Papers by Mounira Soliman
The centennial anniversary of the publication of Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khalid in 2011 coinci... more The centennial anniversary of the publication of Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khalid in 2011 coincided with the rise of rebellion in the Arab world, and the toppling of several deep-seated dictatorship regimes. Rihani, in his book, argues that “a political revolution must always be preceded by a spiritual one, that it might have some enduring effect. Otherwise, things will revert to their previous state of rottenness”. Over the past two years since the uprisings of the Arab Spring, we have witnessed the resurgence of old regimes in new garb. People living under such regimes continue to suffer from political, economic, and social forms of corruption, and they still yearn for bread, freedom, and social justice. A hundred years after its first publication, The Book of Khalid, the first Arab-American novel written in English, brings to mind a similar moment in Arab history that lead many people to seek refuge in the West. Set between East and West, in New York City, the novel rightfully a...
Comparative American Studies An International Journal, 2015
Location-based services, narratives and interactive experiences have a substantial tradition in H... more Location-based services, narratives and interactive experiences have a substantial tradition in HCI. Building on this background, we report the iterative design process, prototyping and evaluation of Seven Stories, a location-based narrative experience. The design includes two novel features that aim to link the user experience more closely to its physical context: visual markers scanning, and a narrator. We have evaluated Seven Stories with two studies. Study 1, with 12 participants was conducted using qualitative methods to assess the overall user experience. Study 2, with 21 participants was conducted using quantitative methods, to evaluate the role of the markers and narrator as specific design features. Our contribution is to illustrate, through both qualitative and quantitative findings, how these two novel features influence the user experience, and what implications they have for design.
Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 2004
... I entered the studio, stared and shouted Abiku! He stared back at me, not knowing what the he... more ... I entered the studio, stared and shouted Abiku! He stared back at me, not knowing what the hell I was talking about. (McCabe, 58) He admits that this feeling of nostalgia for his homeland instigated him to compose this poem: Alif 24 (2004) 159 Page 12. ...
American Studies, 2011
Karan Johar (2010). By comparing the portrayal of the Arab and Muslim immigrant in these films, I... more Karan Johar (2010). By comparing the portrayal of the Arab and Muslim immigrant in these films, I question the production and propagation of the image of the unwanted American.
Popular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa, 2012
I l The Rule uf New !Vledia in the Eg\ ptian Re\olutiun of 'LOI I• \'isuahty a, ;111 Agent of Cha... more I l The Rule uf New !Vledia in the Eg\ ptian Re\olutiun of 'LOI I• \'isuahty a, ;111 Agent of Change 1(\\1)\ \l:()l !i\1'1(Li The Ae,thetic,, uf Re\(Jlutiun: Popular Creati\ it\ and the Egyptian Spring \I \LIJlll.H \\1.\\1:o\ \\IJ \l(Jl \11\.\o<ll.l\l.\'\ Contrlb11to1s index
Studi Magrebini
The history of heroism in Egyptian culture has mostly been perceived as a male attribute, centeri... more The history of heroism in Egyptian culture has mostly been perceived as a male attribute, centering on the figure of the male hero, and generally excluding figures of female heroines. In this article, I explore the representation of one type of female heroism, the rising phenomenon of the superheroine. In contrast to popular definitions of heroism connected to the superhero genre wherein heroism is perceived as an extra-terrestrial superpower, recent depictions of superheroines in Egyptian popular culture focus on representing the mundane aspect of the lives of these characters, leading to a reconceptualization of heroism. I examine three examples of superheroines by three women writers, Qahera by Deena Mohamed, Nano Volta by Hanan El-Karargy, and Lamis by Safia Baraka. I focus on the concept of ‘normalcy’ by way of reading the depiction of the three superheroine characters, arguing that the emphasis on the mundane reality of the three superheroine figures proposes an alternative re...
Singapore Middle East Papers, 2014
American Studies Encounters the Middle East, 2016
Popular culture is a spontaneous and instantaneous manifestation of how the public feels. As such... more Popular culture is a spontaneous and instantaneous manifestation of how the public feels. As such it can have a direct bearing on politics and on shaping the state of affairs. This is especially the case when there is a rapid and momentous development of events, e.g. with the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The reaction of the Obama administration received much popular reaction because of its fluctuating responses, wavering between support for the regime and the U.S. political interests on the one hand, and gaining the trust and faith of the Egyptian youth, thereby feeding into its idealistic image as the epitome of freedom and democracy. Naturally, the youth who instigated the revolution expected the Obama administration to legitimize its position on the side of the people and act as an outside pressure force that would help them fight their battle and realize their dreams. However, the response of the Obama administration was both insipid and frustrating, and the Tahrir youth made it the butt of their censure. Ironically, the U.S. position was so ambiguous that it did not manage to please the regime either, and was simultaneously perceived as having forfeited the support it has unconditionally provided the Egyptian government throughout the past thirty years of Mubarak's reign. In this paper, I offer a reading of people's criticism of the ambiguous position of the U.S. as manifested in jokes, songs, slogans, and graffiti that directly targeted the U.S. and exposed its shortcomings. The analysis will highlight the tripartite relationship: U.S. political rhetoric, official Egyptian response, and Egyptian public reaction (as expressed through the above media), shedding light on how the latter in targeting either of the first two often also directly impacts the other.
Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2011
Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Khedive Ismail’s vision of a m... more Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Khedive Ismail’s vision of a modern Cairo, modeled on European aesthetic standards, slowly emerged, giving birth to a Paris-like “Wust-al-balad” (Downtown Cairo), a commercial, business and entertainment center. From its inception, Wust-al-balad would become an exclusive locale, catering to a cosmopolitan community of the colonial British army, expats, and elite and wealthy upper class Egyptians, ultimately ostracizing the underprivileged poorer population housed in the stagnant and neglected old Fatimid Cairo. This in turn created a sociological schism that would result in the popular notion of the “double city”. Many historians have argued against this concept of duality, claiming that Ismail’s idea of modernity in fact included all of Cairo, as evident in his original plan for the city’s development. However Wust-al-balad, from the moment of its creation until the mid-20th century, points to a different reality, one that would be challenged by the advent of the 1952 revolution and the attempts to nationalize Egypt. From that point on the place would lose its western and cosmopolitan nature, slowly falling into its current state of decrepitude. This article focuses on studying the socio-political shift undergone by Wust-al-balad and its implications as represented in three media: Radwa Ashour’s novel Qit’a min Urubba [2003; A Part of Europe], Mohamed Khan’s film Banat Wist El Balad [2005; Downtown Girls], and the soft rock band Wust El Balad, founded in 1999. The article attempts to show how they all use Wust-al-balad physically and symbolically to revisit the concept of the “double city” and the duality experienced by the Egyptian citizen residing in Cairo in the 21st century.
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Papers by Mounira Soliman