Arab Characters Research Articles

Madrasa, 2023

ABSTRACT This repertory-dramatic study examines the portrayal of Arab characters in Hebrew drama on both stage and TV. It delves into the exploration of ‘mixed’ love stories, initially within the realm of theatre and later extending into Israeli television drama since the 1990s. The scope of this study encompasses a range of plays, theatrical performances, and television dramas spanning the years 1912–2023. It places particular emphasis on ‘key’ dramas that have played a pivotal role in shaping the content and dramatic representations of conflicts, often sparking public debates, such as Allah Karim (1912), Na’im (1978), Two Minutes from Fureidis (2002), and Madrasa (2023). Madrasa appears to be potentially groundbreaking comedy series that addresses important social and cultural issues in an engaging and entertaining manner.

The Portrait of Arab Characters in Layla Halaby's Once in a Promised Land

This article aims to examine the portrait of Arab characters in Layla Halaby's Once in a Promised Land. This study focuses on the situation of the Arab Muslim protagonist of Once in Promised Land by Halaby, a postcolonial literary masterpiece addressing the topic of Muslim Arabs in the United States following the horrific terrorist assault of 9/11, the portrait that the researcher intends to show in this article. The study attempts to shed light on how Muslim Arabs were seen in America following the event. It provides insight into the main protagonists, Salwa and Jassim from Jordan, who stand in for Arab Muslims who have chased the American dream but have discovered a different kind of reality by following this dream. The study also discusses the state of Arab American literature related to the Halaby's novel Once in Promised Land and other research on the idea. The researcher endeavors to provide a lucid analysis of the Arab and Muslim characters’ portrayal in Halaby's Once in Promised Land. It is noted that the pair is not religiously inclined, yet because of their race and innate culture, the Western world has a skewed perception of them. The research findings revealed that the American novelists purposely reflected dark aspects of the Arab Muslim characters so as to show to the world that Islam is a religion that propagates oppression and violence. As a conclusion, the study proposes a framework of the portrayal of the Arab Muslim characters conceptualized by the post-colonial perspective as a method. It is recommended that future research examines the reliability and authentication of the respective American novels that have distorted the Arab Muslim identity. يهدف هذا المقال إلى فحص صورة الشخصيات العربية في رواية ليلى حلبي ذات مرة في أرض الميعاد. تركز هذه الدراسة على وضع البطل العربي المسلم في رواية "ذات مرة في أرض الميعاد" للكاتبة حلبي، وهي تحفة أدبية ما بعد الاستعمار تتناول موضوع العرب المسلمين في الولايات المتحدة بعد الهجوم الإرهابي المروع في 11 سبتمبر، وهي الصورة التي ينوي الباحث تقديمها. تظهر في هذه المقالة. وتحاول الدراسة تسليط الضوء على كيفية رؤية العرب المسلمين في أمريكا بعد الحدث. ويقدم نظرة ثاقبة للبطلين الرئيسيين، سلوى وجاسم من الأردن، اللذين يمثلان المسلمين العرب الذين طاردوا الحلم الأمريكي ولكنهم اكتشفوا نوعًا مختلفًا من الواقع من خلال اتباع هذا الحلم. كما تناقش الدراسة حالة الأدب العربي الأمريكي فيما يتعلق برواية الحلبي مرة في أرض الميعاد وأبحاث أخرى حول الفكرة. ويسعى الباحث إلى تقديم تحليل واضح لتصوير الشخصيات العربية والمسلمة في رواية الحلبي ذات مرة في أرض الميعاد. ويلاحظ أن الزوجين ليسا ذوي ميول دينية، ولكن بسبب عرقهما وثقافتهما الفطرية، فإن العالم الغربي لديه نظرة منحرفة عنهما. وأظهرت نتائج البحث أن الروائيين الأمريكيين عكسوا عمداً الجوانب المظلمة في الشخصيات العربية المسلمة حتى لا يخطئوا. أظهروا للعالم أن الإسلام دين ينشر القمع والعنف. وفي الختام تقترح الدراسة إطارًا لتصوير الشخصيات العربية الإسلامية من منظور ما بعد الاستعمار كمنهج. ومن المستحسن أن تبحث الأبحاث المستقبلية في مدى موثوقية وصحة الروايات الأمريكية التي شوهت الهوية العربية الإسلامية

Challenging Stereotypes: Examining Arab Womanhood in “The Negotiator”

This article presents a participant-based film analysis of Brad Anderson’s The Negotiator (2018), a Netflix production. The objective of this study is to examine the prevalent portrayal of Arabs and Muslims as the primary antagonists in American (neo-Orientalist) cinema. By analyzing the development of Arab characters, the article delves into the construction of villainy and its function in juxtaposition to heroism within the film’s narrative. A particular focus is given to the marginalization of Arab women, who are deprived of agency and the opportunity to express themselves. To address this issue, the study includes perspectives from Arab female participants, allowing them to articulate their perceptions and connections to both the Arab and American characters in the film. The research explores the common depiction of Arab or Muslim women as inactive extras or silenced secondary characters in post-9/11 American films. Through this investigation, the article aims to shed light on the representation and portrayal of Arab and Muslim women in contemporary American cinema.

Becoming Modern and Secular: A Review Essay on Recent Work on Islam and South Asia

AbstractThe Muslims of South Asia are more than five hundred million people, distributed between Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and there are more Muslims in South Asia than in any other region in the world. After Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the second, third, and fourth largest Muslim countries, respectively. Although the prevalent approach in the study of Islam is to consider its so-called Arab character as central, the Muslims in pre-Partition India constituted the largest body of Muslims in the world, and the vast political and intellectual influence exerted by South Asian Muslims on the wider Muslim world is often neglected. Many of the most important political, intellectual, and spiritual developments within Islam have had their origins, or have flourished, in South Asia, and Muslims from the region have played important roles in the global history of Islam, including during the colonial period, in resistance to colonial rule, and in intellectual responses to and dialogue with Western thought. Pakistan was specifically created to provide a homeland for South Asia’s Muslim population and its trials and tribulations over the past seventy-five years have been carefully watched by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims constitute India’s largest minority, with an often uneasy—to say the least—relationship to the majority. In the context of the three books under discussion, I explore issues, such as secularism, modernity, and religion, and their impacts on the conception of the nation-state that was promoted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as an expression of political modernity.

L’image de l’Arabe dans la Série Netflix Messiah : analyse dialogique

The Image of The Arab in Netflix Series Messiah: Dialogical analysis
 This study falls within the purview of discourse analysis and seeks to propose nuanced interpretations regarding the portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood cinema. Initially characterized by negative stereotypes, this image undergoes a partial rehabilitation in the Netflix series Messiah. The investigation aims to scrutinize both representations by analyzing specific sequences from the series, which premiered on the Netflix platform on January 1, 2020. The series revolves around the return of the Messiah, linked to eschatology, portraying him as a savior in conflict zones addressing desperate people in Arabic, notably in Syria, West Bank, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The doctrinal theme of the Messiah's return sparks significant impact in spirituality and theology, eliciting diverse discussions and interpretations. Employing a qualitative approach rooted in the principles of nominational dialogism, this study identifies stereotypical representations often ingrained in Hollywood's conventional beliefs. It achieves this by scrutinizing parameters of categorization and enunciation in interactions involving Arab characters such as Jibril Hassan, Samer, Sheikh Zaid, the Imam, and others.The study results shed light on two contrasting images of Arabs. Firstly, Sheikh Zaid embodies the stereotype of an extremist and violent Arab, perpetuating long- standing clichés. Secondly, Jibril Hassan represents the image of a vulnerable and easily manipulable Arab, adding a layer of complexity to the overall representation. By delving into these subtleties, this research seeks to challenge and transcend the conventional depictions of Arabs in Hollywood cinema. Its objective is to foster a deeper understanding of the intricacies associated with these characters, moving beyond the limiting and one-dimensional portrayals often disseminated by mainstream media. The ultimate aspiration is to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing dialogue regarding the representation of diverse cultures and identities in popular entertainment, such as Hollywood, which wields significant influence over public perceptions. Drawing on Jullien's perspective on alterity, the study advocates understanding others through their unique viewpoints rather than imposing our own. Applied to Hollywood's portrayal of Arabs, this approach encourages a shift beyond stereotypes toward a nuanced appreciation of Arab identity and cultural richness. Such an approach promotes deeper cultural empathy and challenges prevailing, simplistic narratives in global cinema and media.

The Ambivalent Depictions of Arabs in Naomi Shihab Nye’s Habibi and Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent

The study aims to identify how Arab-American authors Naomi Shihab Nye and Diana Abu-Jaber depict Arabs in their novels, Habibi and Crescent. Additionally, the study attempts to compare and contrast between the two writers’ depictions of Arabs in their novels. To achieve the objectives of the study, the theory of Post-colonialism is used; more specifically, Edward Said’s views from his book Orientalism are applied to both novels. The study concludes by showing how both Nye and Abu-Jaber depict Arab characters in an ambivalent way within their works, Habibi and Crescent, respectively, in that they sometimes present Arabs in a positive light and other times in a negative light. The study also concludes with a set of concepts that include lack of identity, hybridity, and multiculturalism that have affected Arab-Americans and influenced their cultural values. These representations are also considered ambivalent.

Coming of Age in the Arab Diasporic Künstlerroman: Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer (2013) and Nada Awar Jarrar’s An Unsafe Haven (2016)

This study explores the künstlerroman from an Arab diasporic viewpoint. It aims to illuminate the first years of the formative process that the Arab diasporic artist undergoes in The Corpse Washer (2013) by Sinan Antoon and An Unsafe Haven (2016) by Nada Awar Jarrar as Arab diasporic künstlerromans. The article traces the childhood of Antoon’s Jawad and Jarrar’s Anas as young aspiring Arab artists against the backdrop of the novels’ socio-political contexts, which include religion, family, and the political conditions in the protagonists’ countries. Since Arab diasporic writers relocate the genre into an Arab transnational setting, this study draws attention to the violence and suffering in the lives of artists as children and the fact that they are brought up in an Arab household that does not feature in the traditional genre plot. It as well explores the environment the characters grow up in like social class and religious milieu and expounds on the way each character has seeds of artistic sensibility from a young age. The Arab characters face the issue of generational conflict about art as a proper career choice. Their parents play a role in the suppression of their artistic aspirations since they assume that they have a better-planned future for their children. Due to family expectations, religion, and political unrest, the characters have their future planned for them by others. The article concludes that the Arab diasporic künstlerroman provides alternative coming-of-age stories where the artist of Arab descent faces more challenges than his counterpart in the traditional genre.

Historical and Cultural Processes and Periodization of Arabic Literature

The article is devoted to the theoretical problem of the periodization of the Arab national literature. The issue of dividing Arabic literature into periods has long been in the focus of both Arab and Western, as well as Russian literary researchers. Undoubtedly, such issues, which have recently acquired relevance in connection with the growing interest in modern Arabic literature, require analysis from such points of view as the multiplicity and variability of existing periodizations, the reasons for the discrepancy between the periodizations of European and Arab national literatures and various approaches to the compilation of periodization by Arab and European specialists. The purpose of this work was designated as an attempt to demonstrate, using analysis and comparison, as well as the method of historicity, the redundancy or, conversely, the insufficiency of some periodizations and the terms used in them, to find different names for the same periods with the same artistic principles and time frames, as well as to establish the factors that had the strongest influence on the development of Arabic literature. In the course of the study, conclusions are drawn about the inexpediency of correlating the periodization of Arabic literature with general European, as well as about the key role of a number of factors in the history of Arabic literature. First, linguistic (minimal changes in the literary language since the codification of the Quran in the 7th century), that ensured the continuity and tradition of Arabic literature, which for centuries preserved and cultivated figurative systems and stylistic devices of preIslamic times. Secondly, the factor of national domination - a purely Arab or general Muslim character of the society. Under the conditions of the latter, there was a mutual enrichment of the literatures of the peoples included in the caliphate, which entailed fundamental changes in the genre system and themes of Arabic literature. The author thus holds the idea that the originality of Arab literature is due to the characters of Arab preIslamic culture in general and verbal culture in particular and the historical processes of the Middle Ages in the Middle East, first of all - the rapid formation of the Caliphate as an imperial state and the including of most Arab countries a part in the Ottoman Empire, where Arabic was not the state language, from the XIV century and before the territorial redistribution of the results of the World War I.

Domestic Slavery, Skin Colour, and Image Dialectic in Thirteenth‐Century Arabic Manuscripts

This essay is the first scholarly exploration of slavery's visual representation in medieval Islam. Close examination of thirteenth‐century paintings from Arabic manuscripts, considered alongside textual sources, reveals how images may contribute to the study of slavery in the premodern Middle East. In particular, these paintings confirm the link between domestic service and the trade in black African slaves. They also suggest that if skin colour did not determine enslavement, it might have shaped the perception of slaves and the division of labour among them. This essay further attends to the semantic operations of slavery within the picture. One of its suggestions is that images of slaves functioned as signs of pure labour, as well as liminal figures, framing, highlighting, and creating a contrast with light‐skinned Arab characters, mostly seen engaged in acts of discourse and leisurely activities. A visual dialectic seems to be at work, creating a series of asymmetrical relationships, between light‐skinned and dark‐skinned, freedom and slavery, speech and labour, high culture and servitude. Such a dialectic may ultimately be read as a comment on the mechanisms and limits of archival power.

The Dual Attitude towards the Arab Personality in the Contemporary Hebrew Children's Literature: A Critical Analysis of Ronette Gettleman's 'On Her Way

Having received a noticeable stature in the contemporary Hebrew children’s literature, Ronette Gettleman is one of the most renowned authors who have addressed the issue of hate speech and the culture of peace in contemporary Hebrew children’s literature. Hate speech is considered part of Zionist literature. Gettleman’s story On Her Way is a prominent piece of prose that depicts the Arabs and their image in Israeli children's minds. Hence, the story On Her Way was chosen as an attempt to identify, through selected excerpts from the story, how the Arab person is negatively portrayed in contemporary Hebrew children’s literature. The author, through some Israeli children, expresses the concepts of hostility and hatred in their conscience towards the Arab character. Like other Israeli authors, Gettleman shows that the image of Arabs in Hebrew literature raises fear, anxiety and terror whenever Israeli children hear the word "Arab". It also makes the culture of hatred and hostility a headline for the Israeli child. In contrast, the author highlights the culture of coexistence and peace among some Israeli children towards the Arab character. The story demonstrates that there are some Israeli children who are willing to coexist and live peacefully with Arabs. This story with its focus on both hatred and hostility on the one hand and coexistence and peace, on the other, shows the dual attitude of Israeli children towards Arabs. This is a new trend in contemporary Hebrew children's literature towards the Arab character and its positive outlook. Keywords: Contemporary Hebrew Children’s Literature, Hate speech, Culture of peace, Ronette Gettleman, On Her Way.

Ottoman and British Factors in Anti-French Resistance of Beylik Constantine in 1830—1837

The poorly studied initial period of the anti-colonial struggle of the Algerian people against the French occupation is considered. Until 1830, the Algerian Regency was a semi-autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire. It is proved that in the first years after the capture of France, spiritual ties with the former metropolis remained strong and determined the strategies of resistance of the former Turkish ruling elite in the country. The author notes that the last bey of Constantine’s Beylik, Ahmed, loyal to the ideas of Ottomanism, for seven years effectively resisted the attempts of the French to establish themselves in this Algerian province. The article shows that although the attributes of Constantine's independence in those years indicated its Arab character, Ahmed Bey retained the Turkish concept of the state. It is concluded that the legal power, as before, relied on the sanction of the Turkish Sultan, the spiritual and political leader of the Ottoman Empire. The author concludes that Ahmed Bey was defeated without the support of his suzerain. It is proved that he did not manage to enlist the help of Great Britain, which, although opposed to French expansionism, did not consider Algeria so important to enter into a conflict with France because of it.

The Representations of Palestinians Behavioral Attributes in Hollywood Movies from 2000 to 2014

Since the period followed the September 11 in 2001 attack, and the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, Hollywood has produced many movies representing the Arab. The representation was shown in certain positions and scenes in the movie to give a certain meaning. Further, most of these previous studies have studied the personality in Hollywood movies combined with Arab characters. However, this study seeks to explore the behavioural attributes of the Palestinian character represented in Hollywood feature movies from the year 2000 to 2014 in detailed analysis. A literature analysis reviewed Arab representations in Hollywood movies. The quantitative approach is adopted as well as the data has been collected by employing the quantitative content analysis through using a coding sheet. The sample selection of this study is total population sampling. The unit analysis is 71 scenes that include and involve Palestinian character(s) within the five Hollywood feature movies. This study has approved that after the second Palestinian uprising in 2000 and September 2001 attack, the Palestinian behavioural attributes began to change. Thus, the behavioural attributes of The Palestinian character have represented in more complexity than the previous representation. Additionally, this study has observed that, after the September attack, Hollywood has modified the Palestinian behavioural representation. Keywords: Palestinian, stereotype, terrorism, Hollywood movies, Palestinian behavioural.

Aestheticizing Violence: Paul Bowles’ Prolific Partnership with His Motiveless Villain in The Delicate Prey

Many critics have regarded the violence in Bowles as “meaningless” or “motiveless.” By defining the connection between motive and act, this article tackles the indefinite nature of violence in Paul Bowles’ collection of short stories, The Delicate Prey. To this end, a study of the typical Arab character in Bowles is offered. Also, the motive behind Bowles’ villain is defined in the light of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s term “motiveless malignity.” It is discussed that the contextless violence of Bowles has an estrangement effect on the victim; and his detached narration technique, together with the excessive occurrences of violence, leads to an aesthetic experience on the reader. “Aesthetic experience” is explained based on Slobodan Markovi?’s definition of the term. It is concluded that Bowles’ maneuvers over the subject of violence should be viewed in the light of a modernist aesthetic tradition based on violence rather than praxeological humanistic chain reactions.

Design Anthropology in enhancing the effectiveness of signage systems of Ajman University

Ajman University of Science and Technology draws a number of impressions in the minds of the public, we find harmony between Arabic and technological vocabulary, between literature, arts and science, which necessitates the emphasis on the Arab character through the use and employment of some Arabic characters and elements of modulation. Without evidence of the existence of external signs with a philosophy of design through: 1- The physical element, through the study of customers with the environment (Ajman University of Science and Technology) mainly through the environmental system, which achieves the efficiency of performance and compatibility with the methods of implementation, which achieves the organic and psychological comfort in view of the high temperatures used by the majority of dealers with the University cars, the extension is large in proportion to the vision of the receiver from inside the car. 2. The aesthetic element is influenced by the visual elements (color / image / shape / typography) by increasing the sense of belonging and the Arab identity. The dimensions, color groups and symbolism of the peoples of desert environments vary. 3. The intellectual component of the expansion from a functional service to become an element that reflects human life in its cultural, artistic and heritage aspects by international standards, thus contributing to the improvement of the visual culture, which is the ability to learn the translation of visual messages accurately.

Guests, Hosts, Strangers:Far From Menand Camus' Algerians

I argue that David Oelhoffen's 2014 film Far From Men (Loin des Hommes), while departing from the letter of Camus' 1957 story, “The Guest/Host”, does remarkable cinematic justice to its spirit. Oelhoffen's Daru and the Arab character Mohamed, it is suggested, represent embodiments of Camus’ idealised Algerian “first men”, in the vision Camus was developing in Le Premier Homme at the time of his death in January 1960. Part 1 frames the film in light of Camus’ “The Guest/Host”, and Part 2 frames Camus’ story in light of Camus’ agnonised struggle to come to terms with the Algerian situation. Part 3 makes the case that Oelhoffen's departures from Camus’ original story present in cinematic form Camus’ ideal of a post-colonial, post-ethnic solidarity between people, predicated on the overcoming of all arche-ideological fantasies of untained prelapsarian community.

Literary Trespassing in Susan Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin and Sayed Kashua's Second Person Singular

This article focuses on a rare leitmotif in literary productions by Palestinians. Both Susan Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin and Sayed Kashua's Second Person Singular present Arab characters who, under unusual circumstances, impersonate or literally acquire the identity of the Israeli-Jewish other. In the fictional creations of Ismael/David and Amir/Yonatan, Abulhawa and Kashua, respectively, construe characters whose existence blurs the borderline between various versions of today's Palestinian Arab and mainstream projections of its Israeli-Jewish counterpart. These characters represent, as the article demonstrates, the authors' attempts to work out the implications of the idea that — as a result of the historical events of Israeli Independence and the consequent Palestinian Nakba — the collision of two national yearnings has created a liminal space in which both Israeli and Palestinian narratives gradually infiltrate one another, developing an inextricable and dynamic bond between the Palestinian identity and its counterpart.

<i>Aṣābiʿ Lūlītā</i>: Postmodernizing the Postcolony: <i>Nedjma</i> and beyond

This essay tackles the way the postcolony is refigured in Waciny Laredj’s Aṣābiʿ Lūlītā (2012). It makes use of a number of theoretical insights to uncover the interplay between the representation of the colony during the colonial period through a brief examination of the fly metaphor in Nedjma, first published in 1956, and that of the postcolony. Relying on intertextuality, the essay attempts to highlight how the metaphor of the femme fatale, a key trope in Nedjma, is relocated in the interstices between national and transnational ways of constructing Arab identity that continues to be both here and there. The intertextual nature of Aṣābiʿ complicates the postcolony as it rewrites it. This rewriting seems to highlight the tragic position of Arab characters that continue to vacillate between a traditional past and a postmodern present. Thus, Waciny Laredj subverts the femme fatale trope by making it literal and ends up shaking the very basis of the postcolonial state.

“Straight out of the button-molder’s own ladle”: On the complexity of characters in Arthur Koestler’s Thieves in the Night

<p>This paper discusses the complexity of female and Arab characters in Arthur Koestler’s Thieves in the Night. Through an analysis of three main characters (Dina, Ellen and the Mukhtar of Kfar Tabiyeh) and several minor ones, it shows that the allegation of contemporary reviews, and some works on Arthur Koestler ever since, that the novel is excessively built on stock characters is untenable. In fact, the representation of women and Arabs is both specific and detailed, in addition to the fact that these characters show a clearly detectable line of development, even if their initial presentation might in some cases be reminiscent of Petrarchan or other types.</p>

Exploitation and New Orientalism in Sam Kadi’s The Citizen

September 9 /2011 (henceforth 9/11) is a global cultural moment as it redefines the way America interprets the world and the way the world interprets the US. This is especially true in the representation of Arabs in Hollywood films as the Arabs were seen as the culprit of the momentous event. It inevitably cements the idea that the Arab as the other, this has become a fundamental structure of the American psyche. Pre 9/11, Hollywood has produced a significant amount of films covering Arab characters in a variety of Arab stereotypes, which were limited to what was known from the stories of the orientalist European and their legends about the mysterious East. We argue that while the negative stereotype continues in post 9/11 films, the ideological workings, however, are different. We have observed that Hollywood post 9/11 are keener to hire Arab actors to play Arab characters, which usually were played by Pakistani or non-Arab actors. Therefore, this paper examines the exploitation of Arab characters played by Arab actors in Hollywood films post 9/11 by focusing on The Citizen (2012) directed by Sam Kadi . Employing New Orientalism theory, this paper uses textual analysis as the method, focusing on how the Arab Characters are being exploited in this film.

Giving Voice at a Price: Imagining The Arab World in the Work of Elizabeth Laird

This article examines two of Elizabeth Laird's young adult novels that are set in the Arab world: A Little Piece of Ground and Oranges in No Man's Land. It shows that despite occasionally relying on some of the stereotypical themes and subjects in books about the Arab world, Laird's novels manage to interrogate relevant and pressing issues about the region, including the question of Palestine. The article further surveys a number of children's and young adult books about the Arab world that are written by western authors. It explores how these texts rely on stereotypical constructions that cast the region as a place of ultimate violence, poverty, religious oppression, and patriarchal tyranny. The article concludes with highlighting the urgency to disrupt these generalizations, diversify thematic foci, and present readers with heterogeneous Arab characters and settings.