Earlier this year, as a guest of the 2007 Sydney Arab Film Festival, Nizar Hassan, from Palestine, spoke strongly (and dogmatically) around some issues of Arab-centred work processes. I flicked him an email last week inviting a few words towards this 3arabi discussion, and unfortunately he said that he was “in deep deep coma” still working on a film, between Beirut filming and Paris editing…
At the risk of misquoting him, I’ll refer to my rough notes I scribbled during a Forum of the Sydney Arab Film Festival: ‘Under Siege’ – seminar and screenings - 17 March 2007 at Liverpool. Although the discussion is related to filmmaking, I do think that the concepts can be transferred to other processes, whether cultural production or theory and research. [And how rare to do something with the usual compulsive note taking?!]
• Concept / term ‘under siege’ is problematic – ‘resistance’ is not; direct the discourse towards what we want, how we are gonna fight – not a ‘please don’t beat us’ mentality; we are not weak, we have hope; they will call us ‘terrorists’ regardless, as long as we are Arabs who have hope
• Question victimology
• Pride in Arabness
• [Scathing towards] (small L) liberals
• [Critical of] ‘native informants’ giving the point of view from within
• Analysis of well-known Palestinian films where the ‘informant’ filmmakers ‘explain to the other’ – e.g. Michel Khleifi’s ‘Wedding in Galilee’ – includes limited views of resistance of patriarchy, orientalist scenes, etc
• [Critical of] a new kind of Arab liberal, who believes that change can only come with american support and western values
• In Nizar Hassan’s short film ‘Tahady’ (Challenge): despite a commission to make a film about the killing of Mohamad Al Durra by the Israeli military, he deliberately chose not to use that internationally used image / footage, so as not to ‘victimize ourselves over and over again’; [that film also includes a great ‘brainstorm’ about the contradictions of process, of critical questions, a very ‘inside’ Palestine debate]
• There is a formula in how to tell the story of the victim; informants work with formulae, bringing the formula to the ruler; informants accept the formula as ‘universalistic’ – so that ‘the west can understand it’
• The need to recognize and to break the formula
• In filmmaking, allow the characters to lead the structure and to tell the story – allow the characters and the filmmaker (within the film) to confront themselves; the story belongs to both the filmmaker and the characters, it is about these relationships
• Importance of self-criticism
• [Critical of] liberal thinking of ‘the other’
• Aesthetic of active resistance
• The huge Egyptian film industry is the hope; it sees only its own reality as the universe
• Lebanese / Syrian / African film industries rely on western money, leading to compromise, descriptive cinema, the aesthetic of the informant; production houses also have their own agendas e.g. ‘the conflict’
• Break the production reality by becoming the subject, not the object
• We need to analyse our own reality, take the centre (with people who want to resist with us), we need to change, and resist being ‘under siege’
After a long, loud and stirring speech, the discussion included:
• The notion of ‘informants’ as ‘cultural collaborators’
• The danger of ‘coconuts’ – black on the outside, white on the inside – ‘raas al abed’ (chocolate covered marshmallow sweet)
September 8, 2007
triggers...
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
to focus on working towards 'arab-centred' approaches, why not share some stories from your own experience - whether practical or theoretical ...
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
or
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
what do you want to see come out of this initiative?
what have you learned from other projects that you don't want to see repeated here?
what annoys you?
what excites you?
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
to focus on working towards 'arab-centred' approaches, why not share some stories from your own experience - whether practical or theoretical ...
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
or
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
what do you want to see come out of this initiative?
what have you learned from other projects that you don't want to see repeated here?
what annoys you?
what excites you?
::: ::: ::: ::: :::
September 5, 2007
e.phemera...
a couple days ago, a throw-away line:
'And is there any value in ephemeral material (such as old programmes, posters, reviews)?'
and ironcally this evening, i went to an event marking '30 years of passionate dissent'
'LET THE WALLS SPEAK: POLITICAL POSTER EXHIBITION'
http://jura.org.au/node/517
the walls were full of strongly-coloured hand-screenprinted posters from the 1970s and 1980s - mainly from Earthworks Poster Collective / The Tin Sheds, as well as from other political art groups. These were the colours, slogans and humour of the first years of my 'city life' away from 'the femily' - years where personal / political issues marched / danced around everything .... everything but arabness / racism / language / wars in lebanon and palestine / etc.
nevertheless, such posters on streets, walls, phone booths, fridges, doors... were possibly more significant for me than some books, courses and conferences.
one particular poster design of the late 70s has always remained in my imagination: it was produced by anarchist feminist artists, in a storybook style of bold cartoons, with a 'wonder woman' reacting to the question:
"where do ideas come from?"
"do they come from books?" ... "kapow!"
"do they fall from the sky?" ... "clunk!"
the punchline had something to do with "social practice", after abusing "academics and egghead feminists" ...
[ok, not so cool now, but 30 years ago, yes]
anyway, i was recently doing an internet search for an image of this specific poster, and that's how i came across the information for the Jura Books 30 year anniversary event tonight.
i was looking for this poster because i believe that for me, the politics around it were as strong a philosophical influence as, say, the work of Paulo Freire...
this emerged in recent discussions with h.y. about 'where do our questions come from?' and 'how do we critique our own questions?' - whether that questioning happens in cafe conversations, action research or cultural production.
on an everyday practical level, this has meaning for the 3arabi project, as i wonder what questions do we ask of ourselves and our work as arab artists / writers / cultural producers / community activists - i.e. what are our insider questions?
so again i am circling / doing a dabke around:
'what is an arab-centred methodology' or 'how do we create arab-centred work'...
so now who's being an 'egghead'?!...
there's another old poster image i remember:
"mummy, what did you do during the revolution?"
"i danced."
'And is there any value in ephemeral material (such as old programmes, posters, reviews)?'
and ironcally this evening, i went to an event marking '30 years of passionate dissent'
'LET THE WALLS SPEAK: POLITICAL POSTER EXHIBITION'
http://jura.org.au/node/517
the walls were full of strongly-coloured hand-screenprinted posters from the 1970s and 1980s - mainly from Earthworks Poster Collective / The Tin Sheds, as well as from other political art groups. These were the colours, slogans and humour of the first years of my 'city life' away from 'the femily' - years where personal / political issues marched / danced around everything .... everything but arabness / racism / language / wars in lebanon and palestine / etc.
nevertheless, such posters on streets, walls, phone booths, fridges, doors... were possibly more significant for me than some books, courses and conferences.
one particular poster design of the late 70s has always remained in my imagination: it was produced by anarchist feminist artists, in a storybook style of bold cartoons, with a 'wonder woman' reacting to the question:
"where do ideas come from?"
"do they come from books?" ... "kapow!"
"do they fall from the sky?" ... "clunk!"
the punchline had something to do with "social practice", after abusing "academics and egghead feminists" ...
[ok, not so cool now, but 30 years ago, yes]
anyway, i was recently doing an internet search for an image of this specific poster, and that's how i came across the information for the Jura Books 30 year anniversary event tonight.
i was looking for this poster because i believe that for me, the politics around it were as strong a philosophical influence as, say, the work of Paulo Freire...
this emerged in recent discussions with h.y. about 'where do our questions come from?' and 'how do we critique our own questions?' - whether that questioning happens in cafe conversations, action research or cultural production.
on an everyday practical level, this has meaning for the 3arabi project, as i wonder what questions do we ask of ourselves and our work as arab artists / writers / cultural producers / community activists - i.e. what are our insider questions?
so again i am circling / doing a dabke around:
'what is an arab-centred methodology' or 'how do we create arab-centred work'...
so now who's being an 'egghead'?!...
there's another old poster image i remember:
"mummy, what did you do during the revolution?"
"i danced."
September 3, 2007
hard-centred? soft-centred? arab-centred?
What do I mean by ‘arab-centred’ anyway?
(soft centre? hard centre? take a bite and give it to your mum...)
Instead of questions continuing to raise more questions, why not reflect on something that is ‘arab-centred’ – and discuss why, from the inside, as an insider…
Yesterday found myself inside a discussion that progressed from the general to the very specific, talking of TAQA* theatre processes of the 1990s, and the ephemeral nature of performance work (especially before accessibility of digital media – although video documentation of performance work, space and relationship with audience, can only ever be two dimensional)
*TAQA was a sydney-based contemporary theatre group, producing five major works between 1991 and 1999:
• Gibran Khalil Gibran 1999
• Writing with the Hip 1996
• Curves, lines, dots and accents … or writing with the hip 1993
• … and they called her Silence 1992
• Al Qamareya (The Moongate) 1991
Over the last 10 to 15 years, if you were a non-sydney arab, how did you research and even know about any arab work being produced? (ok, I am being sydney-centred, but arabs from other australian cities repeatedly tell me that it’s mainly happening here). yesterday I heard that at some point, information about short films was accessible, but not anything else… (eg. Paula Abood’s “Of Middle Eastern Appearance” 2001, which received various print media coverage)
The dilemmas are obvious about transient / time+place+space based work, such as performance (the significant processes as well as the productions themselves). And is there any value in ephemeral material (such as old programmes, posters, reviews?)
So after talking around some stories of TAQA’s slow long-term approach to performance making, I zoned in on the 1996 production at the belvoir (which had emerged from the 1993 work-in-progress performance / forum discussion) with reconfigured roles, more coherent structure and sound / visuals. (and I remember loving how my own absent ‘offshore’ participation was a tangible reality within that performance, in reading the programme and watching the simple wide-frame video documentation in a little lounge-room in ramallah later that year)
Suddenly yesterday I found that same video after a spontaneous dash to some horizontal filing, and then we watched that same recording: and now here comes the bit about ‘arab-centredness’: what we felt was really difficult to articulate … it was an intensely arab-centred experience (despite the gap of 11 years) … it just was… but that’s not good enough if I want to write about this stuff eh?
(soft centre? hard centre? take a bite and give it to your mum...)
Instead of questions continuing to raise more questions, why not reflect on something that is ‘arab-centred’ – and discuss why, from the inside, as an insider…
Yesterday found myself inside a discussion that progressed from the general to the very specific, talking of TAQA* theatre processes of the 1990s, and the ephemeral nature of performance work (especially before accessibility of digital media – although video documentation of performance work, space and relationship with audience, can only ever be two dimensional)
*TAQA was a sydney-based contemporary theatre group, producing five major works between 1991 and 1999:
• Gibran Khalil Gibran 1999
• Writing with the Hip 1996
• Curves, lines, dots and accents … or writing with the hip 1993
• … and they called her Silence 1992
• Al Qamareya (The Moongate) 1991
Over the last 10 to 15 years, if you were a non-sydney arab, how did you research and even know about any arab work being produced? (ok, I am being sydney-centred, but arabs from other australian cities repeatedly tell me that it’s mainly happening here). yesterday I heard that at some point, information about short films was accessible, but not anything else… (eg. Paula Abood’s “Of Middle Eastern Appearance” 2001, which received various print media coverage)
The dilemmas are obvious about transient / time+place+space based work, such as performance (the significant processes as well as the productions themselves). And is there any value in ephemeral material (such as old programmes, posters, reviews?)
So after talking around some stories of TAQA’s slow long-term approach to performance making, I zoned in on the 1996 production at the belvoir (which had emerged from the 1993 work-in-progress performance / forum discussion) with reconfigured roles, more coherent structure and sound / visuals. (and I remember loving how my own absent ‘offshore’ participation was a tangible reality within that performance, in reading the programme and watching the simple wide-frame video documentation in a little lounge-room in ramallah later that year)
Suddenly yesterday I found that same video after a spontaneous dash to some horizontal filing, and then we watched that same recording: and now here comes the bit about ‘arab-centredness’: what we felt was really difficult to articulate … it was an intensely arab-centred experience (despite the gap of 11 years) … it just was… but that’s not good enough if I want to write about this stuff eh?
September 2, 2007
khaled on Arab-Australian Social/Cultural Producer
wallah, akhbar ajdeed ya khaled ... i.e. new proposals on "Arab-Australian Social/Cultural Producer"...
the funding proposal text in your 'cut and paste' brings together many familiar discussions and wish-lists (as well as some previous plans) of recent years, so of course it's a good idea!! (i am interested in working on a local independent arab arts space, sooner rather than later - and i already have a concept brief ready to go!!)
meanwhile, i have pulled out one paragraph from your text which directly relates to what i am questioning at the moment:
"The 1 year pilot period aims to research the Arab-Australian culture to be presented, negotiate models of cultural understanding, and develop a particular form of working with a range of concepts, genres, mediums and formats for a 3 year program plan."
::: research? ::: presentation? ::: models of cultural understanding? ::: forms of working? :::
how do we critically examine our own research and development processes?
in our local australian context, do we just instinctively rely on working with people we are comfortable with? (or is that, comfortable to be uncomfortable with?) ...
even so, how do we learn to articulate our theoretical frameworks and our practice? [are we conscious or unconscious of particular theories that inform our modes of practice?]
how do we learn to push ourselves outside of our own discomfort zones? (as of course we do not like to think that we ever work in comfortable ways - although our social / political / cultural contexts are never comfortable!)
the funding proposal text in your 'cut and paste' brings together many familiar discussions and wish-lists (as well as some previous plans) of recent years, so of course it's a good idea!! (i am interested in working on a local independent arab arts space, sooner rather than later - and i already have a concept brief ready to go!!)
meanwhile, i have pulled out one paragraph from your text which directly relates to what i am questioning at the moment:
"The 1 year pilot period aims to research the Arab-Australian culture to be presented, negotiate models of cultural understanding, and develop a particular form of working with a range of concepts, genres, mediums and formats for a 3 year program plan."
::: research? ::: presentation? ::: models of cultural understanding? ::: forms of working? :::
how do we critically examine our own research and development processes?
in our local australian context, do we just instinctively rely on working with people we are comfortable with? (or is that, comfortable to be uncomfortable with?) ...
even so, how do we learn to articulate our theoretical frameworks and our practice? [are we conscious or unconscious of particular theories that inform our modes of practice?]
how do we learn to push ourselves outside of our own discomfort zones? (as of course we do not like to think that we ever work in comfortable ways - although our social / political / cultural contexts are never comfortable!)
September 1, 2007
... on being and arab-centredness...
yahala yahala yahala…
it’s already 1 september 2007 … ouff!!
okay, so let’s talk about one of my current diversions:
how to develop arab-centred research methods?
on conceptual levels,
as well as in generating reflective questions and discussions with artists about their / our work...
while the 3arabi project specifically has a focus on contemporary arab australian cultures, this central question is simultaneously relevant on local and global levels, for grass roots cultural activism / production, as well as for theoretical work…
i’ll just throw out 3 references that have recently come my way, that may or may not be relevant to my own question:
WAHAD:
earlier this year f.f. and i were on the edges of this critical discussion (somewhere between sydney harbour and up the parramatta river) – he later gave me an article published from beirut at the beginning of this year:
‘The Academic ‘Patras’ of the Arab World: Creating a Climate of Academic Apartheid’
by Ramzi N. Nasser and Kamal Abouchedid, Notre Dame University, Lebanon
in PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies Vol. 4, No. 1 January 2007
ISSN: 1449-2490
http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/portal
"This paper discusses factors that are contributing to the rise of what we refer to as an ethos of “academic apartheid” in Arab institutions of higher education. The paper examines the failure of these institutions to overcome their alienation from indigenous epistemology, to emancipate the education they provide from its colonial past, and to move towards the modern information age. The difficult position of Arab academics striving to rediscover, reintegrate and reorganize an epistemological framework to serve the indigenous world is also discussed. Current institutional approaches have deleterious effects on the performance of Arab academics, including arresting the process of transition to development. The paper concludes that Arab academics have a range of choices in determining how to establish a course of corrective action."
ITHNAYN:
in 2005, i’d heard that relatively unique postgraduate work in CCD (community cultural development) was being developed at the VCA (victorian college of the arts) to start in 2006 – so they are now in their second year. through ‘The Centre for Ideas’ you can do postgrad diplomas, masters and doctorates in CCD. [i’ll refrain from reflecting right now on my work experiences since 1980, where acronyms such as CCD did not even exist!?!]
anyway, universities being the corporate animals that they have become, it took me ages to get my hands on some tangible material from down in melbourne (thanks to w.m. and accomplice!). flicking through the 2006 ‘reader’ i came across a reference for this book:
Decolonizing Methodologies
Research and Indigenous Peoples
by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Zed Books Ltd
1999
and as i am re-learning how to focus (let alone read) again, this is good for my slow-cook appetite. and as she is an Indigenous woman academic from Aotearoa, it’s almost like having someone in the neighbourhood...
THALATA
as i can be old-fashioned in my media-preferences, i was happy to also recently get my hands on a hardcopy of:
BIDOUN (ISSN 15514048)
Summer 2007
Arts and Culture from the Middle East
Issue 11
Published quarterly in New York
www.bidoun.com
"BIDOUN magazine was created as a platform for ideas and an open forum for exchange, dialogue and opinions about arts and culture from the Middle East. BIDOUN's primary goal is to bring together cultural expressions from a vast and nuanced region. BIDOUN also addresses some of the widespread misconceptions about the region and its Diaspora by inciting readers to take a fresh look at the Middle East and its peoples, too often presented as one-dimensional or stagnant."
"BIDOUN means 'without' in both Arabic and Farsi. In our contemporary context, it connotes the statelessness in which many of us find ourselves-sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not."
"BIDOUN is not limited by political boundaries drawn onto maps. Its very essence is the fluidity of geographies and a challenge to the myth of singular and absolute representation. Yet we are cautious with our role as culture broker. While we acknowledge the reductionist tendencies of orientalism, BIDOUN also resists obsessing over cultural difference."
"This is not about being authoritative. Rather, BIDOUN is an experiment: a collection of voices whose sum total aims to engage."
...i like this bit eh:
'While we acknowledge the reductionist tendencies of orientalism, BIDOUN also resists obsessing over cultural difference.'
.... so what do you reckon? ... yallah, it’fadal’ou!
it’s already 1 september 2007 … ouff!!
okay, so let’s talk about one of my current diversions:
how to develop arab-centred research methods?
on conceptual levels,
as well as in generating reflective questions and discussions with artists about their / our work...
while the 3arabi project specifically has a focus on contemporary arab australian cultures, this central question is simultaneously relevant on local and global levels, for grass roots cultural activism / production, as well as for theoretical work…
i’ll just throw out 3 references that have recently come my way, that may or may not be relevant to my own question:
WAHAD:
earlier this year f.f. and i were on the edges of this critical discussion (somewhere between sydney harbour and up the parramatta river) – he later gave me an article published from beirut at the beginning of this year:
‘The Academic ‘Patras’ of the Arab World: Creating a Climate of Academic Apartheid’
by Ramzi N. Nasser and Kamal Abouchedid, Notre Dame University, Lebanon
in PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies Vol. 4, No. 1 January 2007
ISSN: 1449-2490
http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/portal
"This paper discusses factors that are contributing to the rise of what we refer to as an ethos of “academic apartheid” in Arab institutions of higher education. The paper examines the failure of these institutions to overcome their alienation from indigenous epistemology, to emancipate the education they provide from its colonial past, and to move towards the modern information age. The difficult position of Arab academics striving to rediscover, reintegrate and reorganize an epistemological framework to serve the indigenous world is also discussed. Current institutional approaches have deleterious effects on the performance of Arab academics, including arresting the process of transition to development. The paper concludes that Arab academics have a range of choices in determining how to establish a course of corrective action."
ITHNAYN:
in 2005, i’d heard that relatively unique postgraduate work in CCD (community cultural development) was being developed at the VCA (victorian college of the arts) to start in 2006 – so they are now in their second year. through ‘The Centre for Ideas’ you can do postgrad diplomas, masters and doctorates in CCD. [i’ll refrain from reflecting right now on my work experiences since 1980, where acronyms such as CCD did not even exist!?!]
anyway, universities being the corporate animals that they have become, it took me ages to get my hands on some tangible material from down in melbourne (thanks to w.m. and accomplice!). flicking through the 2006 ‘reader’ i came across a reference for this book:
Decolonizing Methodologies
Research and Indigenous Peoples
by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Zed Books Ltd
1999
and as i am re-learning how to focus (let alone read) again, this is good for my slow-cook appetite. and as she is an Indigenous woman academic from Aotearoa, it’s almost like having someone in the neighbourhood...
THALATA
as i can be old-fashioned in my media-preferences, i was happy to also recently get my hands on a hardcopy of:
BIDOUN (ISSN 15514048)
Summer 2007
Arts and Culture from the Middle East
Issue 11
Published quarterly in New York
www.bidoun.com
"BIDOUN magazine was created as a platform for ideas and an open forum for exchange, dialogue and opinions about arts and culture from the Middle East. BIDOUN's primary goal is to bring together cultural expressions from a vast and nuanced region. BIDOUN also addresses some of the widespread misconceptions about the region and its Diaspora by inciting readers to take a fresh look at the Middle East and its peoples, too often presented as one-dimensional or stagnant."
"BIDOUN means 'without' in both Arabic and Farsi. In our contemporary context, it connotes the statelessness in which many of us find ourselves-sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not."
"BIDOUN is not limited by political boundaries drawn onto maps. Its very essence is the fluidity of geographies and a challenge to the myth of singular and absolute representation. Yet we are cautious with our role as culture broker. While we acknowledge the reductionist tendencies of orientalism, BIDOUN also resists obsessing over cultural difference."
"This is not about being authoritative. Rather, BIDOUN is an experiment: a collection of voices whose sum total aims to engage."
...i like this bit eh:
'While we acknowledge the reductionist tendencies of orientalism, BIDOUN also resists obsessing over cultural difference.'
.... so what do you reckon? ... yallah, it’fadal’ou!
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