It Is What It Is

A call by the Hayward gallery has been circulating regarding a second installment of the Jeremy Deller piece, It Is What It Is. The call, an excerpt of which follows, was sent out to look for participants in the gallery show opening this month (February 22) in London: “I work as Assistant Curator at the Hayward Gallery and am currently carrying out research for our forthcoming exhibition on Turner prize-winner Jeremy Deller which takes place at the Hayward Gallery from 22 February - 13 May 2012.  The exhibition will feature a number of works, including an installation of ‘It Is What It Is’ - a work which explores the recent history and current circumstances of Iraq ...

Crocodiles of Arabia

Beyond Mullahs and Persian Party People: The Invisibility of Being Iranian on TV

At first glance, the impending premiere of Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset would seem to herald that Iranian Americans have finally achieved melting pot bliss in the cauldron of American multiculturalism. After three decades of villainy, cultural essentialism, and protagonistic invisibility in American media, six youngish southern Californian (SoCal) adults—who party, shop, and date(!)—are poised to catapult Iranians into the American mainstream as ethnic bon vivants. A short while ago, such an about-face would have seemed like an impossibility. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, being Iranian onscreen was limited to grim news stories detailing the religious fanaticism of ...

February Flowers

Spring is not here yet. It was a cold and bloody week. Reach out and pluck all the flowers you see—real and imagined—and make a wreath for those who died! And for those who will...for words, and what they stand for. * Rheim Alkadhi's "Pictures from a Camera." * Diyala Najjar translates an excerpt from Ibtisam Azem's The Sleep Thief: Gharib Hifawi. * Gaelle Raphael translates poems from Suzanne Alaywan's The Gazelle's Throw.  * Part II of Firas Massouh's translation of Al-Zahawi's "Revolt in Hell." All previous culture posts can be accessed here. Read and forward our Call for Posts. Tell us what you ...

The Sleep Thief

The Sleep Thief I will never forget that the interrogator called me “The Sleep Thief.” The name stuck in my mind whenever I used to steal a few seconds of sleep, to hold it together before them, even if for a moment. But this name never left me. I even started to dream about it. I had the same dream every night and would wake up drenched in sweat not knowing what to do. I cry every night until my eyes are puffy. My eyes become bigger than my face and cover it. Every night the gods descend tirelessly to wipe away my tears and console me. But nothing works. I cry so much that my eyelids cover my eyes, and I can barely see. I ask them to give me back my yesterday. They ...

Al-Zahawi's Revolt in Hell (Part II)

  [This is part II of the translation. You can read the introduction and part I here and the original Arabic here.]            XVI.        Taking the dead down to hell   Jettisoned I was from the heavens, Two angels tugging my rope, Like a farmer with his cattle. Three times then, I was immersed in boiling tar, Thrown into the pit of hell,

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Imagine Africa

Imagine Africa. Published by the Pirogue Collective. Brooklyn, NY and Dakar, Senegal: Island Position, 2011. If you do a Google search for the phrase “Imagine Africa,” the results are not encouraging. Among the most popular results, you will find a company operating under that name offering “luxury safaris and beach holidays” in Africa. You will also encounter a project originating out of the University of Michigan under the name “IMAGINE Africa,” which in this case stands for “IMplementing A Global Internet Network in Africa,” a project intended “to bring Internet access to the rural population of Africa.” Another popular result is for an exhibition called “Imagine ...

The War on Error

New Texts Out Now: Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation

Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (1989). New Edition. New York and London: I. B. Tauris, 2010 [When Ella Shohat’s book Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation was first published in 1989, Edward Said wrote: “Shohat's Israeli Cinema is a tour-de-force. Not only is it theoretically sophisticated, it is also deeply rooted in the changing politics and perceptions of the Israeli predicament as they bear upon Israeli films. With brilliant humanistic insight, Shohat describes the underlying ideological myths and allegorical structures and contributes significantly to a new, enlarged understanding of the dynamics ...