Black-Arab Encounters in Literature and Film

This book investigates how representations of Black Africans have been negotiated over time in Arabic literature and film. It will be of interest to scholars of the African diaspora, Arabic literature, Middle East studies and critical race studies.

Touria Khannous is an Associate Professor at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA.

Theoretical Introduction: The evolution of the idea of race in the Middle East and North Africa: Classical paradigms 1. Black Poets' Defensive Rhetorical Acts: The Example of Antara Ibn Shaddad 2. Writing Identity: Dissident Discourse in Shu'ubiyya Black Poetry 3. In Defense of Blackness: Patterns of Argumentation in Al-Jahiz's Fakhr Al-Sudan-Ala Al-Baydan 4. Identity Politics and the Constructions of Blackness in North African Medieval Travel Narratives 5. Writing the Egyptian Imperial Narrative: Rifa'a Al-Tahtawi's Representation of Sudan and the Sudanese 6. The Representation of Blackness in Maghrebian Literature and Film