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Cold Books in Hot Lands: Winning and Losing of Hearts and Minds in the Middle East

Descrizione del progetto

Un esperimento editoriale sulla guerra fredda in Medio Oriente

Il Medio Oriente, in particolare l’Egitto e l’Iran, è stato colpito dalla guerra fredda dopo la morte di Joseph Stalin, il secondo leader dell’Unione Sovietica, avvenuta nel 1953. La creazione della casa editrice Franklin in Egitto, che offriva traduzioni nelle lingue utilizzate in Medio Oriente, contribuì a trasmettere la cultura americana. Il deterioramento della situazione nell’area dovuto al sostegno dell’America a Israele, unito all’aumento del nazionalismo arabo e dell’islamismo iraniano, portò al fallimento dell’obiettivo della casa editrice. Il progetto coldbihot, finanziato dall’UE, studierà il ruolo della Franklin nel promuovere la diplomazia culturale statunitense e indagherà le ragioni del fallimento della Franklin.

Obiettivo

COLDBIHOT is an interdisciplinary and historical research project that explores the connection between Stalin’s death, the US-backed coup in Iran, and the opening of a US-sponsored publishing house (Franklin Publications) in Cairo in 1953. After Stalin died the American “battle of ideas” with the spread of communism entered a new phase. Key to this “cultural Cold War” was the use of various channels to spread (pro-US) liberal ideas around the world. Franklin was founded to support the translation of American books into the languages of developing countries. Franklin’s record was extensive: it operated for 27 years in 12 countries, publishing 3000 books. However, deep suspicions of US intentions in the Middle East and support for Israel, as well as the rise of Arab nationalism and of nativism and Islamicism in Iran, have complicated assessments of Franklin’s role in cultural life. Existing scholarship sees Franklin as propaganda, a mistake, or a form of cultural imperialism, borrowing from Cold War terminology to write it off as a lost battle for hearts and minds. COLDBIHOT looks beyond such a zero-sum game by investigating it as a US cultural diplomacy initiative to better understand what winning and losing hearts and minds means in practice. Two main questions are posed: 1) how and why did books come to play such a role in US cultural diplomacy, 2) how and why did Franklin fail to win the hearts and minds? These questions are important because the legacies of America’s cultural influence in the region remain contentious, and the contest between different forms of modernity and traditionalism continues throughout daily social life. By exploring Franklin’s dynamics, impact, and legacy in Egypt and Iran, this critical history of Franklin uses primary and secondary sources and employs documentary research, case studies, and semi-structured interviews to collect and analyse the data. Among others, this innovative project contributes to the global Cold War studies.

Campo scientifico

CORDIS classifica i progetti con EuroSciVoc, una tassonomia multilingue dei campi scientifici, attraverso un processo semi-automatico basato su tecniche NLP.

Coordinatore

UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 281 358,72
Indirizzo
RAPENBURG 70
2311 EZ Leiden
Paesi Bassi

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Tipo di attività
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Collegamenti
Costo totale
€ 281 358,72