Edinburgh University Press The Art of Minorities: Cultural Representation in Museums of the Middle East and North Africa (Alternative Histories) (Alternative Histories: Narratives from the Middle East and Mediterranean)

Explores the representation of minority cultures in museums of the Middle East and North Africa Sets out a new way of understanding cultural representations in non-Western museums Encourages a multidisciplinary/non-Western-centric reading of Middle Eastern museums Includes 13 case studies based on fieldwork and archival research in the Middle East Covers Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria and the UAE How are issues related to identity representation negotiated in Middle Eastern and North African museums? Can museums provide a suitable canvas for minorities to express their voice? Can narratives change and stereotypes be broken and, if so, what kind of identities are being deployed? Against the backdrop of the revolutionary upheavals that have shaken the region in recent years, the contributors to this volume interrogate a range of case studies from across the region - examining how museums engage inclusion, diversity and the politics of minority identities. They bring to the fore the region's diversity and sketches a 'museology of disaster' in which minoritised political subjects regain visibility. ContributorsAomar Boum, Los Angeles, USA. Rhea Dagher, University of Balamand, Lebanon. Lucia Cirianni Salazar, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany. Francesca de Micheli, Lorraine University, France (affiliate). Zoe Holma, historian and journalist. Rita Kalindjian, University of Balamand, Lebanon. Habib Kazdaghli, La Manouba University, Tunisia. Virginie Rey, University of California, Irvine, USA. Katarzyna Pieprzak, Williams College, MA, USA. Virginie Rey, University of California, Irvine, USA. Amanda Rogers, Colgate University, NY, USA. Sarina Wakefield, University of Leicester, UK. From the Inside Flap Explores the representation of minority cultures in museums of the Middle East and North AfricaHow are issues related to identity representation negotiated in Middle Eastern and North African museums? Can museums provide a suitable canvas for minorities to express their voice? Can narratives change and stereotypes be broken and, if so, what kind of identities are being deployed?Against the backdrop of the revolutionary upheavals that have shaken the region in recent years, the contributors to this volume interrogate a range of case studies from across the region examining how museums engage inclusion, diversity and the politics of minority identities. They bring to the fore the regions diversity and sketch a museology of disaster in which minoritised political subjects regain visibility.Key Features? Sets out a new way of understanding cultural representations in non-Western museums? Encourages a multidisciplinary/non-Western-centric reading of Middle Eastern museums? Includes 13 case studies based on fieldwork and archival research in the Middle East? Chapters cover Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria and the UAEVirginie Rey is a Research Associate at the Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Mediating Museums: Exhibiting Material Culture in Tunisia (18812015) (2019) and co-editor of Making Modernity from the Mashrik to the Maghreb (2015). From the Back Cover Explores the representation of minority cultures in museums of the Middle East and North Africa How are issues related to identity representation negotiated in Middle Eastern and North African museums? Can museums provide a suitable canvas for minorities to express their voice? Can narratives change and stereotypes be broken and, if so, what kind of identities are being deployed? Against the backdrop of the revolutionary upheavals that have shaken the region in recent years, the contributors to this volume interrogate a range of case studies from across the region - examining how museums engage inclusion, diversity and the politics of minority identities. They bring to the fore the region's diversity an