Racism and Welfare Conference

The Rasism och Välfärd (Racism and Welfare) conference, organised by CEMFOR (Centrum för mångvetenskaplig forskning om rasism) at Uppsala University, took place between 11-12 October. The first keynote, by Philomena Essed, was entitled "Inclusive Beyond Race: Racism, Dehumanization and the Pursuit of Dignity." The main thread that Essed developed in her talk was thinking beyond …

Khan Al-Khalil

Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Khan al-Khalil, published in 1945, is set two years earlier, during the second world war, with the campaign in north Africa ongoing and the Germans bombing the city of Cairo. The story begins with Ahmad Akif, a civil servant, leaving his work place and heading to the new apartment he has moved …

Tawfiq Hakim’s Sparrow from the East

Tawfik Hakim’s Sparrow From the East, published in 1938, is an early example of a narratives in which Arab characters visit Europe. In the first chapter, when Andre discovers Muhsin, the sensitive art-loving hero, eating dates in the streets of Paris, he calls him “sparrow from the East,” and the East/West divide is established. Later …