Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRANSECT (Transnational Maghreb and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction: Pluralism, inclusiveness, and peaceful coexistence in the contemporary Maghrebi novel)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-12-01 bis 2024-11-30
TRANSECT aims to explore how the cultural and religious pluralism of the Maghreb is represented in the contemporary Maghrebi novel in Arabic and disseminated globally by means of the International Prize of Arabic Fiction (IPAF). TRANSECT addresses two clusters of questions:
a) Which idea of the Maghreb is shaped by the novels longlisted at IPAF and sold by Abu Dhabi? How is the “Maghreb pluriel” appropriated and marketed by the Emirati cultural policymakers? Which purposes of cultural diplomacy does it serve?
b) To what extent and how do these novels address national issues before aspiring to become pieces of World literature? How do they contribute to reposition the image of the Maghreb within the Arab region? How does this literature dialogue with national reconciliation processes, contributing to cultural peacebuilding through the construction of a non-exclusionary national identity?
TRANSECT has a double relevance relating to:
a) The content of the research. TRANSECT addresses the themes of plurality and pluralism from a materialistic perspective. It explores the cultural policies and politics of the circulation of Arabic literature between the Gulf and North Africa (and beyond, via translations). Knowing the dynamics regulating the literary market in the Global South (and in the Arab region in particular) is useful for the implementation of cultural initiatives (such as the establishment of literary prizes, the funding of translation programmes, the cooperation between state actors on cultural actions, and so on).
b) The broader results achieved in terms of development of Maghreb studies and Global North-Global South cooperation. The Maghreb is seldom an object of study within the Western academia, especially in English-language publications. The field, in fact, is still dominated by French-speaking institutions, both within and without the region. My project contributes to the growth of Maghreb studies in English, which is perceived by many as a decolonial step, as a growing number of studies about the spread of the English language in North Africa highlight. Moreover, the cooperation between European universities and universities of the Global South is of vital importance because it leads to a progressive standardization of administrative procedures and scientific benchmarks, which is key to the democratization of the academia and the achievement of global equality.
a) Which idea of the Maghreb is shaped by the novels longlisted at IPAF and sold by Abu Dhabi? How is the “Maghreb pluriel” appropriated and marketed by the Emirati cultural policymakers? Which purposes of cultural diplomacy does it serve?
b) To what extent and how do these novels address national issues before aspiring to become pieces of World literature? How do they contribute to reposition the image of the Maghreb within the Arab region? How does this literature dialogue with national reconciliation processes, contributing to cultural peacebuilding through the construction of a non-exclusionary national identity?
TRANSECT has a double relevance relating to:
a) The content of the research. TRANSECT addresses the themes of plurality and pluralism from a materialistic perspective. It explores the cultural policies and politics of the circulation of Arabic literature between the Gulf and North Africa (and beyond, via translations). Knowing the dynamics regulating the literary market in the Global South (and in the Arab region in particular) is useful for the implementation of cultural initiatives (such as the establishment of literary prizes, the funding of translation programmes, the cooperation between state actors on cultural actions, and so on).
b) The broader results achieved in terms of development of Maghreb studies and Global North-Global South cooperation. The Maghreb is seldom an object of study within the Western academia, especially in English-language publications. The field, in fact, is still dominated by French-speaking institutions, both within and without the region. My project contributes to the growth of Maghreb studies in English, which is perceived by many as a decolonial step, as a growing number of studies about the spread of the English language in North Africa highlight. Moreover, the cooperation between European universities and universities of the Global South is of vital importance because it leads to a progressive standardization of administrative procedures and scientific benchmarks, which is key to the democratization of the academia and the achievement of global equality.
In collaboration with my supervisor Prof Najib Mokhtari, I organised the international conference ImagiNation.s: Reconfigurations of National Imaginaries in the Cultural Production of Contemporary Maghreb at the International University of Rabat (Morocco, 18 May 2023). The conference programme included 5 panels and a total of 16 participants from several universities in Europe, USA and Morocco. During the conference, I gave an introductive and conclusive short speech, chaired a panel and presented my paper When the Maghreb goes to the Gulf: Nation building, nation branding, and pluralism at the International Prize of Arabic Fiction. The conference proceedings will be published in an edited volume currently underway.
With the collaboration of Dr Barbara Winckler (University of Münster) I organised the international workshop Plurality Contested: Moroccan Cultural and Intellectual Production as the New Political (University of Münster, 1-2 December 2023). The workshop included five invited speakers: Amina Boubia (UIR), Jamal Bahmad (Mohammed V University, Rabat), Martina Biondi (University of Macerata/University of Utrecht), Mohammed Hashas (LUISS, Rome), and Olivia C. Harrison (University of Southern California).
With the collaboration of Dr Barbara Winckler (University of Münster) I organised the international workshop Plurality Contested: Moroccan Cultural and Intellectual Production as the New Political (University of Münster, 1-2 December 2023). The workshop included five invited speakers: Amina Boubia (UIR), Jamal Bahmad (Mohammed V University, Rabat), Martina Biondi (University of Macerata/University of Utrecht), Mohammed Hashas (LUISS, Rome), and Olivia C. Harrison (University of Southern California).
My research falls within the sphere of sociology of literature, building on the foundations laid by scholars such as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (2002) and, in particular, their elaboration on the concept of culture industries; Pierre Bourdieu (1993, 1996) and his understanding of literature as a field; Pascale Casanova (2004) with her centre-periphery model, which has lately been challenged by the emergence of new poles of literary consecration; Franco Moretti (2005, 2013), who has insisted on the necessity a criticism based on the practice of distant reading, and others. To them, I add other scholars who studied more specifically literary prizes, cultural institutions and the politics of postcolonialism, such as James English (2005), Sandra Ponzanesi (2014), Sarah Brouillette (2014 and others), Gisèle Sapiro (2009 and others), Claire Squires (2007) and others.
In the field of Arabic studies, sociology of literature is not a very common approach. However, among the scholars adopting it, I can mention Richard Jacquemond (2008), Samia Mehrez (2008), Felix Lang (2016), Tristan Leperlier (2018), and Jacquemond and Lang (2019). Recently, a PhD research on pan-Arab literary prizes appeared (Katia Al Tawil, Les prix littéraires panarabes décernés au roman arabe: normes, mécanismes et impacts, 2022).
In order not to overlook completely the formal aspects of literature, nonetheless, my research takes in consideration the textual dimension by attempting to understand how literary prizes (and the IPAF in particular) affect the genre, style and content of the Arabic novel in the Maghreb. According to some scholars, in fact, materialist approaches tend to overlook the texts themselves, reducing them to irrelevant accidents. For example, Anne-Marie McManus argues that “prizes are often studied from materialist and sociological perspectives that tend to marginalize their textual reading”. McManus called for the necessity of “reading with the IPAF”, namely addressing texts both “as representational objects and commodities”. According to McManus, the novels awarded with or long- and shortlisted at the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (from now onwards, IPAF) must be read as national narratives that experience a different “afterlife” once the participation in the IPAF pushes them into the realm of world literature through their English translation. These novels go through a process of “deterritorialization”, though, that does not erase their national scale and local relevance. Between this two poles – national and global – lays a layered network of interconnected modes of circulation. As Felix Lang claims, “the Arab field of cultural production is a quintessentially transnational space” and it comes as “a very decentralized field whose major institutions are distributed over a number of nation-states and even continents”.
The potential users of my project results range from Italian and European publishing houses to cultural organisations and projects focusing on the Arabic book industry, and EU policy makers. After the end of my fellowship I will certainly try to put the results of my work at the service of new scouting and translation projects, which would be utterly beneficial since the Arabic-Italian translation sector in Italy suffers from several weaknesses (amateur translators, insufficient funding, limited ability of scouting, lack of comprehensive vision and planning, small or amatorial publishers that do not have sufficient capacity of promotion and distribution, etc.) that I would be able to address and contribute to correct through my work.
In the field of Arabic studies, sociology of literature is not a very common approach. However, among the scholars adopting it, I can mention Richard Jacquemond (2008), Samia Mehrez (2008), Felix Lang (2016), Tristan Leperlier (2018), and Jacquemond and Lang (2019). Recently, a PhD research on pan-Arab literary prizes appeared (Katia Al Tawil, Les prix littéraires panarabes décernés au roman arabe: normes, mécanismes et impacts, 2022).
In order not to overlook completely the formal aspects of literature, nonetheless, my research takes in consideration the textual dimension by attempting to understand how literary prizes (and the IPAF in particular) affect the genre, style and content of the Arabic novel in the Maghreb. According to some scholars, in fact, materialist approaches tend to overlook the texts themselves, reducing them to irrelevant accidents. For example, Anne-Marie McManus argues that “prizes are often studied from materialist and sociological perspectives that tend to marginalize their textual reading”. McManus called for the necessity of “reading with the IPAF”, namely addressing texts both “as representational objects and commodities”. According to McManus, the novels awarded with or long- and shortlisted at the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (from now onwards, IPAF) must be read as national narratives that experience a different “afterlife” once the participation in the IPAF pushes them into the realm of world literature through their English translation. These novels go through a process of “deterritorialization”, though, that does not erase their national scale and local relevance. Between this two poles – national and global – lays a layered network of interconnected modes of circulation. As Felix Lang claims, “the Arab field of cultural production is a quintessentially transnational space” and it comes as “a very decentralized field whose major institutions are distributed over a number of nation-states and even continents”.
The potential users of my project results range from Italian and European publishing houses to cultural organisations and projects focusing on the Arabic book industry, and EU policy makers. After the end of my fellowship I will certainly try to put the results of my work at the service of new scouting and translation projects, which would be utterly beneficial since the Arabic-Italian translation sector in Italy suffers from several weaknesses (amateur translators, insufficient funding, limited ability of scouting, lack of comprehensive vision and planning, small or amatorial publishers that do not have sufficient capacity of promotion and distribution, etc.) that I would be able to address and contribute to correct through my work.