Experience of female public relations practitioners in Bahrain

The research addressed the gap in the literature about the experience of public relations practitioners in the non-Western society of Bahrain. The research aims to contribute to public relations scholarship by using a qualitative approach to study the experience of Bahraini women working in public relations. It used open interviews with Bahraini PR practitioners who offered rich insights on their “experiences” as women working in PR in Bahrain. The interviewees talked about various types of challenges when working in public relations such as cultural marginalization, relationship with colleagues, social domination, and marginalization of PR function. The research suggests combined liberal and radical feminist strategies to improve the role of Bahraini women in public relations. It recommends social and organizational reforms, in addition to empowering women to utilize their personality traits, communication behaviors and management styles.     

Processes of conservation and change in Arab society in Israel: Implications for the health and welfare of the Arab population

Azaiza F. Processes of conservation and change in Arab society in Israel: Implications for the health and welfare of the Arab population This article reports on a study that examined how modernisation processes affect the Arab citizens of Israel on various levels and how the processes are reconciled with traditional ideals. Modernisation affects formal and informal support systems, affects family lifestyles, has resulted in changes in the treatment of elderly people and has seen modern ideas of health and wellness incorporated with traditional values and ideals. For the Arab citizens of Israel, the conflict of tradition versus modernisation is evident throughout society. Studying the processes of both modernisation and preservation and their implications allows us to better understand and address the needs of the Arab population in Israel. Based on the research presented in this review, processes of modernisation and conservation are conceptualised as a continuum along four dimensions: perceptions of self, sources of social support, health roles and gender roles. The implications of these changes are explored as they relate to various phenomena.     

The fever that hit Arab satellite television: audience perceptions of Turkish TV series

Turkish television drama series were locally produced products until the early 2000s. Since then, about 70 different titles have been broadcast to audiences in 40 countries, especially in the Middle East, where they comprise approximately 60% of the share in foreign programme broadcasts. This article explores the factors that led to such an attraction by considering the debates around the impact of transnational media products on Arab cultural identity. The authors conducted focus groups and interviews with audiences in Palestine and Egypt and with the producers/distributors of these TV series in Turkey. The data presented here comprise the results of one of the first field-based studies on the reception of Turkish media products in the region. Foremost, the Arab audience response to these Turkish TV series highlights the differences in conceptualisations of ‘modernity’ in the Arab World. Moreover, the data suggest that audiences do not necessarily consider transnational media products as culprits that corrupt cultural identity.     

Globalizations Forum on Middle East Protests: Commentary

The ‘Arab spring’ is part of a growing set of challenges to US hegemony and the capitalist world-system. The global economy is fueling the grievances that motivate protests while also providing tools that aid the spread of global protest movements. The global financial and other crises threaten the legitimacy of the entire system, opening up opportunities for challenges by popular groups even in the most authoritarian contexts. As the US and its Western allies confront more limited budgets, and as slower growth undermines stability in countries whose quiescence has been key to ensuring the flows of resources necessary for the operation of the global capitalist economy, we are destined to see more popular challenges to existing authorities. These challenges should be seen not simply as national challenges, but rather as part of a larger struggle for the transformation of the world-system.

La ‘primavera árabe’ es parte de una serie de retos que va en aumento contra la hegemonía de E.E.U.U. y el sistema mundial capitalista. La economía global está avivando los agravios que motivan las protestas mientras que también proveen herramientas que ayudan a difundir los movimientos de protesta globales. Las crisis financieras y otras globales amenazan la legitimidad del sistema entero, abriendo oportunidades para retos por grupos populares, incluso en los contextos más autoritarios. Así como en E.E.U.U. y sus aliados de occidente afrontan mayores presupuestos limitados, y el crecimiento más lento debilita la estabilidad en los países cuyo estado de quietud ha sido la clave para asegurar los flujos de recursos necesarios para el funcionamiento de la economía capitalista global, estamos destinados a ver más desafíos populares a las autoridades existentes. Estos retos no deben ser vistos simplemente como desafíos nacionales, pero como parte de una lucha mayor para la transformación del sistema mundial.

“阿拉伯之春”是对美国霸权和资本主义世界体系一系列日益增长的挑战的一部分。全球经济助长了这种激发抵抗的不满情绪,同时为全球抵抗运动的传播提供了工具。全球金融及其他危机威胁着整个体系的合法性,开启了在最为威权环境下普通大众发起挑战的机会。随着美国及其西方盟友面临更多的预算限制,亦随着渐缓的经济增长破坏着一些国家的稳定——这些国家的沉寂是确保全球资本主义经济运作所需要的资源流动的关键,我们注定会更多地看到大众对现存政权的挑战。这些挑战不应仅被视为国家内部的,而应视为更大的为世界体系转型而斗争的一部分。     

南方局的新闻工作与抗日民族统一战线建设

抗日战争时期,中共中央南方局领导或影响的新闻媒体高举抗日民族统一战线大旗,广泛传播马克思主义,打破国民党的新闻封锁,坚持人民群众在新闻报道中的主体地位。坚持新闻的真实性和报道的灵活性相结合,有力揭露和遏制破坏抗日民族统一战线的行径,积极争取国际舆论支持,为抗日民族统一战线的巩固和发展发挥了重要作用。     

普利策新闻奖特稿作品的悲剧报道与悲剧审美

1979年至2008年的普利策奖特稿奖作品以悲剧报道为主,具有鲜明的悲剧审美特色：注重表现悲剧中闪亮的人性光辉;悲剧报道的目的在于激发受众心灵深处的悲悯性、悲愤性和悲壮性;传达出一种沉思之美。普利策奖特稿的作者大都是具有社会使命感和责任感的新闻工作者,面对社会悲剧,能以强烈的悲剧审美意识加以报道。普利策新闻奖评奖委员会将这样的作品推上普利策新闻奖的领奖台,反映了普利策新闻奖评奖委员对新闻工作者社会使命感和责任感的一种赞赏和认可。     

阿拉伯互联网体验诗中的文化思辨

诗歌具有文以载道的社会功能。当今阿拉伯诗坛出现了以互联网体验为内涵的诗歌作品,这与正在世界范围内不断深入的全球化进程有着千丝万缕的联系。面对阿拉伯世界正在遭受的文化入侵,阿拉伯学者深感不安,他们用警惕的眼光审视着这股以西方为主导的全球化浪潮。     

The Representation of Arab America in Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed

Abstract

This article gives an analysis of Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed. In these plays, Shamieh presents Arab Americans as victims of Orientalism. She puts Arab Americans within the context of immigrants’ sagas in the United States in an attempt to give their experience validity and identification within larger ethnic experiences. Conversely, Arabs in the two plays are presented as victimizers and politically blamed. This confusion over the representation of the cultural and the political results mainly from Shamieh’s reluctance to offend the wide/white readership market, which is more interested in reading and watching the western stereotype of the Arab. Shamieh’s failure to stage a coherent positive picture of Arab America confirms that Arab Americans are still looking for artistic freedom and that literary censorship is still limiting their productions.     

Political Stability After the Arab Spring

The task to reshape governments in the countries confronted with the Arab Spring prompts the question whether there are necessary conditions to realize a stable society that simultaneously seeks to eliminate the elements that have led to the uprisings. Acknowledging some constitutional rights seems indispensable in such a process. I argue that such a state of affairs is indeed the case, at least now that the “old” justifications to differentiate between people do not suffice anymore. That is not to say that the countries involved will have identical laws in each respect, but merely that a common basis has to be realized, manifested in political and legal equality, so this given does not derogate from the fact that each country's specific legislation needs to be shaped in the light of its own history. Such a basis has no “moral” character, but is a necessary condition to prevent sedition.     

阿拉伯的“布瓦吉吉”们——青年在阿拉伯剧变中的影响和启示

自2011年初阿拉伯剧变发生以来,关于此次剧变原因和影响的讨论莫衷一是,但不可否认的是,占人口多数、受过较高教育的青年一代在其中发挥了重要影响。该文聚焦于阿拉伯青年这一群体,分析其在此次剧变中的影响和作用。对高物价和高失业率等民生问题以及政治制度和现代化进程的不满、对新媒体的娴熟运用使阿拉伯青年成为了抗议民众中的主力。与此同时,这一群体也成为了剧变发生后影响阿拉伯国家政治、社会、经济改革和发展以及未来政局走向的重要因素、此次阿拉伯剧变中青年的角色行为对我国有一定的启示,可以从中吸取教训,未雨绸缪．