Opening Up the Text: Arabic Literary Studies on the Move

Winckler, Barbara; Junge, Christian

Zusammenfassung

The uprisings associated with the “Arab Spring" since 2010 have had a multifaceted impact on the field of Arabic literary studies in general and in Germany in particular. The political protests in the Arab world evolved along with a “cultural revolution” that sees practices of literature and art as tools of the “new political”. In consequence, Arabic literary studies have begun revisiting the relationship between literature and society, thereby “opening up” the concept of the traditional literary text. Scholars of Arabic literature are now eager to study new text forms such as blogs, graffiti and slogans and explore the sociopolitical conditions of texts and the socio-cultural practices of writing. However, this opening up is by no means limited to academic research in Arabic literary studies. Indeed, practices of networking, language instruction and societal commitment throughout the discipline are opening up. Strengthening collaborative research efforts among scholars based in the West and the Arab world, teaching Arabic as a modern language of communication and knowledge production, and demonstrating societal commitment in the growing presence of Arab refugees and migrants in Germany, the field of Arabic literary studies is on the move.