Displacement in Modern Arab Culture
Displacement has shaped the modern Arab world and continues to do so, driving populations into exile and diaspora from North Africa, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Arab world. Cultural production from the Arab world is deeply influenced by the communal experience of displacement and responds to it in a variety of ways. In this course, we will analyze how themes of migration, exile, and diaspora manifest in literature, film, and contemporary artistic expression. Through critical examination and discussion, students will gain insight into the ways in which Arab identities and narratives are shaped by the experience of upheaval, and what potential impacts it may have on Arab cultural production and language in the future.