Over the past few weeks, Arab culture has surfaced in mainstream pop culture in curious, messy and revealing ways.
From Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella zaghrouta moment to Anne Hathaway saying “Inshallah” and Ramy Youssef speaking Arabic with Elmo on Sesame Street. Some of these moments have been celebratory, others exposed misunderstanding and prejudice, but together they raise larger questions about Arab representation in global pop culture today.
Is this simply Arab culture going viral, or something more complex about visibility, translation and who gets to shape meaning when culture circulates in the mainstream?
I made a carousel for instagram marking these recent instances (I decided not to look at ones that were not within the last month or so - cough, coughm Kanye West sampling Fairouz) as I wanted to keep it much more in line with recent news.
I wanted to look at the concepts and questions these instances raise through pop culture, and considering them through some of the ideas Edward Said (I mean is there any other guy we need to refer to?) had on culture.
As often with me, there is no specific conclusion or particular point I’m trying to make (strong opinions loosely held and all that) just an important exercise to questions, consider, doubt, and enjoy.
So, enjoy.
Anne Hathaway and Inshallah
