Reality television and Arab politics [electronic resource] : contention in public life / Marwan M. Kraidy.

9780511675294 electronic book
0511675291 electronic book
9780511672040 electronic book
0511672047 electronic book
9780511814259 electronic book
0511814259 electronic book
9780521769198
0521769191
9780521749046 paperback
0521749042

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

English

1 online resource (xvi, 252 p.)

PN1992.8.R43 K73 2010eb

791.45/6

What does it mean to be modern outside the West? Based on a wealth of primary data collected over five years, Reality Television and Arab Politics analyzes how reality television stirred an explosive mix of religion, politics, and sexuality, fueling heated polemics over cultural authenticity, gender relations, and political participation in the Arab world. The controversies, Kraidy argues, are best understood as a social laboratory in which actors experiment with various forms of modernity, continuing a long-standing Arab preoccupation with specifying terms of engagement with Western modernity. Women and youth take center stage in this process. Against the backdrop of dramatic upheaval in the Middle East, this book challenges the notion of a monolithic "Arab Street" and offers an original perspective on Arab media, shifting attention away from a narrow focus on al-Jazeera, toward a vibrant media sphere that compels broad popular engagement and contentious political performance.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-244) and index.

Access limited to authorized users.

Description based on print version record.

Communication, society, and politics.

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