- Faculty of Arts - Cairo University
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Essays and Articles
This is a collection of articles and essays from the press, not academic journals and periodicals, which tackle issues related to popular culture in Egypt, the region and the world. Click here for compiled bibliographies, a collection of academic papers on the topic.
Visual Culture and Film:
- Mosireen and the Battle for Political Memory
- Mosireen – the eye of the Egyptian Revolution
- Egyptian citizen journalism ‘Mosireen’ tops YouTube
- Can T-Wall Murals Really Beautify the Fragmented Baghdad?
- Ammar Abo Bakr: Committing Murder, then Marching in the Funeral Procession
- World Cup 2014: 14 Powerful Pictures Of Anti-Fifa Graffiti In Brazil
- Cairo’s Traveling Peep Show Boxes
- The Tipping Point Between Vandalism and Art
- Special Collection: Art & Culture of Pakistan and Afghanistan
- Artist Covers City Streets Of Poland In Intricate Lace Patterns
- Ramadan TV series play good cop, good cop
- Djerbahood: 150 Street Artists Transform Mediterranean Island into a Dream-Like Museum
- Not Human by Default: Humans of New York Takes on the Middle East
- Linking Violence In Solidarity: Ferguson, Gaza, and the US State
- ABOUNADDARA’s Take on Images in the Syrian Revolution: A Conversation between Charif Kiwan and Akram Zaatari (Part One)
- International Arts Censorship by the Turkish Embassy: The Case of ‘Here Together Now’ in Madrid
- Revolutionary Street Art: Complicating the Discourse
- Bahrain Cartoons: Drawn To Be Wild
- Syria and the Emergence of Grassroots Artistic Production
- Art Inspiring Protest: The Case of Palestine’s Bab al-Shams
- Why Sisi’s New Egypt is no Laughing Matter for a Cartoonist
- Street Graffiti from Spain to the Arab World
- 9 Game-Changing Moments in the History of Street Art
- Egyptian women add voices to proliferating comic book commentary
- Historical Realities of Concept Pop: Debating Art in Egypt
- The rise of revolutionary street art in Oaxaca
- The Dangerous Lives of Cartoonists
- Discover Egypt’s Revolutionary Street Art, in Washington D.C.
- Is Cairene Graffiti Losing Momentum?
- 18 Academic Papers About ’90s TV Shows
- Egypt confiscates revolution-time graffiti book for “instigating revolt”
- Nationalism for Kids in Egypt
- Banksy unveils a new series of pieces in Gaza, Palestine
- Banksy goes undercover in Gaza, releases mini-documentary
- Iranian Artist Has Covered Over 100 Of Tehran’s Walls In Surreal Street Art
- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar and the waiting room of history
- From national resistance to global movement – an intro to Palestinian graffiti (PHOTOS)
- A Gaza Artist Creates 100 Square Feet of Beauty, and She’s Not Budging
- 10 Street Artists You Should Roam The World For
- The Offending Art: Political Cartooning after the Charlie Hebdo Attacks
- Lebanese blogger explores undiscovered Tripoli (Photos)
- The stories of street artists from around the world — through TEDx
- The Wanted 18: a tale of talking cows and Palestinian rebellion
- Post-punk Icons as Classic Marvel Comics Superheroes
- Graffiti, capital and deciding what’s inappropriate
- Pop Culture Arts by Street Artist: Keyvan Heydari
- Laughing at Isis: Syrian video artists go beyond fear to ridicule jihadis
- Pope Francis becomes ‘SuperPope’ in Vatican-approved graffiti
- A Global Art Project Brings Paintings of Anonymous Figures out of Museums and onto the Streets
- Hossam El-Hamalawy’s Photos under Creative Commons on Flickr.
- Artists using Istanbul’s walls as their canvas
- Graffiti about Greek crisis fills Athens’ streets
- Street Art in Buenos Aires: So Much More than Graffiti
- Graffiti-Kunst in Ägypten: Was vom Arabischen Frühling übrig blieb (German)
- PHOTO GALLERY: Festival brings a splash of colour to Egypt’s El-Borollos
- Can art change the world? The work of street artist JR – in pictures
Urban Research, Architecture and Space:
- Missing public space
- Cairo: Megacity without a Mayor
- Tahrir, Taksim, Tempelhof: Between Political Fields
- Cairo’s Roundabout Revolution
- Religion and the Fight over Public Space in Egypt
- Cultural enlightenment for Cairo’s downtown futures
- Activists Are Connecting Peruvians With Their Country’s Impressive Archaeological Heritage
- The Wonder Box
- How to Make LE20 Million Disappear
- Forget Ice Water. Philippine Commuters Are Challenging Politicians to Ride Public Transport at Rush Hour
- How a Group of Squatters Convinced Brazilian Authorities to Seize a Vacant Building for Public Housing
- Ezbet Kheirallah (Arabic)
- Street Vendors and the Right to the City (Arabic)
- Forat de la Vergonya: A Community’s Struggle for the City
- Giant Puppets Occupy a Cairo Island
- Amid war, Damascenes promote cycling with mass bike ride
- Haas&Hahn: How Painting can Transform Communities
- A Mime on a Mission
- Egyptian Spiderman Arrested
- In tough times, Egyptian theater troupe pushes boundaries
- The fight for Ramlet Bulaq
- Cairo Downtown Passage Redesign
- There’s the slum, then there’s Cairo’s City of Dead (PHOTOS)
- Bashkatib: Helping Egyptian Teens to Publish Their Own Newspapers
- Beirut & Cairo: The Dangerousness of the Photograph
- Nasr City was Once Egypt’s New Capital, but Things Went Wrong
- Chasing Mirages in the Desert
- Huda Lutfi: My Life Downtown
- Hologram replaces Edward Snowden statue in Brooklyn park
- NYC officials remove Edward Snowden statue secretly installed in Brooklyn park
- هل يتحول “وسط البلد” في القاهرة كما تحول وسط مدينة بيروت؟
- First Hologram Protest in History Held Against Spain’s Gag Law
- الفن الحي وفائدته الساسية
- Beirut’s bullet-riddled Holiday Inn – a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 28
- Shubra
- El-Kousha puppet troupe strikes again, this time in Egypt’s working class districts
- In photos: Street Carnival project brings minority cultures to cities across Egypt
Music:
- Out of Egypt’s Chaos, Musical Rebellion
- Authentic Egyptian Music Is From The Streets
- Egypt: Revolution, turmoil impact on pop culture
- Egypt: The Cultural Revolution
- Mahraganat – How a new musical genre emerged in Egypt
- Mahraganat-Musical Revolution in Egypt
- From Iran to Missouri: Rapping for Unity
- My Journey to Rap, Politics and Prison (an article about Morocco in Arabic)
- First ever safe haven city for musicians
- The playlist: the best Middle Eastern and North African music of 2014, with Noura Mint Seymali
- Sadat and Alaa Fifty: New music from Egypt
- Islam Chipsy
- Famed rap band DJ accidentally killed during Matariya clashes
- Rap as Activism in Morocco: A STATUS/الوضع Conversation…
- El Haqed: I will fight for freedom, equality and human rights for ever
- Art for the People: “Balcony Opera” (Arabic)
- Palestinian hip hop hits Egypt with Boikutt
- The Rapper Heems on Sticking to His Roots, Eschewing Stylists and His Signature Hermès Scarf
- ما زلنا نغني للثورة: مقابلة للوضع بين رامي عصام وبسام حداد
- The musicians fighting back against extremism
- Morocco: Police block concert by Index award-winning rapper El Haqed
- Mahraganat and the Beginning of Gangasta Rap in Egypt (Arabic)
The Digital Sphere:
- Mapping Digital Media: Egypt
- Syrian Hands Raised: User Generated Creativity Between Citizenship and Dissent
- Global Dimensions of Digital Activism
- A Gathering of Indigenous Language Digital Activism in Oaxaca, Mexico
- Palestinians Tweet Tips to Ferguson Protesters Dodging Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets & Police Aggression in Missouri, USA
- Does Venezuela’s Smiling Tourism Cartoon ‘Cheverito’ Ignore the Country’s Grim Realities
- The Meme-ing of Revolution: Creativity, Folklore, and the Dislocation of Power in Egypt
- Online and Offline Maneuverings in Syria’s Counter-Revolution
- The BBC and User-Generated Content: How Syrian Grassroots Information Shaped Newsroom Roles
- Activism on the Move: Mediating Protest Space in Egypt with Mobile Technology
- Keynote Address: Some Reflections on the Role of Media in Egypt’s January 25th Revolution
- Activism on the Move: Mediating Protest Space in Egypt with Mobile Technology
- Russia Cracks Down on Internet Free Speech, Except When It’s ISIS
- Social Media as Archive
- Looking Backwards, Looking Forward: Cyberculture Studies 1990-2000
- Slacktivism, clicktivism, and “real” social change
- What Is the Origin of the Word “Meme”?
- Limitations of the Social Media Euphoria in Communication Studies
- More on Internet Neologisms: Rage Quitting is a Thing
- Russia Bans Meme’s Portraying Public Figures
- Montreal woman convicted of posting anti-police graffiti on Instagram
- Egypt’s Sarcasm Society Hits Nine Million
Other:
The Naysayers: Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and the critique of pop culture
Ice Bucket Challenge, Meet Ukraine’s ‘Blood Bucket’ Challenge
The Arab whodunnit: crime fiction makes a comeback in the Middle East
Fighting for Their Art Against Censorship (Global Voices Online)
Creative progression: on development of arts festivals in Egypt, 2011-2014
Susan Sontag on How the False Divide Between Pop Culture and “High” Culture Limits Us
The Stages of Peaceful Resistance in the Occupied Western Sahara
The Arab Spring’s best legacy: Egyptians are now reading once-banned books
Susan Sontag on How the False Divide Between Pop Culture and “High” Culture Limits Us