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Al-Tanki, in the Footsteps of an Iraqi Woman (ARABIC) Play

Al-Tanki, in the Footsteps of an Iraqi Woman (ARABIC)

Published at 16 26,,, 22 2022
Casa Árabe and Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo are presenting Alia Mamduh's most recent work on Wednesday 1 June in Madrid. The event will feature the author of the book, Alia Mamduh, who will be accompanied by her translator and prologue writer, Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid. This bewildering symphony of disparate narrative voices draws us into the search for Afaf, the Iraqi painter whose traces are lost in Paris. The Iraqi writer who has lived in France for decades has long been experimenting with the Arabic language, trying to generate a peculiar way of expressing her life experience as an exiled Arab woman who returns again and again, paradoxically, to her native country. Writing about the violence, dictatorships and invasions that forced her to leave; about the marginalisation that women continue to suffer in the cities and towns of Iraq in the shadow of the omnipotent power exercised by the man, the father, the elder brother or the great military, civil and religious leader; or about the repression of basic freedoms, starting with freedom of expression and ending with sexual freedom. All this comes to the surface from the very first page of this detailed account of an Iraqi family and the street where its members live, in spite of a Baghdad that languidly declines... (from the presentation by Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán) Al-Tanki's publishing novel is complemented by the reissue of Alia Mamduh's previous novel, Naphthalene, also published by Ediciones del Oriente y el Mediterráneo in 2000, in which her play of subtlety, acidity and linguistic distortion both confuses and uncovers the tragic experience of millions of Iraqis forced to leave their homeland.

ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

  • Homage to Abderrahman el Abnoudy (ARABIC)Show video

    Homage to Abderrahman el Abnoudy (ARABIC)

    Casa Árabe held this poetry recital with the cooperation of the Egyptian Institute of Islamic Studies. The event was presented by Basem Saleh, a cultural advisor of the Republic of Egypt in Madrid and the director of the Egyptian Institute of Islamic Studies. Nehal Kamal, a journalist on Egyptian television and el-Abnoudy’s widow, along with Rosa Martínez Lillo, a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), also took part in this homage to the Egyptian poet who passed away in 2015. The recital also included the presence of four UAM students, who will be reading a selection of el-Abnoudy’s poems in Spanish and Arabic. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/homage-to-abderrahman-el-abnoudy
    Published at 33 16,,, 15 2015
  • Iraq at a CrossroadsShow video

    Iraq at a Crossroads

    Casa Árabe presented “Iraq at a Crossroads,” co-published with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, as a result of the seminar held in late 2014 on this subject. The presentation included speeches by Hayder al-Khoei, an associate member of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House; Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of the Iran section at the portal Al-Monitor, and Yahya al-Kubaisi, a consultant at the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies. The event was presented by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for the Governance Area at Casa Árabe and the book’s editor. As a result of a seminar organized by Casa Árabe and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation which brought together several experts on Iraq, a volume has been published in English with the title Iraq at a Crossroads, in which the internal (Sunni, Shia an Kurdish), regional (Syria, Iran and Turkey) and international (US, EU and the humanitarian drama) factors contributing to a worsening of the Iraqi crisis are analyzed in nine chapters. The Sunnis’ situation, the role of Shia militancy and Iran’s role are a few of the angles discussed by the speakers. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/iraq-at-a-crossroads
    Published at 34 03,,, 15 2015
  • Geopolitics and Arab Societies: Keys to upheavalShow video

    Geopolitics and Arab Societies: Keys to upheaval

    On the occasion of the presentation of the books “Islamic State: Geopolitics of chaos” and “What Is Left of the Arab Uprisings?: Activists, changes and essentials,” three journalists analyzed the current situation. The round table included talks by Reem Khalifa, an activist and founder of the newspaper Al Wasat in Bahrain; Javier Martín, delegate of the Efe Press Agency in North Africa and author de “Estado Islámico: Geopolítica del caos” (“Islamic State: Geopolitics of chaos”) and David Perejil, a journalist and the editor of “¿Qué queda de las revueltas árabes?: Activistas, cambios y claves” (“What Is Left of the Arab Uprisings?: Activists, changes and essentials”). The event was presented by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for the Governance Area at Casa Árabe. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/geopolitics-and-arab-societies-keys-to-today’s-upheaval
    Published at 05 22,,, 15 2015
  • Alaa Al-Aswany in a conversation with Karim Hauser (FRENCH)Show video

    Alaa Al-Aswany in a conversation with Karim Hauser (FRENCH)

    Dialogue on the occasion of the launch in Spanish of the latest novel by the Egyptian author, "The Automobile Club". Acclaimed Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswany, known for his bestseller “The Yacoubian Building,” visited the 10th edition of the Hay Festival in Segovia, where he went over several topics regarding the intense current events in the Arab world and Egypt. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/alaa-al-aswany-in-a-conversation-with-karim-hauser
    Published at 33 22,,, 15 2015
  • The Islamist phoenixShow video

    The Islamist phoenix

    Casa Árabe and the Paidós publishing company present El fénix islamista: El Estado Islámico y el rediseño de Oriente Próximo (The Islamist Phoenix: The Islamic State and the redesigning of the Middle East) by Loretta Napoleoni, at an event which will include the author’s presence and a speech by the General Director of Casa Árabe, Eduardo López Busquets. El fénix islamista is a fundamental contribution for understanding what is taking place in the Middle East. Since its advent in the late nineties as a Jihadist aspiration of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Islamic State has turned into an imposing undertaking which has stirred up the borders of Middle Eastern countries, imposing its brutal brand of the sharia over an extensive geographic area. In El fénix islamista, Loretta Napoleoni, an internationally renowned terrorism specialist, demonstrates that, although the Western media show us a devalued image of the Islamic State, almost like a band of thugs riding a wave of victories, the organization’s true intention is to create a new model of nationalism. More information: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/el-fenix-islamista
    Published at 08 17,,, 15 2015