Negotiating Dissidence

The Pioneering Women of Arab Documentary

Add to my list

by Stefanie Van de Peer

Type

Studies

Subject

Countries > Middle East

Keywords

documentary, Middle East, women

Publishing date

2017

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 248 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-7486-9606-2

User Ratings

(0 vote)

X

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
The first book to trace the female pioneers of Arab documentary filmmaking

In spite of harsh censorship, conservative morals and a lack of investment, women documentarists in the Arab world have found ways to subtly negotiate dissidence in their films, something that is becoming more apparent since the ‘Arab Revolutions’. In this book, Stefanie Van de Peer traces the very beginnings of Arab women making documentaries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from the 1970s and 1980s in Egypt and Lebanon, to the 1990s and 2000s in Morocco and Syria.

Supporting a historical overview of the documentary form in the Arab world with a series of in-depth case studies, Van de Peer looks at the work of pioneering figures like Ateyyat El Abnoudy, the ‘mother of Egyptian documentary’, Tunisia’s Selma Baccar and the Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri. Addressing the context of the films’ production, distribution and exhibition, the book also asks why these women held on to the ideals of a type of filmmaking that was unlikely to be accepted by the censor, and looks at precisely how the women documentarists managed to frame expressions of dissent with the tools available to the documentary maker.
Case studies include:
• Egypt's Ateyyat El Abnoudy
• Lebanon's Jocelyne Saab
• Algeria's Assia Djebar
• Tunisia's Selma Baccar
• Palestine's Mai Masri
• Morocco's Izza Génini
• Syria's Hala Alabdallah Yakoub

About the Author:
Stefanie Van de Peer is Reader in Film & Media at Queen Margaret University

Press Reviews:
Disputing the notion that documentary exploits the vulnerable, Van de Peer’s fascinating study of great Arab women documentarists shows how subject, filmmaker, and viewer can collaborate in the creative work of solidarity and understanding. Rich with historical context, the book is also an ideal introduction to Arab cultural history since 1967– Prof Laura U. Marks, Simon Fraser University

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press