,
March 6.
2006 Interviewed by United Press International for a story on the political impact of Arab entertainment
television, March 6.
2006 Quoted in article “Analysis: Arab Media and the Social Debate,” by Ambiki Behal, Middle East
Times, February 24.
2006 Interviews by United Press International for article about Arab media and social change, February
16.
2006 Quoted in article in La Croix [France] on the Danish cartoons controversy.
2006 Interviewed by Agence France Presse for series of stories about the Danish cartoons controversy
[in French], February 3.
2005 “The Peninsula,” On the Media, National Public Radio, with Bob Garfield, to discuss the
anticipated launch of Al-Jazeera International, October 14.
2005 “An Explosion of Racy Homegrown Entertainment,” Day to Day, National Public Radio (NPR), to
discuss reality television, music videos and public discourse in the Arab world, July 19.
2005 “Aoun Wild Card in Lebanese Elections,” All Things Considered, NPR, to discuss politics and
media during Lebanon’s legislative elections, June 17.
2005 “Shaping Reality,” On the Media, NPR, with Brooke Gladstone, to discuss the political impact of
Arab reality television, June 3.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
36
2005 Interviewed by The Washington Post for articles on Arab reform and media, April.
2005 Interviewed by National Public Radio for series of stories on Arab mass media, April & May.
2004 Interviewed by The Washington Post for an article on al-Hurra, The Middle East Television
Network, August.
2004 Interviewed by Forward magazine for an article on al-Hurra, the Middle East Television Network,
March.
2004 Interviewed by The Daily Star (Beirut) for an article on Arab-American political leaders, February.
2003 Rene Moawad Foundation Conference Committee.
2003 Invited as a legal expert in a London case between the Qatari ruling family and Azzaman Londonbased
newspaper [declined].
2003 Invited participant in roundtable discussion on media and information technology in the Middle
East, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, DC.
2003 Invited as an expert guest on Middle Eastern media on CNN with Aaron Brown [declined].
2003 Invited as an expert guest on U.S.-Arab relations, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [declined].
2003 Interviewed and quoted by Voice of America for story on Arab communication and culture.
2003 Interviewed and quoted in Forward magazine about Arab information issues.
2003 Interviewed by the Washington Post for article on media policy in the Arab World, March.
2002 Interviewed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French Service (television) about
international propaganda and Arab mass media [in French], September.
2002 Quoted in the Los Angeles based Cable World magazine on U.S. public and media diplomacy in
the Arab world.
2000 Interview on the Feast of Nations and international issues, Dakota Student, Dakota Student,
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, April.
2000 Interview on television game shows, Dakota Student, Grand Forks, North Dakota, March.
2000 Interview about new media and the convergence of computing and broadcasting, Grand Forks
Herald, January 11.
1999 Interview on technology access issues for “Additional dial-up modems to ease Internet
frustrations,” Dakota Student, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, Tuesday,
November 9, p. 1.
1999 “Questioning local Vs. global: Acting Director of Scomm Graduate Studies to be published in
prestigious journal,” Dakota Student, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota,
Tuesday, September 14, p. 3.
1999 Interview on the implications of sexual and violent media content, Studio One, University of North
Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA, April.
1998 “Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend,” Grad Grapevine, University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks, North Dakota, USA, Spring.
1998 Interview on the repercussions of a United States strike against Iraq, The Dakota Student, Grand
Forks, North Dakota, USA, February.
1997 Interview on connotative meanings of symbols and icons in connection with the University of
North Dakota Sioux logo controversy, The Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA,
November 9.
97-99 Advisor to the Østfoldakademiet (Ostfold Academy) on incorporating new technologies into
the academy’s curriculum, Moss, NORWAY.
1997 IAMCR paper (Glocalization: Global Media, Hybrid Cultures) featured on “El Fin Justifica
a Los Medios,” Radio Educación, XEEP 1060 AM, Mexico City, MEXICO, July 8, 1997.
1996 Interview featured on the evening news, WDAZ News [ABC affiliate], on digital television
standards and future implications of regulations currently proposed, Grand Forks, ND, USA,
December 24.
MARWAN M. KRAIDY, CV, ABRIDGED FOR WEB JULY 25, 2017
37
XVII. OTHER
A. Membership in Professional Associations
NIAS Fellows Association (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences and
Humanities)
International Association for Media and Communication Research [IAMCR]
International Communication Association [ICA]
National Communication Association [NCA]
Middle East Studies Association [MESA]
Society for Cinema and Media Studies [SCMS]
B. References Available upon request
University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences A-Z Index Calendar
MIDDLE EAST CENTER
MEC HOMEABOUT EVENTS PROGRAMS COURSES OPPORTUNITIES OUTREACH RESOURCES
Marwan Kraidy
Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics & Culture
Professor of Communication
Director, Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication
COMM
mkraidy@asc.upenn.edu
215.746.6549
http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Faculty/Faculty-Bio.aspx?id=165
Marwan M. Kraidy is the Anthony Shadid Professor of Communication and Director of the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication (PARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, USA. The recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Kraidy has lectured worldwide and published more than 100 essays and 6 books, including Reality Television and Arab Politics (Cambridge UP 2010), which won three major prizes. Kraidy has been the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut, Visiting Professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, Assistant Professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, DC, and Assistant Professor of Critical-Cultural Studies at the University of North Dakota. A frequent media commentator on global and Arab media issues, professor Kraidy is currently writing Creative Insurgency, focusing on the human body as a locus of power and resistance in revolutionary times. He tweets at @MKraidy.
Publications:
The Body as Medium in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities, Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies.
A Heterotopology of Graffiti: A Preliminary Exploration, Orient-Institut Papers (3).
Contention and Circulation in the Digital Middle East: Music Video as Catalyst, Television and New Media, 14(4), 271-285.
Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere, Popular Communication, 11 (1), 17-29, first author with Omar Alghazzi.
Les Médias en Arabie Séoudite: Lutte Politique et Controverse Sociale de Star Academy au Printemps Arabe [Media in Saudi Arabia: Political Struggle and Social Controversy from Star Academy to the Arab Uprisings].
The Revolutionary Body Politic: Preliminary Thoughts On A Neglected Medium In The Arab Uprisings, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 5(1) pp. 68-76.
Research Interests:
Global communication studies, media institutions and public discourse, Arab media, politics and culture, The Iranian Media Project.
Courses:
Culture and Modernity in the "Arab Media Revolution"
Global and Comparative Media Systems
Arab Uprisings: Local and Global Representations
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Wilson Center Home Marwan M Kraidy
FORMER FELLOW MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM
Marwan M Kraidy
EXPERTISE
Middle East and North Africa
AFFILIATION
Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Communication, School of International Service, American University
WILSON CENTER PROJECTS
"Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity"
TERM
Sep 01, 2005 — May 01, 2006
Bio
Growing up in Lebanon, I witnessed firsthand the advent of the Arab information revolution and the ensuing shifts in inter-Arab and Arab-Western relations. In 1994 I began researching the cultural implications of this phenomenon for my Ph.D. dissertation, using ethnographic fieldwork and television criticism to understand young people's interaction with global, regional and local popular culture in Lebanon. Since then, I have been developing an interdisciplinary approach using a multilingual literature (Arabic, French and Spanish in addition to English) to analyze the role of media and popular culture in intercultural and international relations.The intermingling of people and media from different cultures is a communication-based phenomenon known as hybridity. Drawing on original research from Lebanon to Mexico and analyzing the use of the term since the first century AD, my book Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization offers readers a history of the idea and a set of prescriptions for its future use. The book's case studies build an argument for understanding the importance of the dynamics of communication, uneven power relationships, and political economy as well as culture, in intercultural relations. It develops a new framework to study cultural mixture-—called critical transculturalism—-which provides a practical method for examining how media and communication work in international contexts. Because it under-appreciates the complexity of international communication, the propaganda model used by some observers of Arab media is unable to provide conceptually grounded and empirically based answers to the following questions: is Arab television dominated by anti-Western sentiment? Are "modern" values—-democratic governance, individual freedoms, equality between men and women, protection of minorities, among others-—rejected on Arab satellite television? Is Arab satellite television primarily an anti-American weapon in the "war of ideas," or rather, is it a forum where Arabs debate their current situation and the future of their societies? In order to answer these questions effectively, my Wilson fellowship book project, Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity, focuses on the impact of social and entertainment programs on pan-Arab public discourse. Past studies have focused on Arab news and political programs, but there is little scholarly research on Arab satellite television entertainment. Why does this matter? Beside their popularity, reality TV, music videos, and talk shows have triggered heated public debates on Arab-Western relations, political reform, globalization, personal freedom and the status of women. Media theory and research tells us that entertainment television in the developing world creates a public space where groups negotiate social and political change. My frequent research trips to Arab countries confirm the importance of entertainment television in public discourse.At the Wilson Center I will research these interactions focusing on television as both a catalyst and a platform for public contention in the Arab world. My project analyzes a rich combination of archival, ethnographic, textual, policy and statistical primary and secondary data collected over the course of the last 10 years, within a multidisciplinary framework drawing on the fields of media and communication studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science. My main objective is to understand how the active links between television, the Internet, the press, popular culture and mobile phones shape the dynamics of public discourse in the Arab world.
Education
B.A. (1992) Notre Dame University, Beirut; M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1996) the Ohio University
Subjects
Arab media,Cultural globalization,Lebanon
Experience
Assistant Professor, American University, 2001-present
Director of Graduate Studies, University of North Dakota, 1999-2001
Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, 1996-2001
Instructor, the Ohio University, 1995-96
Expertise
Cultural globalization and global media; intercultural relations; Arab media and information technology (socio-cultural and political dimensions of satellite television, pan-Arab press, Internet and mobile telephony); Lebanon (media, culture and politics); politics and popular culture in comparative perspective
Project Summary
Arab satellite television is an urgent issue for scholars and policymakers. However, the lack of knowledge about non-political Arab programs is problematic because social and entertainment shows have shaped pan-Arab public discourse by fuelling contentious debates about Arab-Western relations, political reform, the status of women, and civil rights. The proposed book (1) determines whether, by provoking contention, social and entertainment programs foster peaceful dialogue more than they promote conflict, and (2) analyzes how non-political programs mediate Western modernity. The project is (3) based on extensive Arabic sources including television content, fieldwork in Arab countries spanning 10 years, and a multidisciplinary theoretical framework.
Major Publications
Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005)
Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, co-edited with Patrick D. Murphy
(London and New York: Routledge, 2003)
Arab Satellite Television between Regionalization and Globalization (2002), Global Media Journal, 1(1) (Invited inaugural article)
"The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Globalization", Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1999, 16(4), 458-478
Editorial Boards: Critical Studies in Media Communication (US-based), Language and Intercultural Communication (UK-based), Global Media Journal (Arabic edition, Egypt-based)
Welcome to Wilson Center
WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027
202-691-4000
The Wilson Center, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration and the broader policy community.
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Skip to main content
Home
RESEARCH
EVENTS
EXPLORE
EXPERTS
ABOUT
DONATE
You are here
Wilson Center Home Marwan M Kraidy
FORMER FELLOW MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM
Marwan M Kraidy
EXPERTISE
Middle East and North Africa
AFFILIATION
Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Communication, School of International Service, American University
WILSON CENTER PROJECTS
"Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity"
TERM
Sep 01, 2005 — May 01, 2006
Bio
Growing up in Lebanon, I witnessed firsthand the advent of the Arab information revolution and the ensuing shifts in inter-Arab and Arab-Western relations. In 1994 I began researching the cultural implications of this phenomenon for my Ph.D. dissertation, using ethnographic fieldwork and television criticism to understand young people's interaction with global, regional and local popular culture in Lebanon. Since then, I have been developing an interdisciplinary approach using a multilingual literature (Arabic, French and Spanish in addition to English) to analyze the role of media and popular culture in intercultural and international relations.The intermingling of people and media from different cultures is a communication-based phenomenon known as hybridity. Drawing on original research from Lebanon to Mexico and analyzing the use of the term since the first century AD, my book Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization offers readers a history of the idea and a set of prescriptions for its future use. The book's case studies build an argument for understanding the importance of the dynamics of communication, uneven power relationships, and political economy as well as culture, in intercultural relations. It develops a new framework to study cultural mixture-—called critical transculturalism—-which provides a practical method for examining how media and communication work in international contexts. Because it under-appreciates the complexity of international communication, the propaganda model used by some observers of Arab media is unable to provide conceptually grounded and empirically based answers to the following questions: is Arab television dominated by anti-Western sentiment? Are "modern" values—-democratic governance, individual freedoms, equality between men and women, protection of minorities, among others-—rejected on Arab satellite television? Is Arab satellite television primarily an anti-American weapon in the "war of ideas," or rather, is it a forum where Arabs debate their current situation and the future of their societies? In order to answer these questions effectively, my Wilson fellowship book project, Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity, focuses on the impact of social and entertainment programs on pan-Arab public discourse. Past studies have focused on Arab news and political programs, but there is little scholarly research on Arab satellite television entertainment. Why does this matter? Beside their popularity, reality TV, music videos, and talk shows have triggered heated public debates on Arab-Western relations, political reform, globalization, personal freedom and the status of women. Media theory and research tells us that entertainment television in the developing world creates a public space where groups negotiate social and political change. My frequent research trips to Arab countries confirm the importance of entertainment television in public discourse.At the Wilson Center I will research these interactions focusing on television as both a catalyst and a platform for public contention in the Arab world. My project analyzes a rich combination of archival, ethnographic, textual, policy and statistical primary and secondary data collected over the course of the last 10 years, within a multidisciplinary framework drawing on the fields of media and communication studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science. My main objective is to understand how the active links between television, the Internet, the press, popular culture and mobile phones shape the dynamics of public discourse in the Arab world.
Education
B.A. (1992) Notre Dame University, Beirut; M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1996) the Ohio University
Subjects
Arab media,Cultural globalization,Lebanon
Experience
Assistant Professor, American University, 2001-present
Director of Graduate Studies, University of North Dakota, 1999-2001
Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, 1996-2001
Instructor, the Ohio University, 1995-96
Expertise
Cultural globalization and global media; intercultural relations; Arab media and information technology (socio-cultural and political dimensions of satellite television, pan-Arab press, Internet and mobile telephony); Lebanon (media, culture and politics); politics and popular culture in comparative perspective
Project Summary
Arab satellite television is an urgent issue for scholars and policymakers. However, the lack of knowledge about non-political Arab programs is problematic because social and entertainment shows have shaped pan-Arab public discourse by fuelling contentious debates about Arab-Western relations, political reform, the status of women, and civil rights. The proposed book (1) determines whether, by provoking contention, social and entertainment programs foster peaceful dialogue more than they promote conflict, and (2) analyzes how non-political programs mediate Western modernity. The project is (3) based on extensive Arabic sources including television content, fieldwork in Arab countries spanning 10 years, and a multidisciplinary theoretical framework.
Major Publications
Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005)
Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, co-edited with Patrick D. Murphy
(London and New York: Routledge, 2003)
Arab Satellite Television between Regionalization and Globalization (2002), Global Media Journal, 1(1) (Invited inaugural article)
"The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Globalization", Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1999, 16(4), 458-478
Editorial Boards: Critical Studies in Media Communication (US-based), Language and Intercultural Communication (UK-based), Global Media Journal (Arabic edition, Egypt-based)
Welcome to Wilson Center
WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027
202-691-4000
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Skip to main content RESEARCH EVENTS EXPLORE EXPERTS ABOUT DONATE You are here Wilson Center Home Marwan M Kraidy FORMER FELLOW MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM Marwan M Kraidy EXPERTISE Middle East and North Africa AFFILIATION Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Communication, School of International Service, American University WILSON CENTER PROJECTS "Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity" TERM Sep 01, 2005 — May 01, 2006 Bio Growing up in Lebanon, I witnessed firsthand the advent of the Arab information revolution and the ensuing shifts in inter-Arab and Arab-Western relations. In 1994 I began researching the cultural implications of this phenomenon for my Ph.D. dissertation, using ethnographic fieldwork and television criticism to understand young people's interaction with global, regional and local popular culture in Lebanon. Since then, I have been developing an interdisciplinary approach using a multilingual literature (Arabic, French and Spanish in addition to English) to analyze the role of media and popular culture in intercultural and international relations.The intermingling of people and media from different cultures is a communication-based phenomenon known as hybridity. Drawing on original research from Lebanon to Mexico and analyzing the use of the term since the first century AD, my book Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization offers readers a history of the idea and a set of prescriptions for its future use. The book's case studies build an argument for understanding the importance of the dynamics of communication, uneven power relationships, and political economy as well as culture, in intercultural relations. It develops a new framework to study cultural mixture-—called critical transculturalism—-which provides a practical method for examining how media and communication work in international contexts. Because it under-appreciates the complexity of international communication, the propaganda model used by some observers of Arab media is unable to provide conceptually grounded and empirically based answers to the following questions: is Arab television dominated by anti-Western sentiment? Are "modern" values—-democratic governance, individual freedoms, equality between men and women, protection of minorities, among others-—rejected on Arab satellite television? Is Arab satellite television primarily an anti-American weapon in the "war of ideas," or rather, is it a forum where Arabs debate their current situation and the future of their societies? In order to answer these questions effectively, my Wilson fellowship book project, Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity, focuses on the impact of social and entertainment programs on pan-Arab public discourse. Past studies have focused on Arab news and political programs, but there is little scholarly research on Arab satellite television entertainment. Why does this matter? Beside their popularity, reality TV, music videos, and talk shows have triggered heated public debates on Arab-Western relations, political reform, globalization, personal freedom and the status of women. Media theory and research tells us that entertainment television in the developing world creates a public space where groups negotiate social and political change. My frequent research trips to Arab countries confirm the importance of entertainment television in public discourse.At the Wilson Center I will research these interactions focusing on television as both a catalyst and a platform for public contention in the Arab world. My project analyzes a rich combination of archival, ethnographic, textual, policy and statistical primary and secondary data collected over the course of the last 10 years, within a multidisciplinary framework drawing on the fields of media and communication studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science. My main objective is to understand how the active links between television, the Internet, the press, popular culture and mobile phones shape the dynamics of public discourse in the Arab world. Education B.A. (1992) Notre Dame University, Beirut; M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1996) the Ohio University Subjects Arab media,Cultural globalization,Lebanon Experience Assistant Professor, American University, 2001-present Director of Graduate Studies, University of North Dakota, 1999-2001 Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, 1996-2001 Instructor, the Ohio University, 1995-96 Expertise Cultural globalization and global media; intercultural relations; Arab media and information technology (socio-cultural and political dimensions of satellite television, pan-Arab press, Internet and mobile telephony); Lebanon (media, culture and politics); politics and popular culture in comparative perspective Project Summary Arab satellite television is an urgent issue for scholars and policymakers. However, the lack of knowledge about non-political Arab programs is problematic because social and entertainment shows have shaped pan-Arab public discourse by fuelling contentious debates about Arab-Western relations, political reform, the status of women, and civil rights. The proposed book (1) determines whether, by provoking contention, social and entertainment programs foster peaceful dialogue more than they promote conflict, and (2) analyzes how non-political programs mediate Western modernity. The project is (3) based on extensive Arabic sources including television content, fieldwork in Arab countries spanning 10 years, and a multidisciplinary theoretical framework. Major Publications Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005) Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, co-edited with Patrick D. Murphy (London and New York: Routledge, 2003) Arab Satellite Television between Regionalization and Globalization (2002), Global Media Journal, 1(1) (Invited inaugural article) "The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Globalization", Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1999, 16(4), 458-478 Editorial Boards: Critical Studies in Media Communication (US-based), Language and Intercultural Communication (UK-based), Global Media Journal (Arabic edition, Egypt-based) WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 202-691-4000 The Wilson Center, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration and the broader policy community. DONATE NOW EMAIL UPDATES Weekly updates from the Wilson Center FOLLOW WILSON CENTER Facebook Twitter RSS Youtube Linked In Press About Support the Center 990 Forms/Budget Privacy Skip to main content RESEARCH EVENTS EXPLORE EXPERTS ABOUT DONATE You are here Wilson Center Home Marwan M Kraidy FORMER FELLOW MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM Marwan M Kraidy EXPERTISE Middle East and North Africa AFFILIATION Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Communication, School of International Service, American University WILSON CENTER PROJECTS "Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity" TERM Sep 01, 2005 — May 01, 2006 Bio Growing up in Lebanon, I witnessed firsthand the advent of the Arab information revolution and the ensuing shifts in inter-Arab and Arab-Western relations. In 1994 I began researching the cultural implications of this phenomenon for my Ph.D. dissertation, using ethnographic fieldwork and television criticism to understand young people's interaction with global, regional and local popular culture in Lebanon. Since then, I have been developing an interdisciplinary approach using a multilingual literature (Arabic, French and Spanish in addition to English) to analyze the role of media and popular culture in intercultural and international relations.The intermingling of people and media from different cultures is a communication-based phenomenon known as hybridity. Drawing on original research from Lebanon to Mexico and analyzing the use of the term since the first century AD, my book Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization offers readers a history of the idea and a set of prescriptions for its future use. The book's case studies build an argument for understanding the importance of the dynamics of communication, uneven power relationships, and political economy as well as culture, in intercultural relations. It develops a new framework to study cultural mixture-—called critical transculturalism—-which provides a practical method for examining how media and communication work in international contexts. Because it under-appreciates the complexity of international communication, the propaganda model used by some observers of Arab media is unable to provide conceptually grounded and empirically based answers to the following questions: is Arab television dominated by anti-Western sentiment? Are "modern" values—-democratic governance, individual freedoms, equality between men and women, protection of minorities, among others-—rejected on Arab satellite television? Is Arab satellite television primarily an anti-American weapon in the "war of ideas," or rather, is it a forum where Arabs debate their current situation and the future of their societies? In order to answer these questions effectively, my Wilson fellowship book project, Screens of Contention: Arab Television and the Challenges of Modernity, focuses on the impact of social and entertainment programs on pan-Arab public discourse. Past studies have focused on Arab news and political programs, but there is little scholarly research on Arab satellite television entertainment. Why does this matter? Beside their popularity, reality TV, music videos, and talk shows have triggered heated public debates on Arab-Western relations, political reform, globalization, personal freedom and the status of women. Media theory and research tells us that entertainment television in the developing world creates a public space where groups negotiate social and political change. My frequent research trips to Arab countries confirm the importance of entertainment television in public discourse.At the Wilson Center I will research these interactions focusing on television as both a catalyst and a platform for public contention in the Arab world. My project analyzes a rich combination of archival, ethnographic, textual, policy and statistical primary and secondary data collected over the course of the last 10 years, within a multidisciplinary framework drawing on the fields of media and communication studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science. My main objective is to understand how the active links between television, the Internet, the press, popular culture and mobile phones shape the dynamics of public discourse in the Arab world. Education B.A. (1992) Notre Dame University, Beirut; M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1996) the Ohio University Subjects Arab media,Cultural globalization,Lebanon Experience Assistant Professor, American University, 2001-present Director of Graduate Studies, University of North Dakota, 1999-2001 Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, 1996-2001 Instructor, the Ohio University, 1995-96 Expertise Cultural globalization and global media; intercultural relations; Arab media and information technology (socio-cultural and political dimensions of satellite television, pan-Arab press, Internet and mobile telephony); Lebanon (media, culture and politics); politics and popular culture in comparative perspective Project Summary Arab satellite television is an urgent issue for scholars and policymakers. However, the lack of knowledge about non-political Arab programs is problematic because social and entertainment shows have shaped pan-Arab public discourse by fuelling contentious debates about Arab-Western relations, political reform, the status of women, and civil rights. The proposed book (1) determines whether, by provoking contention, social and entertainment programs foster peaceful dialogue more than they promote conflict, and (2) analyzes how non-political programs mediate Western modernity. The project is (3) based on extensive Arabic sources including television content, fieldwork in Arab countries spanning 10 years, and a multidisciplinary theoretical framework. Major Publications Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005) Global Media Studies: Ethnographic Perspectives, co-edited with Patrick D. Murphy (London and New York: Routledge, 2003) Arab Satellite Television between Regionalization and Globalization (2002), Global Media Journal, 1(1) (Invited inaugural article) "The Global, the Local, and the Hybrid: A Native Ethnography of Globalization", Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1999, 16(4), 458-478 Editorial Boards: Critical Studies in Media Communication (US-based), Language and Intercultural Communication (UK-based), Global Media Journal (Arabic edition, Egypt-based) WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 202-691-4000 The Wilson Center, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration and the broader policy community. DONATE NOW EMAIL UPDATES Weekly updates from the Wilson Center FOLLOW WILSON CENTER Facebook Twitter RSS Youtube Linked In Press About Support the Center 990 Forms/Budget Privacy ShareThis Copy and Paste
Uprisings spread like wildfire across the Arab world from 2010 to 2012, fueled by a desire for popular sovereignty. In Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere, protesters flooded the streets and the media, voicing dissent through slogans, graffiti, puppetry, videos, and satire that called for the overthrow of dictators and the regimes that sustained them.
Investigating what drives people to risk everything to express themselves in rebellious art, The Naked Blogger of Cairo uncovers the creative insurgency at the heart of the Arab uprisings. While commentators have stressed the role of social media, Marwan M. Kraidy shows that the essential medium of political expression was not cell phone texts or Twitter but something more fundamental: the human body. Brutal governments that coerced citizens through torture and rape found themselves confronted with the bodies of protesters, burning with defiance and boldly violating taboos. Activists challenged authority in brazen acts of self-immolation, nude activism, and hunger strikes. The bodies of dictators became a focus of ridicule. A Web series presented Syria’s Bashar al-Assad as a pathetic finger puppet, while cartoons and videos spread a meme of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak as a regurgitating cow.
The rise of digital culture complicates our understanding of the human body in revolutionary times. As Kraidy argues, technology publicizes defiance, but the body remains the vital nexus of physical struggle and digital communication, destabilizing distinctions between “the real world” and virtual reality, spurring revolutionary debates about the role of art, and anchoring Islamic State’s attempted hijacking of creative insurgency.
RELATED LINKS
Read Marwan Kraidy’s Washington Post essay on the use of violent imagery by the Islamic State (IS)—a group with a “clear media doctrine intended to do as much damage as its bullets and bombs”
Read Kraidy’s “Creative Insurgency and the Celebrity President: Politics and Popular Culture from the Arab Spring to the White House” from the Winter/Spring 2017 issue of Arab Media & Society
Listen to Kraidy’s conversation about creative insurgency in the Arab world with the Status audio journal
Read a Eurasia Group Foundation interview with Kraidy about ISIS and communications technology
Listen to a Project on Middle East Political Science conversation with Kraidy about creative insurgency
At History News Network, read Kraidy’s assessment of why depicting Syria’s Bashar al-Assad as a finger puppet has proven to be effective ridicule
Via the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, read about Marwan Kraidy’s research and recent Carnegie Fellowship
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Marwan M. Kraidy is Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture at the University of Pennsylvania.
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“Marwan Kraidy’s The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World is a deep dive into the cultural politics of the Arab uprisings… Kraidy’s sharp insights and rich descriptions of a new Arab generation’s irrepressible creative urges will amply reward the effort. Reading Kraidy’s accounts of the politically charted cultural gambits of wired Arab youth rekindles some of the seemingly lost spirit of the early days of the Arab uprisings and offers hope for the future.”—Marc Lynch, The Washington Post
“The Naked Blogger of Cairo is an astonishingly accessible work for one that is also deeply intellectual and scholarly… Kraidy combines intellectual erudition with style and wit… The Naked Blogger of Cairo is a superb and important work not just for scholars but for anyone who cares about the relationships between art, the body, and revolution.”—Hans Rollman, PopMatters
“The Naked Blogger of Cairo is yet another testament to the range and ingenuity of Marwan Kraidy’s scholarship. He is without a doubt our most insightful critic of Arab media, and this book is essential reading for our times.”—Michael Curtin, University of California, Santa Barbara
“In The Naked Blogger of Cairo, Marwan Kraidy offers a fascinating account of the workings of power and resistance in a digitally connected Middle East that will shake confidence in conventional narratives about the cultural dynamics of the Arab uprisings. It is an original contribution and essential reading for those who want to move beyond clichéd frames and facile analyses.”—Mohamed Zayani, Georgetown University
Project on Middle East Political Science
Project on Middle East Political Science Discussion of Current Events in Political Science in the Middle East.
HomeAbout POMEPSIslam InitiativeEventsOpportunitiesPOMEPS PublicationsAcademic WorksMultimediaPOMEPS Blog
Creativity and the Arab Uprisings: A conversation with Marwan Kraidy
pablo6On this week’s Middle East politics podcast, Marc Lynch has a conversation on creativity and the Arab Uprisings with Marwan M. Kraidy. “I felt paralyzed when the Arab uprising started unfolding. I saw the focus back then on on social media to be missing something and I did not know quite what I felt it was missing,” said Kraidy.
“So I did not write anything. I started thinking about it.” Kraidy spent a year in Beirut, traveling the region and collecting items that showed people creatively expressing dissent, like leaflets, media, and taking photos of graffiti.
From that research, he wrote his latest book, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World, which looks at radical and gradual activism in the modern Middle East. “The main argument that I make in the book is that this kind of political creativity is nearly always collective,” said Kraidy.
With the tense situation in many Middle Eastern countries, Kraidy acknowledges that creative insurgency often goes dormant for periods of time. “There is such a thing as war fatigue, so the thing with this kind of creative energy is that it goes underground. But it’s always there and it waits for activists. It waits for auspicious opportunities to emerge,” said Kraidy.
“They can also be overground, but typically not in the Middle East. If you go to Berlin, Amsterdam, or New York, you have so many of these graffiti artists you know they may be doing designs for Louis Vuitton, or they may be having a residential fellowship at MOMA, but they’re still practicing their skills. They’re becoming more well-known. They’re writing comic books about the revolution. I don’t think these energies are lost. They’ve been redirected.”
Kraidy says that these creative dissidents’ locations away from the region matters, “But not not as much as would would have mattered in revolutions past, where if you’re not there you’re just not there. I think people are waiting for the right opportunity.”
Listen on iTunes, SoundCloud, or below:
Marwan M. Kraidy is the Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture, and Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, where he is also affiliated with the Middle East Center. Currently he is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Read more from Kraidy:
Global Media Studies
The Body as Medium in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities,
A Heterotopology of Graffiti: A Preliminary Exploration
Contention and Circulation in the Digital Middle East: Music Video as Catalyst, Television and New Media
Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere
The Revolutionary Body Politic: Preliminary Thoughts On A Neglected Medium In The Arab Uprisings
← Why did the PKK declare Revolutionary People’s War in July 2015?Counting the Uncounted: Measuring the politicization of Kurdish identity in Turkey →
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The Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Suite. 512
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202.994.2309 | Fax: 202.994.4055
Copyright © 2016 Project on Middle East Political Science.
About POMEPS
Islam Initiative
POMEPS Blog
Contact Us
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Project on Middle East Political Science
Project on Middle East Political Science Discussion of Current Events in Political Science in the Middle East.
HomeAbout POMEPSIslam InitiativeEventsOpportunitiesPOMEPS PublicationsAcademic WorksMultimediaPOMEPS Blog
Creativity and the Arab Uprisings: A conversation with Marwan Kraidy
pablo6On this week’s Middle East politics podcast, Marc Lynch has a conversation on creativity and the Arab Uprisings with Marwan M. Kraidy. “I felt paralyzed when the Arab uprising started unfolding. I saw the focus back then on on social media to be missing something and I did not know quite what I felt it was missing,” said Kraidy.
“So I did not write anything. I started thinking about it.” Kraidy spent a year in Beirut, traveling the region and collecting items that showed people creatively expressing dissent, like leaflets, media, and taking photos of graffiti.
From that research, he wrote his latest book, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World, which looks at radical and gradual activism in the modern Middle East. “The main argument that I make in the book is that this kind of political creativity is nearly always collective,” said Kraidy.
With the tense situation in many Middle Eastern countries, Kraidy acknowledges that creative insurgency often goes dormant for periods of time. “There is such a thing as war fatigue, so the thing with this kind of creative energy is that it goes underground. But it’s always there and it waits for activists. It waits for auspicious opportunities to emerge,” said Kraidy.
“They can also be overground, but typically not in the Middle East. If you go to Berlin, Amsterdam, or New York, you have so many of these graffiti artists you know they may be doing designs for Louis Vuitton, or they may be having a residential fellowship at MOMA, but they’re still practicing their skills. They’re becoming more well-known. They’re writing comic books about the revolution. I don’t think these energies are lost. They’ve been redirected.”
Kraidy says that these creative dissidents’ locations away from the region matters, “But not not as much as would would have mattered in revolutions past, where if you’re not there you’re just not there. I think people are waiting for the right opportunity.”
Listen on iTunes, SoundCloud, or below:
Marwan M. Kraidy is the Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture, and Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, where he is also affiliated with the Middle East Center. Currently he is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Read more from Kraidy:
Global Media Studies
The Body as Medium in the Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities,
A Heterotopology of Graffiti: A Preliminary Exploration
Contention and Circulation in the Digital Middle East: Music Video as Catalyst, Television and New Media
Neo-Ottoman Cool: Turkish Popular Culture in the Arab Public Sphere
The Revolutionary Body Politic: Preliminary Thoughts On A Neglected Medium In The Arab Uprisings
← Why did the PKK declare Revolutionary People’s War in July 2015?Counting the Uncounted: Measuring the politicization of Kurdish identity in Turkey →
Upcoming POMEPS Events
SEP
1
Fri
2017
5:30 PM APSA 2017 Reception @ Redford
SEP
18
Mon
2017
12:00 PM Rebel Power: A book event with P... @ Elliott School for International Affairs, Lindner Family Commons
SEP
28
Thu
2017
5:30 PM Voices from Syria: Book discussi... @ Elliott School for International Affairs, Room 505
View Calendar Add
Latest Tweets
Russell Lucas of @michiganstateu on young sheikhs & the foreign policy of succession security wapo.st/2wOTVuZ?tid=ss_tw&utm_…
August 11, 2017 10:23 AM
heading to #APSA2017 in San Francisco in a few weeks? check out the POMEPS guide for great #MENA panels pomeps.org/2017/08/08/pomeps-g…
August 9, 2017 10:15 AM
.@NUQatar's Jocelyn Sage Mitchell explains Qatar's new residency laws, and why it's happening now. wapo.st/2wFmv21?tid=ss_tw&utm_…
August 9, 2017 9:11 AM
Islamic State's next move could be underground criminal networks-- @ProfAishaAhmad explains why: wapo.st/2vH5BTp?tid=ss_tw&utm_…
August 8, 2017 8:06 AM
Julie Chernov Hwang from @gouchercollege explains why banning 'extremist groups' is dangerous for Indonesia wapo.st/2u930i8?tid=ss_tw&utm_…
July 19, 2017 4:42 PM
The Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Suite. 512
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202.994.2309 | Fax: 202.994.4055
Copyright © 2016 Project on Middle East Political Science.
About POMEPS
Islam Initiative
POMEPS Blog
Contact Us
POMEPS Briefings
POMEPS Studies
Arab Uprisings Bibliography
Conference Papers
Events
Multimedia
TRE Grants
Opportunities
Copyright © 2017 Project on Middle East Political Science. Powered by WordPress. Theme: Spacious by ThemeGrill.ShareThis Copy and Paste
Marwan M. Kraidy F'14
Marwan M. Kraidy
Anthony Shadid Chair in Global Media, Politics and Culture
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania
last updated: 08/07/17
ACLS Fellowship Program 2014
ACLS/NEH International and Area Studies
Professor
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania
Creative Insurgency: Arab Dissent in an Age of Revolution
This study explores cultural production in the Arab uprisings, concluding that the human body is the indispensable revolutionary medium. Relying on primary Arabic-language audio-visual, ethnographic, textual and visual sources, the book focuses on creative activists, practices and styles, and uses a historical-comparative approach across nations, periods, and media. In Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria, activists have deployed a rich array of media in fierce propaganda wars against murderous dictators. Mining the past for resonant symbols, creative insurgents execute daring physical performances, catchy slogans, memorable graffiti, and witty videos. At once whimsical, grim and heroic, insurgent art and culture promote cross-border solidarities and shape revolutionary political identities. Revolutionary expressive culture offers insight into the nature of power and resistance and opens a vista onto the future of Arab culture and politics.
This author is represented in the ACLS Humanities E-Book collection.
New Texts Out Now: Marwan M. Kraidy, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World
Mar 01 2017
by Marwan M. Kraidy
Listen
Marwan M. Kraidy, The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016.
Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book?
Marwan Kraidy (MK): I was inspired by a desire to grapple with enduring and fundamental issues of power and resistance, as well as an intense curiosity to come to terms with the Arab uprisings. I came of age in Lebanon during the so-called Arab satellite revolution and since then I have dedicated my professional life to understanding the overlap of media, politics, and culture in the Arab world, in comparative perspective. As the Arab uprisings began and touched the global imagination, my challenge was not to be seduced by the immediate explanations that came from whom Pierre Bourdieu called, uncharitably, “quick thinkers.” So I resolved to do some agonizingly slow thinking fed by a lot of reading about revolutions and social movements past (I had previous training in this kind of patience: when everyone was writing about al-Jazeera in the 2000s, I passed, and wrote a book on Arab reality television instead). I eventually narrowed down on the French Revolution and on the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, which I used as comparative touchstones. In the meantime, I was gathering a massive trove of primary data. For five years, I hunted down sources, snapped photos, collected speeches and manifestos, saved and watched digital videos, analyzed songs, stencils, and slogans, scoured newspaper columns and television shows. My curiosity and excitement grew fast and big. As data were still coming in, I slowed down my thinking further—which is against character for me— and had conversations with colleagues whose judgment I trust. This helped me ferret out what all my materials had in common. What were the underlying patterns? It turned out there was one: the human body was ubiquitous, as textual metaphor, as visual symbol, as revolutionary icon. Then, suddenly, your thinking, your reading, and your materials mesh. You realize that historically the human body has been central to the way revolutionaries defined themselves and their opponents, and that bodily metaphor has been pivotal to political power throughout the ages. Your mission becomes to identify historical patterns while discovering what is new this time around.
J: What particular topics, issues, and literatures does the book address?
MK: The Naked Blogger of Cairo tells the stories of the engrossing characters that moved the Arab uprisings along. Some are superheroes with one toe in reality and the other in fantasy, like Syria’s Sprayman and Tunisia’s Captain Khobza. Others are revolutionary embodiments: Burning Man (Mohammed Bouazizi); Samira Ibrahim, who took the Egyptian army to court over that state sanctioned rape that goes by the euphemism of “virginity test”; and of course, the eponymous Naked Blogger (Aliaa al-Mahdy). Others are the grotesque corporealities of tyranny: Laughing Cow (Mubarak); Beeshu (Assad); and Zaba (Ben Ali). The book explores the extent to which women were revolutionary icons in their own rights or merely rhetorical catalysts for the revolutions of men. It fleshes out connections between art history and revolutionary graffiti. It describes how puppetry is retooling itself in the digital age. It asks why certain expressive forms go viral, why some slogans stick, and why some monikers become alter egos to powerful men. Through these vivid stories of sacrifice and heroism, of venality and depredation, of creativity and audacity, the book grapples with questions about what “media” means, why the body is fundamental to power and resistance, how we can exit the sterile body-mind dichotomy and associated dualities. In the book I also develop the concept of “creative insurgency.”
What was the role of “communication” in the Arab uprisings? Initially, journalists and scholars gave social media an exaggerated role. As I have written elsewhere, there are many reasons behind this excessive focus on digital media, having to do with access, with a desire for an easily digestible narrative, and with a historical narrative in North American social science that sees communication technology to be central to social and political processes, particularly in the Middle East, ever since the early 1950s and Lerner’s The Passing of Traditional Society. Having said this, media and communication did play an important role, as they do in any social or political struggle. But the book’s definition of “media” and “communication” is broader than most.
Revolutionaries and their enemies communicate through every medium available to them; these are radically diverse, from the human voice to satellite telephones. The issue, therefore, is to identify the proper and proportional role of different media in the uprisings, and by extension, other struggles. Dismissing the role of media is as faulty as glorifying it. I see the book as an effort at a balancing act that some colleagues have already striven for. The trick is to figure out what role different modes of expression played at specific junctures, and how different media and social processes interacted.
To figure this out, I began with the very most basic medium: the body. Technology publicizes dissent, but the human body is the indispensable medium. From the Roman slave revolt to the French Revolution, from the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 to the US Civil Rights movement, insurgents have struggled for freedom and dignity first and foremost through their bodies, and then through the new media of the day. So another important issue the book put on the table is that of comparative work: between historical periods, between national experiences, between media modalities, and even between personalities. To do so we need to expand our definition of “media” to include the body, and stretch our understanding of “communication” to include different kinds of corporeality and embodiment.
Why is the body fundamental to the Arab uprisings? History tells us that corporeal metaphor is central to political power: from before Louis XIV to after Bashar al-Assad, the sovereign’s figure is the body of the realm. Writing during the Islamic Golden Age, al-Farabi cast the ideal polity as a healthy body. In The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, Kantorowicz traced a concept that developed in medieval Europe of “body politic” that envisions a kingdom as a human body and the king as its head. During the French Revolution, as Antoine de Baecque and Dorinda Outram among others have chronicled, corporeal symbolism focused on separating the king’s biological body natural from his symbolic body politic. Lisa Wedeen demonstrated the importance of body symbolism to Hafiz al-Assad’s reign, and Ziad Fahmy showed us that corporeal imagery animated some expressions of rebellion in Egypt’s 1919 Revolution. All this to say that writing a book like this brings about felicitous moments of synthesis and discovery. Reading Kantorowicz on the doctrine of the King’s Two Bodies was edifying, but rediscovering al-Farabi, who I had studied in high school, was exhilarating (by the way, Kantorowicz mentions al-Farabi once, in a footnote, and only to acknowledge he has heard of him). Women’s bodies are always polemical corporealities in revolutions, and the book engages with the work of historians of gender like Joan Scott and Beth Baron, and of several Jadaliyya contributions from scholars like Sherene Seikaly and Maya Mikdashi, when it wades into tensions between white Eurocentric feminism and its Others as manifest in “sextremist” organizations like Femen. Phenomenology and biopolitics, chiefly Merleau-Ponty, Lefort and Foucault, are of course chockfull with insights about connections between the body and power and rebellion, perception and movement, vision and touching: the book explores how hands, eyes, fists, breasts, fingers and faces took on revolutionary energy in the uprisings, trying to eject the dictator’s body from public space and replace it with the bodies of ordinary people. The body, I conclude, is fundamental to the rise and fall of strongmen.
How do the Arab uprisings help us understand the limitations of the body-mind, physical violence-symbolic violence, matter-idea dualities? We have the opportunities to abandon binaries that shape research on politics, culture and communication. With the rise of digital culture, considering the human body as a vital nexus of physical struggle and virtual communication helps us realize that distinctions between expression and action, mind and matter, the Internet and the “real world” are actually flimsy. Consider how that foundational act of the uprisings, Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation—painful, spectacular, embodied—reverberated in gritty graffiti, protest slogans, and digital memes. In fact, new-media scholars working in the humanities have argued that corporeality plays an ever more vital role in the digital age because the human body filters a plethora of images spawned by media convergence. This works in two directions. Digital culture “disperses” bodily experience across cyberspace. But as I show in The Naked Blogger of Cairo, the body anchors ideas and binds styles in mesmerizing, hybrid forms: operated by human hands and featuring handmade miniature bodies, the Syrian insurgent web-series Top Goon is at once revolutionary theater, finger puppetry, political satire, and digital video.
For the pairing of creativity and rebellion to convey anything beyond a vague notion of hip, non-violent struggle, it requires a definition that reaches beyond aesthetic concerns to incorporate action that is physical and symbolic, violent and peaceful. The notion of creative insurgency accomplishes just that.
What is creative insurgency? It is the sum total of rebellious expressions and actions that seeks to separate the dictator’s biological body from the body politic of the nation. Creative insurgency captures two tempos of action—radical and gradual—of revolutionary action. It undermines claims that the Arab uprisings were “non-violent”—rebels have torched buildings, hurtled stones, clashed with police—and recognizes that violence can be symbolic, verbal, physical and structural. It encompasses the kind of violence inflicted with words, songs, and images, and the one wreaked with fire, stones and rifles, acting in tandem to dislodge dictators, knowing fully well that the two types of violence overlap and sustain each other. Doing so summons a broader sense of creativity, germane to art and aesthetic concerns, but also to other kinds of revolutionary action: chanting slogans and burning your body, spraying graffiti and tending to the wounded, circulating jokes and building barricades. People use their bodies for aesthetic expression, but also in actions creative in physical or political ways.
What are some attributes of creative insurgency? I demonstrate that it is willful, planned and deliberate. Rarely is it spontaneous. It is also not an external expression of internally and previously formed emotions, ideas or beliefs. It expresses rebellion as much as it foments it. Creative insurgency is a social process. It is not the work of an individual artistic genius toiling alone in obscurity. Witness the many graffiti, satire, or puppetry collectives to emerge from the uprisings. Like other kinds of human artfulness, creative insurgency arises out of social interaction. Creative insurgents fuse familiar and foreign, old and new. It is in the volatile fusion of past and present that creative insurgency flourishes. Hell bent on projecting local struggles globally, creative insurgents use resonant symbolism. They draw on a historically deep repertoire in order to achieve a geographically wide resonance. Finally, creative insurgency plays a documentary role that expands the reach of revolutionary action. Creative insurgency, then, consists of imaginatively crafted, self-consciously pleading, messages intended to circulate broadly and attract attention: forms in search of visibility.
J: Who do you hope will read this book, and what sort of impact would you like it to have?
MK: Over the course of a decade, I have moved from the traditional, theory-laden academic monograph (which Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization, 2005 was) to an academic monograph that labored hard to keep theory from weighing down the narrative arc (Reality Television and Arab Politics, 2010), to a completely different format and mode of address in The Naked Blogger of Cairo. I wrote the book as a residential fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, where over daily common lunch, I had to explain my project to a motley crew of historians, anthropologists, economists, and molecular biologists. As you reach for clarity between bites of stampot and sips of espresso, you begin to really understand what your book is about. I relished conversations with novelists and journalists about the craft of writing and the art of telling stories.
So I worked really hard to write a book that specialists will appreciate but that non-academics can read. I crafted the narrative in thirty-eight short chapters that function as stand-alone essays telling the stories of key revolutionary characters. The first three chapters are conceptual, but in the next thirty-five chapters, I wove elements of theory with snapshots of human experience into a narrative of life and struggle in times of revolution. Can I compel the mythical “general educated reader” to give this book a chance? I hope so, and at least one reviewer thinks so http://www.popmatters.com/artists/marwan-m.-kraidy/tv/ . Regardless, I savored every minute of writing, re-rewriting, and writing once more.
I also had pedagogical considerations in mind. Over the years I have come to find textbooks too didactic and that story telling makes for a more conducive teaching and learning environment. I crafted The Naked Blogger of Cairo in a way that it would both instruct and entertain undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of fields—Burning Man and Laughing Cow really resonate! And of course, I hope the book will be considered a distinctive contribution to the literature on the Arab uprisings, and on revolutionary activism more generally, by scholars and general readers alike.
J: What other projects are you working on now?
MK: Most of my time these days is devoted to establishing the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School at Penn, as an institute for advanced study focused on the stunning diversity of global media and cultures, within a framework of equitable globalization. A cornerstone of CARGC’s mission is to bring together languages, histories, cultures and politics of specific world regions, with emerging theoretical and methodological approaches.
I am also working on a project, funded by a 2016 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, to reconsider the trope of the war machine in the age of global networked communication. Among other things, I am rereading Ibn Khaldûn and Deleuze and Guattari, and have been discovering Virilio with a mix of delight and trepidation. The project as whole seeks to understand the conjunction of globalization, image-making, political violence, and cultural identity through the prism of temporality. This project begins where The Naked Blogger ended: how can bodies survive the onslaught of a war machine like Daesh, as many Arabs call Islamic State, with a death cult as worldview? To grapple with this issue, I am watching a lot of gory videos I desperately wish I did not have to watch, and scrutinizing counterfactual maps and salvoes of mythmaking. I am also reading primary texts that Da‘esh has published, and exploring how their theory of terror is in fact a theory of mediation and spectacle that resonates uncannily with continental theory of the last twenty years. In this project, I am looking at the body through the prism of the war machine and necropolitics.
I am also collaborating with Omar Al-Ghazzi and Yesim Kaptan on another book that explores the rise and fall of Turkey in Arab public culture, from the advent of the AKP and the rise of Erdogan in the early 2000s, to the Gezi protests and Turkey’s downhill fall from grace since then. Titled “Neo-Ottoman Cool”—we have published several articles from this already—this project investigates how television, film, news, popular culture, even coffee, worked to overcome Ottoman imperial history in a Turkish charm offensive towards the Arab world. In doing so we investigate the contingency of history and memory and the geopolitics of popular culture.
Finally, still on the back burner is my long brewing project about Arab music videos, which I started working on about ten years ago, and intended to finish in 2011 but instead turned to what became The Naked Blogger of Cairo. This project investigates the distinctive role of music videos in the Arab culture wars, at the intersection of commerce, sexuality, religion and politics. It seeks to understand music video as a tool of visibility, as a space for struggles over the meanings of the body, as an instrument of boundary-making. It explores music videos as industrial products, vanity projects, and also as art.
Excerpt from The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World.
Creative insurgency combines two types of violence that overlap and sustain each other: the kind of violence inflicted with words, songs, and images and the one wreaked with fire, stones, and rifles, acting in tandem to dislodge dictators. Doing so summons a broader sense of creativity, germane to art and aesthetic concerns, but also to other kinds of revolutionary action: chanting slogans and burning your body, spraying graffiti and tending to the wounded, circulating jokes and building barricades. If creativity, in the sociologist James Jasper’s definition, is an “extreme form of flexibility,” then few instruments can be as creative as the human body. People use their bodies for aesthetic expression, but also in actions that are creative in physical or political ways.
What are some attributes of creative insurgency?
Creative insurgency is willful, planned, and deliberate. Rarely is it spontaneous. Mural street art is a laborious endeavor. Even stencils, executed in quick squirts of paint through precut templates, take a great deal of honing. Graffitists first cut stencils from cardboard, then practice intently to test different kinds of paints and materials (cardboard? laminated paper?) and try out several colors. When I visited one graffiti artist in a decrepit suburb of Beirut, I noticed on the walls of his home studio half a dozen iterations of a famous stencil that I had tracked around the city. Some were crisp, others murky. In one, spilling paint oozed several inches below the stencil itself; in another, too much paint was spattered, deforming the stencil’s design. The artist used yellow on a dark wooden surface in the entrance, but daubed dark blue right on the off-white wall of the living room. Thorough preparation also applies to sloganeering, an intricate social process with formal and informal elements involving a division of labor between slogan composers who toil away from the limelight and charismatic slogan leaders who perform in public.
Creative insurgency is not an external expression of internally preformed emotions, ideas, or beliefs. It expresses rebellion as much as it shapes it. Spinoza understood human nature as a fluid fusion of body and soul, and Herder believed that what we feel and what we express are intricately connected, that “the human being who expresses himself is often surprised by what he expresses, and gains access to his ‘inner being’ only by reflecting on his own expressive acts.” This is fundamental: Creative insurgency gives voice and shape to revolutionary claims as much as it prods insurgents to always reassess their aspirations and identities. As a theory of power, creative insurgency rejects the distinction between mind and body, persuasion and compulsion, symbolic and physical violence.
Creative insurgency is a social process. It is not the work of an individual artistic genius toiling alone in obscurity. Arab revolutionary figures became iconic precisely because they represent something bigger than themselves. The bodies of Mohamed Bouazizi, Khaled Said, and Aliaa al-Mahdy refract various kinds of repression and resistance. Figures you will encounter as Qahera, Captain Khobza, and Sprayman embody widely shared fears and esires. Revolutionary practice itself is collective: some well-known artifacts are the work of groups of people, dedicated, coordinated, often anonymous.Several activists toiled to create and maintain the “Kullina Khaled Said” Facebook page; a handful devised the Top Goon web series. Kharabeesh (doodles), creator of the Journal du Zaba satirical videos, is actually a Jordanian group. Others include Mona Lisa Brigades in Egypt and Asha‘b Assoury ‘Aref Tareqoh (The Syrian People Know Its Way) in Syria. Like other kinds of human artfulness, creative insurgency arises out of social interaction.
Creative insurgents fuse familiar and foreign, old and new. These ingenious activists graft new meanings onto recognizable symbols. Bouazizi’s self-immolation echoed Kurdish self-immolators and Palestinian suicide bombers. A decades-old poem by Abul Qassem al-Chabbi, a gifted Tunisian poet who died in 1934, inspired revolutionaries in 2010. Revolutionary digital finger puppetry is a heady mix of ancient and avant-garde, wielding familiarity with puppetry, presidential speeches, torture sessions, and reality television. Firestorms of controversy surrounding naked activism are rooted in century-old quarrels over art and nation and contemporary polemics about feminist art and activism. It is in the volatile fusion of past and present that creative insurgency flourishes.
Hell-bent on projecting local struggles globally, creative insurgents use resonant symbolism. They draw on a historically deep repertoire in order to achieve a geographically wide resonance. Egyptian muralist Alaa Awad used neo-pharaonic motifs, and Franco-Tunisian artist eL-Seed found inspi- ration for “calligraffiti” in Islamic calligraphy. To reach a worldwide public without undermining local authenticity, these artists must reconcile local rootedness with global attention. Though swaddled in local politics, revolutionary art seeks to extend its reach, but it cannot allow global political or commercial forces to absorb it completely, for then it ceases to be art. This is a burning issue because the uprisings have spawned a global renewal of Arab art. When activist-artists exchange the grit and peril of the streets of Cairo and Damascus for the comforts and safety of European residential fellowships, American museums, and Gulf galleries, they enter transna- tional circuits of art, money, and politics. Many artist-activists of the Arab uprisings are now refugees in Amsterdam and Paris, Beirut and Berlin, Sharjah and Stockholm. With the rise of the “creative-curatorial-corporate complex,” risks of selling out are as big as the rewards of fame.
Finally, creative insurgency plays a documentary role that broadens the impact of revolutionary action. Consider how digital images expanded the reach of Bouazizi’s self-burning from a desolate town in the Tunisian hinterland to global attention, and how activists used a panoply of media tospread their message to the world. Creative insurgency celebrates heroes, commemorates martyrs, and sustains revolutionaries. It depicts bodies murdered, maimed, or tortured and contributes to an evidentiary chronicle of political abuse. It triggers debate and contributes to a vast, crowd-sourced archive of revolutionary words, images, and sounds. Artistry is important, because the ability to attract a public depends on what the literary critic Michael Warner called the “differential deployment of style.” Creative insurgency, then, consists of imaginatively crafted, self-consciously pleading messages intended to circulate broadly and attract attention: forms in search of visibility.
How does creative insurgency unfold?The Naked Blogger of Cairo identifies two modes of creative insurgency,radical and gradual. The radical mode of Burning Man entails embodied, life-or-death revolutionary action, like self-immolation. This type of insurgency occurs in one-time outbursts. It is violent and spectacular. The survival of the human body itself is at stake. Radical deeds are life-threatening actions spawned by deadly conditions. The radical mode is crucial because it is a direct confrontation with the ruler, an open challenge to his sovereignty. In contrast, the gradual mode of Laughing Cow subverts the norms of sovereign power. It trespasses its boundaries by launching symbolic attacks at the ruler. Body imagery is central to this type of revolutionary action, and a peculiar aesthetic of peril and deprivation underscores corporeal vulnerability. The gradual mode is distinctive in the incremental andcumulative ways it chips away at power. It can be seen in revolutionary humor. Through symbolic inversion, such actions pull the powerful down to the level of the powerless.
The radical and gradual modes entwine. They fuel and shape, prod and pull each other. Gradual rebellion expands prerevolutionary dissent inEgypt, Syria, and Tunisia: double-entendre parodies, ambivalent art, and allegorical theater that autocrats encouraged, tolerated, or manipulated. In contrast, radical creativity is a no-holds-barred, high-risk, high-reward gambit. Sporadic radical actions fuel waves of gradual infractions that reverberate widely, setting grounds for the next radical gauntlet. The violent outburst of Bouazizi’s self-immolation inspired graffiti, memorials, videos,and slogans that in turn galvanized other radical actions. Unfurling with different speeds, cadences, and visibilities, radical and gradual activisms mesh in time and space. Naked Blogger mixes Burning Man and Laughing Cow and muddies distinctions between them. By inviting both moral opprobrium and threats of physical oblivion, al-Mahdy’s digital nude selfie had immediate rhetorical and physical consequences. Many acts of creative insurgency are hybrids of radical and gradual.
Together, radical militancy and gradual activism set in motion a contest between three kinds of body—classical, heroic, and grotesque—that induces status reversals. Classical bodies, like the statues of antiquity, are bounded, hard, erect, and dominant. They are high-perched bodies that dictators give to themselves via ceremony, pomp, and ubiquitous statues in heroic poses—arms raised basking in the adulation of their subjects, hands clasped and a bold forward gaze contemplating a bright future, captions extolling contrived heroic deeds. But classical bodies are also immobile, cold, and distant, disconnected from the people and impervious to their struggles. Had you visited Egypt, Syria, or Tunisia before the uprisings, you would have been unable to avoid the gaze of one or another statue, portrait, or monument glorifying the heroic body of the leader. Classical bodies pretend tobe heroic bodies, but that cloak is flimsy.
[From The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World by Marwan M. Kraidy. Copyright (c) 2016 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]
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The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World
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The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World Marwan M. Kraidy
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Kraidy argues that he essential medium of political expression in the Arab uprisings of 2010-12 was not cell phone texts or Twitter, but the human body. His sections are In the Name of the People, Burning Man, Laughing Cow, Puppets and Masters, Virgins and Vixens, and Requiem for a Revolution. Detailed topics include the dictator's two bodies, a bad rap, down and out in Tunis, a digital body politic, the poodle and the bear, the aesthetics of disrobement, blue bra girl, the dilemma of the liberals, and the creative-curatorial-corporate complex. ([umlaut] Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR)
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//HOME//BOOKS//REVIEWS//MARWAN M. KRAIDY
'The Naked Blogger of Cairo' Combines Erudition With Style and Wit
BY HANS ROLLMAN
11 July 2016
DWELLING ON THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN POLITICAL UPHEAVAL RISKS IGNORING THE HUMAN BODY, WHICH LIES AT THE ROOT OF CREATIVE INSURGENCY.
cover art
THE NAKED BLOGGER OF CAIRO: CREATIVE INSURGENCY IN THE ARAB WORLD
MARWAN M. KRAIDY
(HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS)
US: JUN 2016
AMAZON
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
In a virtual world, does the body still matter?
Media coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings, and the bloody and repressive dictatorships and civil wars that have followed, swamps the western media consumer with body counts and deathly statistics: dozens killed in a market bombing in Iraq; hundreds killed in an American drone attack; tens of thousands gathered at an Egyptian protest; hundreds of thousands killed in the Syrian civil war.
French scholar Michel Foucault coined the phrase ‘biopolitics’ to refer to “the kind of power that manages people as ‘bare life’ and decides which are worth continuing and which deserve death.” A result of this is the reduction of politics to numbers; of conflicts to statistics and struggles to body counts. Behind these statistics of bare life and death, however, lurks the struggle to resist such reductionary logics; the desire for something more than bare life, the demand to be counted as an individual worthy of recognition and life.
When Tunisian street vendor Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed al-Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010, fatally burning himself but sparking the Arab uprisings that are still raging throughout the region, his was an act of what Marwan Kraidy refers to as ‘biopolitical insurgency’.
“Bouazizi’s gambit to [Tunisian dictator] Ben Ali was as follows: You are the sovereign dictator, and as such you claim the right to decide who lives and who dies, when, and where. I am wresting this power from you by burning myself in protest,” writes Kraidy. This notion was “echoed in the motto of the revolution, ‘If the people one day decide they want life,’ by Tunisian poet Abul Qassem al-Chabbi.”
“Much—too much—has been said about the role of digital media in the Arab uprisings, but how technologies interact with the humans who operate them remains unclear,” writes Kraidy in The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World. He strives to fill this gap in his new study, by exploring the sustained centrality of the human body to the revolutionary politics of the Middle East. “Considering the human body as a vital nexus of physical struggle and virtual communication helps us realize that distinctions between expression and action, mind and matter, the Internet and the ‘real world’ are actually flimsy,” writes Kraidy. Even—or perhaps especially—in an era of virtual reality and staggering death counts, bodies matter.
“By connecting ideas and action, perceiving, producing, processing, and disseminating images and feelings, the body is a linchpin of revolutionary change.”
Creative Insurgency and Body Metaphor
A key component of the Arab uprisings—like mass mobilizations in other parts of the world in recent years—has been what Kraidy refers to as ‘creative insurgency’. Kraidy uses the term to resist the way in which some scholars and journalists have tried to reconcile the ‘creative’ elements of mass movements—from graffiti to performance art to hip-hop—with the intrinsic violence of the struggles in which they are embedded (often by downplaying the violence). Insurgency suggests greater upheaval than the term ‘protest’ or ‘dissent’, while acknowledging that it does not always lead to revolution.
“Creative insurgency combines two types of violence that overlap and sustain each other: the kind of violence inflicted with words, songs, and images and the one wreaked with fire, stones, and rifles, acting in tandem to dislodge dictators,” he writes.
Creative insurgency, as Kraidy uses the term, is defined by several qualities. It’s “willful, planned and deliberate”, not spontaneous. Graffiti and murals take a great deal of work and planning to produce. As do music videos, satirical web series, or blog sites.
Creative insurgency also has real-world impact. It’s not just an aesthetic expression of political ideas, but it also influences and affects those ideas and practices. “It expresses rebellion as much as it shapes it,” writes Kraidy.
“This is fundamental: Creative insurgency gives voice and shape to revolutionary claims as much as it prods insurgents to always reassess their aspirations and identities. As a theory of power, creative insurgency rejects the distinction between mind and body, persuasion and compulsion, symbolic and physical violence.”
Creative insurgency is also a social process, produced not by a solitary artistic genius, but by artists and groups of artists in dialogue with each other and in dialogue with the broader society. It arises out of social interaction, explains Kraidy. In doing so, it fuses “familiar and foreign, old and new. These ingenious activists graft new meanings onto recognizable symbols… It is in the volatile fusion of past and present that creative insurgency flourishes.”
Finally, creative insurgency not only documents political and revolutionary events, but it deepens and shapes the impact of those events. It sustains and shapes public debate; by celebrating victims and martyrs as heroes, or politicians and soldiers as villains, or by complicating the portrayal of both, it inspires and shapes public understandings and debates.
Creative insurgency, says Kraidy, can be either radical (for example, the self-immolation of Bouazizi; he refers to this as the Burning Man mode) or gradual (for example, parodies and memes that push the boundaries yet are sometimes tolerated by those they target—he calls this the ‘Laughing Cow’ mode, in reference to a long-running brand of dictator-directed animal humour that developed particular resonance in Egypt). Often these two modes—the radical and the gradual—are intertwined.
Fundamental to creative insurgency is the human body, he emphasizes. Whether this involves comparing Egypt’s rulers to cows, or the eponymous naked blogger of Cairo—the courageous Aliaa al-Mahdy, who posted nude photos of herself on her blog in defiance of social norms, and continued her defiance from asylum in Sweden by menstruating on Islamic State flags and Quranic verses, among other acts—the body plays a central role in imbuing creative insurgency with its power and resonance. Graffiti murals depict dead, dying and tortured bodies in an in-your-face reminder to state and revolutionaries alike; government snipers take aim at protesters’ eyes while graffiti artists paint watchful and defiant eyes on their murals. Military thugs crush the hands of critical cartoonists while hand and finger signals become silent shorthand for resistance.
The exploration of creative insurgency becomes an exploration of the human body and the multitudinous ways in which it assumes meaning in political action. In so doing, Kraidy explores an incredibly diverse range of examples of creative insurgency in the Arab world since the uprisings (also connecting them with their historical roots and precedents), from rappers and graffiti artists to memes and satirical television and web series. He takes the reader on a tour of creative resistance in the Arab states, both bodily and digital, which has by and large escaped mainstream media coverage in the West.
A parting thought: powerful though body metaphor still is to creative insurgency, one can’t help but wonder whether it has—or may one day have—its limits. At least in North American contexts, but in other parts of the world as well, the use of body-shaming, fat-shaming, and other forms of body metaphors (comparing politicians to animals, for instance) has come up against growing critique from all sides of the political spectrum. This certainly doesn’t constrain creative insurgency in its entirety, but one can’t help but wonder whether the role of body metaphor in creative insurgency may soon become a more nuanced and fraught endeavor than it is in the situations Kraidy describes.
The Naked Blogger of Cairo is an astonishingly accessible work for one that is also deeply intellectual and scholarly. Credit goes to Kraidy’s clear articulation of ideas and theories. While his scholarship is accessible, a comment deserves to be made on style, a feature that’s far too lacking in contemporary scholarship. Yet Kraidy combines intellectual erudition with style and wit. From the ubiquitous puns to breathtaking metaphors, Kraidy signals that style and elegance is not yet dead in academic writing.
At the same time, Kraidy’s scholarship appears to resist the very colonialism it exposes. Despite the inevitable presence of Foucault and Haraway and other larger-than-life theorists, Kraidy draws heavily on regional theorists and scholars and writers, in lieu of littering his work with western intellectuals. It’s hard to say whether this is deliberate, but it suggests a growing attention on the part of scholars not just to the content of post-colonial writing but to the source and form of this writing as well (Judith Butler, in some of her recent work, adopts a similar approach).
The Naked Blogger of Cairo is a superb and important work not just for scholars but for anyone who cares about the relationships between art, the body, and revolution. Creative insurgency is a phenomenon worthy of all the attention it’s being given, for not only are these methods of creative insurgency certain to stay with us for a long time, as Kraidy notes, but “in these styles of rebellion, human resilience and creativity flourish, and the will to live, despite the specter of death, implores us to be awed, over and again.”
THE NAKED BLOGGER OF CAIRO: CREATIVE INSURGENCY IN THE ARAB WORLD
Rating: