Dwight Reynolds is Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara and alongside expertise in this area has a keen interest in the oral and musical traditions of the Middle East. Reynolds’s research interests are diverse, but his enduring fascination with the Arab world means it is hard to think of another scholar better qualified to draw together the many and varied historical threads that make up the tapestry of Arab culture.
Within the Companion, 16 authors contribute articles from their own specialisms that provide the reader with fascinating insights into the intellectual life and varied cultural practices of the inhabitants of the Arab world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One comes away from the work with a far richer understanding of how modern Arab identity is constructed and the complex interplay of linguistic, ethnic and religious factors that have shaped people’s daily lives over time. The topics touched upon within the Companion are many and varied, ranging from quite specific micro-level examinations of people’s entertainment and culinary preferences to more general macro-level discussion of migration and the political and legal structures within Arab societies.
The introduction is written by the editor and lays out three major themes seen as critical to understanding modern Arab culture, namely, the original spread of the Arabic language and culture throughout the Middle East and North Africa from the seventh century onwards; the impact of European colonialism and emergence of Arab nation states and the Arab Nahda or “Awakening/Renaissance” over the past 150 years, which saw the emergence of new social and political movements. Three maps of the region are helpfully included within the introduction, showing the region during the time of the Ottoman Empire, through the period of European colonialization to the current day (a brief listing of current Arab countries and their recent political history is also provided). To provide further background, a useful chronology of the modern Arab world has been included at the start of the work, beginning with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798 and ending with the toppling of Mubarak in 2011.
Poetry and linguistic agility are highly prized within Arabic culture, and this comes across strongly in some of the most insightful chapters of the Companion written by Kristen Brustad, Shawkat M. Toorawa and Devin Stewart (writing respectively on language, poetry and humour). So great in fact is the influence of poetic verse that much of Dwight Reynolds’s own chapter on folklore is devoted solely to it; he concludes that even instant messaging and online social media have not diminished the love of poetry within Arab culture. Credit should also go to Muhsin Al-Musawi for a beautifully written chapter that lays out the breadth and depth of Arab narrative genres magnificently, providing snippets of significant works of Arab fiction that leads one to want to read more. There are also chapters within in the Companion that look in detail at music, cinema/television and the visual arts. The chapter on theatre is the shortest within the book and may benefit from future expansion, and, although the chapter on architecture is informative and lively, it is poorly referenced and future editions of the work should look to address this issue.
An informative glossary is situated towards the end of the book alongside a section of further reading. Unfortunately, the selection of further reading is rather slim, and there are very few electronic sources provided within it to aid the curious reader; this is particularly disappointing given that the note on terminology at the outset of the book indicates that general websites and key search terms will be provided.
Overall The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture provides an extremely affordable volume that will appeal to both academics and students within the humanities and social sciences, whilst being accessible enough to appeal to the layman looking for a greater understanding of the modern Arab world. I anticipate that the Companion will prove itself to be as durable as the Arab culture it documents and as such is likely to run to many future editions.
