(Linguistic and Sociologic Perspectives)
Mohammed Chawich analyses what constitutes contemporary Arab culture – its major trends and possible linguistic and social perspectives – through a new look at the concept of “modernity” and “tradition”. His thesis is that the “revolutionary” currents in this ideology, divided between “nationalism”, “socialism” and “Islamism” share a hidden side creating a unique Arab form of modernity existing despite the declared rhetoric of dissonance between those who want to return to the past and those who want to implement modernity in its Western form.
The lecture will evolve around the following two questions:
– How should we classify the basic components of Arab culture?
– To what extent are these components “modern” and to what degree are they “traditional”? In other words, is the so-called ‘Islamism’ “completely traditional” and is the claimed ‘modernity’ “entirely modern”?
Mohammed Chawich is a Palestinian born in Damascus in 1961. He has been publishing articles and books on “Contemporary Arabic Culture” since 1989.
Publications (all in Arabic only):
- (On love and Alienation: the Psychology of the Personality), Beirut 1995.
- (Towards an Authenticated Culture), Beirut / Damascus 2007.
- (Malik bin Nabi and the current situation) Damascus 2007.
- (Failed Renaissance), Damascus 2008.
- (Almaqasid approach of al-Qaradawi) Damascus 2009.
- (Who is active? The adequate consciousness in an society at risk) – Beirut 2015
- (Contemporary Arab Culture: From Description to Change) 2018
Event in Arabic. Questions and contributions to the debate are possible in English and German; the lecture itself will not be translated.
Presentation: Amani Al-Siefy, Ibn Rushd Fund
Lettrétage, Mehringdamm 61, 10961 Berlin nahe U-Bhf Mehringdamm (U7 + U6)
