[Commlist] CFP – The Arabic press published outside the Arab world: Context effects on an allophone press

Call for Papers


The *Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée* is announcing a 
call for papers for a special Autumn/Winter 2022 issue :


**The Arabic press published outside the Arab world: Context effects on 
an allophone press** https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/13922 
<https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/13922>

*Submission schedule* 
<https://journals-openedition-org.ezproxy.univ-paris13.fr/remmm/13922%22%20%5Cl%20%22tocfrom2n8>

1 December 2020: Deadline for submission of proposals - not exceeding 
4000 characters - with author(s) name(s), institutional affiliations(s) 
and e-mail address(es). Proposals should be sent to: 
(asmaa.azizi /at/ univ-paris13.fr) <mailto:(asmaa.azizi /at/ univ-paris13.fr)>, 
(franckmermier /at/ yahoo.fr) <mailto:(franckmermier /at/ yahoo.fr)> and 
(diana.cooper-richet /at/ uvsq.fr) <mailto:(diana.cooper-richet /at/ uvsq.fr)>.

1 January 2021: The scientific committee will notify authors as to the 
acceptance of their proposal.

1 September 2021: Final copy is due.

Autumn/Winter 2022: Publication of the special issue of the REMMM 
journal, vol 2022-2.


This call for papers concerns the Arabic press published outside the 
Arab world. It includes all periodical publications (daily newspapers 
and reviews) published in Arabic in countries where this language is not 
one of the dominant languages.

For the needs of this call for papers, we will use the expression « the 
Arabic press ». However, this press is not a homogeneous entity. It is, 
in fact, heterogenous and displays multiple contents arising in multiple 
temporalities and contexts, but also the result of the various paths 
followed by its instigators (Arabs or Arabists), their motivations, as 
well as the evolving status of the Arabic language. This diversity is 
also linked to the different locations of this press and the 
relationships that these contexts maintain with both the Arab area and 
the Arab diasporic communities. Thus, the central elements of our 
thinking reflect the interactions that this Allophone press maintains 
with the social, political and cultural configurations in which it operates.

Very little research has been devoted to this press in France and 
elsewhere. In general, the works that examine this research object are 
case studies that focus on one or another specific publication. Most of 
the in-depth work concerns the content of specific titles and fails to 
take into consideration the general mapping of this type of publication.

Yet the study of this press is crucial for understanding both the 
national history and the history of the press of the countries where it 
was or is still published. Just like the role that print plays in the 
construction of national imaginaries (Anderson, 1996), this work would 
probably lead to a new approach concerning national identifications and 
cultures, (re) writing process in the countries where these titles were 
or are published, as well as to a better grasp of the diplomatic and 
political issues that these editorial productions raise.

This press conceals numerous temporal and geographical logics. It is 
both an old and a topical phenomenon, closely linked to the social and 
historical context of its publication. This call for papers therefore 
covers a large period of time (the publications that emerged in the 19th 
and 20th centuries but also those more recent, that have ceased to exist 
or continue to exist), various political contexts in the Arab world 
(Ottoman Empire, colonisations, independence followed by the building of 
the modern Nation-State) and in the countries where these press titles 
were born.

This call is not limited either to Europe or the United States. 
Historically, France and the United Kingdom have been the two key areas 
for an Arabic press seeking freedom and a favourable environment (Elias, 
1993, p. 44). A large number of titles were published in Paris, 
including "/Al Urwa Al Wuthqa/", launched in 1884 by Jamal Eddine 
Al-Afghani and Mohamed Abduh, and the satirical title "/Abu Naddara 
Zarqa/", which Yaqub Sannu continued to publish after his exile from 
Egypt in 1878 and in which he pleaded for Egyptian nationalism among 
Europeans (Fahmy, 2008). However, the ambiguity of Paris' role in the 
existence of this Arabic press needs to be emphasized. While it offered 
a space for freedom of speech for journalists and other intellectuals 
who found refuge there, the French political authorities published 
titles in Arabic languages for propaganda purposes, thus reaffirming 
France's positions vis-à-vis the Ottoman Empire and exposing its 
colonial ambitions. The main example of this type of press is "/Al 
Mustaqbal/" (/The Future/) published in Paris in 1916.

On the other side of the Channel, as early as the second half of the 
19th century, several titles hostile to the Ottoman Empire were 
published, such as "/An-Nahla/" (/The Bee/). Originally published in 
Beirut, it moved to London in 1876, following the exile of its founder, 
Louis Sabounji (Zolondek, 1978) (Visser, 2014). In the same way, 
propaganda titles were published by the Ottoman administration in London 
to counter hostile ideas circulated in the British capital. This task 
was fulfilled among other titles by « /Al Ghayra/ » (Elias, 1993, p. 45).

To further complicate matters, Syrian and Lebanese communities in the 
New World established their own multifunctional (educational, learning, 
integration and savoir-vivre) press in Arabic. In 1910, there were more 
than fifteen Arabic newspapers published in the United States (Cadinot, 
2013). « /Kawkab/ /Amrika/ » (/Planet/ /America/) founded in 1888 in New 
York is a good example of this type of periodical (Abu Laban, 1981). It 
should also be noted that this press, particularly in South America, was 
an important vehicle for nationalist ideas, such as Pan Syrian and 
Lebanese nationalism and played an important role in « transnational 
political mobilisations » (Logrono Narbona, 2014).

In the mid-1970s, as a result of the war in Lebanon, many journalists 
and periodicals emigrated to Paris and to London. London became the 
centre for the Arabic press in Europe. Several pan-Arab newspapers were 
launched thanks to Saudi capital (El Oifi, 2005), such as "/Ach-charq Al 
Awsat/" (1978-) and "/Al Hayat/" (1989-). More recently, the daily "/Al 
Araby Al Jadeed/" was published in London, Doha and Istanbul, thus 
extending, to the written press, Qatar's policy of influence in the 
television sector, thanks to its satellite channel Al-Jazeera. After 
2011, the Arab Spring brought about deep transformations in the Arab 
mediascape and the proliferation of press titles in both Arabic speaking 
countries (Tunisia) and the diasporic spaces created by forced 
displacements resulting from repression and/or war (Syria, Yemen, Egypt, 
Libya, Iraq).

This issue of REMMM aims to examine the conditions in which this Arabic 
press is produced as well as the social and historical contexts in which 
it developed. We will identify its editors and journalists, examine its 
readers, and geographical extent of circulation, examine its contents 
and explore ideological influences. This issue’s goal is to analyse the 
role of this press in the promotion and formation of nationalist and 
community identifications, in relations between host cultures and the 
countries from which immigrant communities arise, considering all 
aspects, from political mobilisations and the formulation and 
dissemination of intellectual debates to the articulation and 
dissemination of new forms of linguistic and cultural expression.

Article proposals may examine, for example, one or more of the following 
issues:

*Area 1. Production and organisation 
<https://journals-openedition-org.ezproxy.univ-paris13.fr/remmm/13922#tocfrom2n5>: 
*The authors and publishers behind these editorial experiences have 
varied profiles that cannot be dissociated from the local contexts in 
which they carried out their activities and their press enterprises. 
What is / was their status? Are they immigrants, refugees, political 
activists, intellectual groups, a globalized elite, political 
authorities, or professional journalists? Research could also focus, 
more specifically, on the genera of these editorial productions, their 
material identities (newspaper, newsletter, leaflet, etc.), their media 
(paper, digital), their frequency and their business models. Are they 
private initiatives or were they financed by homeland and / or host 
authorities? Did / does the legislative framework in the countries where 
these titles are published facilitate or, on the contrary, hinder the 
publication of this type of press?

*Area 2. Contents and stakes, notably the question of the language 
<https://journals-openedition-org.ezproxy.univ-paris13.fr/remmm/13922#tocfrom2n6> : 
*Research could also focus on topics and editorial lines set out in 
these titles. What can be said about the instigators of this press and 
the periods during which it was published? What about the linguistic 
diversity of this press? What variant of the Arabic language is used in 
these titles? Which Arabic form(s) was / were used? The literary, 
vernacular or modern ones? What symbolic referents accompanied the 
choice of language? Is Arabic the only language used in these 
periodicals or are they multilingual editorial productions? Is the 
Arabic language an object of study in these titles? Particular attention 
will be paid to the nationalist and community dimensions of the content 
in order to identify those elements characteristic of the different 
periodicals at different times, as well as the cultural and political 
references they mobilize.

The stakes for such a press are multiple and vary according to the 
contexts and relations between diaspora communities and their countries 
of origin. We will therefore examine the evolution of this press during 
particular periods, in relation to identity, social, cultural and 
political mobilization and the differentiated anchoring of this press in 
host countries or in the larger Arabic space.

*Area 3. Circulation and reception 
<https://journals-openedition-org.ezproxy.univ-paris13.fr/remmm/13922#tocfrom2n7> : 
*The modes of circulation of this press are multiple and depend on 
whether its circulation is limited to the national territory in which it 
is published or if it covers transnational zones? What are the 
distribution channels and methods of distribution employed by this press 
(sale by issue, subscriptions)? What channel intermediaries are employed 
in this distribution model: booksellers, intellectuals, associations or 
political groups …?

The question of readership, although often difficult to ascertain, is a 
privileged point of entry for understanding relations between the 
cultural/political project of this press, its content and readership. 
Who are its readers? Are they heterogeneous?

Proposals that question the terminology used to characterize this type 
of press are also welcome. Between self-attribution and identity 
assignment, how should this press be designated? Can it be considered a 
“community press” or as a "minority" press? How can it be positioned in 
the wider spectrum of the national press in the countries in which it 
was born?

This call is open to researchers in the Human and Social Sciences 
including Anthropology, Sociology, Information and Communication 
Sciences, Political Sciences, History … Researchers using 
multidisciplinary approaches are strongly encouraged to submit 
proposals. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies are welcome. Thus, 
articles proposing reviews tracking methodological difficulties 
concerning these periodicals are consistent with this call, as well as 
those proposing a transversal study of these titles according to their 
geographical and historical contexts.

Please, read the guidelines that the authors should meet : 
https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/3004 
<https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/3004>

No payment from the authors will be required.

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