SAQI BOOKS

Popular Culture and Political Identity in the Arab Gulf States

edited by Alanoud Alsharekh, Robert Springborg, Sarah Stewart

As the Gulf assumes an ever more important role in the global political economy, new cultural and political identities are emerging, both through natural processes and as a result of state design. This volume explores the new dynamism of the Gulf, reflected not just in high-rise buildings and booming stock markets, but also manifested in the realms of art, ideas and expression and their relationships with political authority. The contributors include figures instrumental to the emergence of these new identities, including artists, broadcasters and cultural commentators such as Amr Hamzawy, Nadia Rahman and Nimah Ismail Nawwab.

AUTHOR BIO:
Alanoud Alsharekh is a member of the Advisory Council of the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a consultant for the UN Development Fund for Women.Robert Springborg holds the MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies at SOAS and is Director of the LMEI.