Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arts, Content Creation, Culture, Dubai, Lebanon, Peace Arts, Peacebuilding, UAE

‘Les portes’ Artwork and Poem published by Indelible at the American University in Dubai

Indelible is a new literary journal edited by my friends at the American University in Dubai. A special thank you to Dr. Roula Maria Dib for publishing a photo of one of my paintings and a short prose poem.


“Les portes”, by Dr. Pamela Chrabieh
Oil and acrylic on canvas, Beirut – Lebanon, 2012


“Doors are the keepers of secrets, memories of the past and dreams about bright futures. Doors’ closures give the feeling of fences that speak. Behind doors, there are people who live, love each other, argue, are sad or happy; there are furniture and objects, sounds of voices, smells of soup … Doors are boundaries, presence, absence, call, communication, access, defense, rupture, transition, intimate, and universal. Doors are protective shelters, guardians of passages between the profane and the sacred. Doors are chances to do something different, they are places of departure and entrances into new worlds.

Doors are ecumenical images of life’s immanence.”

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh is a scholar, writer, visual artist, and activist. Author of several books and papers with a 20+ year experience in higher education, communication, content creation, and the arts, she has exhibited her artworks in Canada, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Previously Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Dubai, she currently owns and manages a Beirut-based company offering expertise in Learning and Communication. http://pamelachrabiehblog.com and http://spnc.co

Source: INDELIBLEAUD.COM (March 2019)

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Citizenship in the Arab World, Communication, Consultancy, Cultural Resistance, Cultural Studies, Culture, Expertise, Pop Culture, Social Media, Southwestern Asia, Youth

Pop Culture and Social Media in the Arab World

I was interviewed by Terrance Mintner about Pop Culture and Social Media in the Arab World. Here are excerpts of the interview: 

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh, a Beirut-based writer and activist, told The Media Line that young people in the Arab world are using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and Snapchat at an increasingly faster rate despite government controls and restrictions.

“Several studies conducted in the last decade have shown that pop culture and social media have helped Arab youth express and promote alternative political and social discourses and practices to the ‘official, normative, and institutional’ ones,” she said.

Although social media offers opportunities for creative expression and interaction, Chrabieh explained, there are many young people who must use these mediums while constantly negotiating complex and layered pressures to maintain online identities that meet the expectations of their societies, especially in the Gulf region.

“Fageeh’s work [generating online videos, for example] is one of many initiatives in the Arab world that addresses social and political issues. In fact, there has been an explosion of artistic and cultural productions since the 2000s in the forms of music, poetry, theater, graffiti, movies, etc.,” Dr. Chrabieh noted.

“There are of course cultural icons or ‘figureheads’ but we are witnessing the rise and proliferation of cultural democratization and transnational cultures [global cultures], especially when it comes to street art, videos and digital expression.”

Popular culture in the Arab world should not be viewed as byproduct of the Arab Spring, she explained. Even before the uprisings, it played a significant role in creating social and political transformations in response to what she termed “Ottoman and European colonialization.

“Lastly, it is hard to characterize Arab pop culture as one category given the diverse political institutions, regional history and the many different discourses about identity. Nevertheless, popular culture can help make sense of this complexity.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Cultural Studies, Dubai, Expertise, Gulf region, Middle Eastern Studies, Migration, UAE

Minutes from the Miracle City by Omar Sabbagh

Congratulations dear Omar Sabbagh! I had the pleasure to read your Dubai Novella and write a back book cover blurb.

Hakim, a Pakistani taxi driver whizzing through the streets. Patrick, a Ugandan security guard with aspirations of becoming a writer. Farida, a Moroccan beautician hoping for a fresh start. Saeed, a respected Emirati journalist just back from London.

Taking place across the last few days of Ramadan, Minutes from the Miracle City is a unique retelling of the virtuoso project that is Dubai.

Note: Here is the detailed version of my blurb: Omar Sabbagh’s Miracle City is a delightful kaleidoscopic tale of contemporary Dubai through the struggles and identity crises of migrants and locals’ characters living at the crossroads of tradition, postmodernity, and glocalization. A feast for the reader’s eye and soul!

https://www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/minutes-from-the-miracle-…/

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Communication, Consultancy, Content Creation, Culture, Digital Marketing, Education, Human Rights, Lebanon, Peace Arts, Peace Education, Peacebuilding, Southwestern Asia

Stand Up for Human Rights

Image may contain: 4 people, including Pamela Chrabieh, people smiling, closeup
Learning for and about human rights is important to understand the principles of equality and human dignity, and to build pluralistic and just socio-economic and political systems.
 
At the European Union Delegation to Lebanon #snap4humanrights Photo Competition Exhibition.
#EUinLebanon #humanrightspower #standup4humanrights #eastlinedigital #livecoverage
Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Culinary Art, Cultural Studies, Culture, Education, Food Studies, Gastrodiplomacy, Intercultural Dialogue, Lebanon, Middle Eastern Studies, Southwestern Asia, Youth

Learning through Food in Cultural Studies Courses at the Lebanese American University

Food is more than nutrients, and my students at the Lebanese American University have learned this fact by researching, preparing, tasting and sharing stories about foods of the European Renaissance era: lemonades, custards, renaissance crostini, Italian lady fingers, Bianco Mangiare, English pancakes, blueberry cakes, Salami biscuit cakes, and coffee. A festival of palates, senses, symbols and identity markers.

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Communication, Consultancy, Content Creation, Digital Communication Strategy, Digital Marketing, Feminism, Gender Equality, Human Rights, Lebanon, Peace Arts, Social Media, Southwestern Asia, Women's Rights

Snap for Human Rights Photo Competition

Proud to be working on this project with #EastlineDigital –
Sharing here the call for participation in the #EuInLebanon #humanrights photo competition: To mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Union in Lebanon is launching a photo competition on four human rights themes: freedom of speech, gender equality, refugee rights and fighting against torture.

More information: https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/lebanon/49334/snap-human-rights_en

 

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh Arab World, Arts, Communication, Culture, Dubai, Education, Intercultural Dialogue, Interfaith Dialogue, Interreligious Dialogue, Islam, Middle Eastern Studies, Peace Arts, Peace Education, Peacebuilding, Religions, Southwestern Asia, Tolerance, UAE, Youth

Peace, Islam and the Arts in Dubai

My “Peace, Islam and the Arts in Dubai” was recently published in Hawliyat, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Journal at the University of Balamand, Lebanon. Issue 18, 2017-2018, p. 111-134.