Analysis Of Marwan Kraidy's The Naked Blogger Of Cairo

In the introductory paragraph of “Narratives of Fear in Syria,” Wendy Pearlman argues that “Popular demonstrations generated a new experience of fear as a personal barrier to be surmounted. When people or a population are fearful—whether that be induced by a political entity or otherwise—this personal barrier, often called the barrier of fear, the start of demonstrations, and the collapse of fear, functions as an intangible obstacle between inaction and action. The Middle East has historically been the least free region in the world, the significance of the barrier of fear in the area is, then, undeniable—especially in the 21st century with the Arab Revolutions. Pearlman’s 2017 book We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled thoroughly outlines the …show more content…
In terms of scope, Marwan Kraidy’s The Naked Blogger of Cairo employs by far the broadest. In his nearly 300 pages, Kraidy analyzes examples of creative insurgency originating from the entire Middle Eastern region. In contrast, Syria speaks only deals with examples coming out of and or regarding the now war-torn country of Syria. Additionally, the two works also contrast in their arguments. In the Naked Blogger of Cairo, examples of creative insurgency are simply used as a means for Kraidy to develop and present his own argument—that the theme of the body is present throughout. Throughout the book, Kraidy tends to nonsensically inject his argument into his carefully selected examples rather than allow them to ‘speak’ for themselves. Whereas in Syria Speaks, the book functions as a mere vehicle for the myriad of arguments espoused by the works of art and culture within it. Although there is a message in Syria speaks—that is “meeting violence with violence is never successful”—a regular argument never comes to fruition and therefore never detracts from the art presented (Halasa, Omareen, Mahfoud, xv). Although Kraidy’s book tends to be more analytical in fashion, the two works compare in their goals: to highlight the importance and relevance of creative insurgency witnessed in the Arab revolutions and to raise awareness of …show more content…
This reductionist theory is rejected by the vast majority of scholars. The internet and social media are often touted as determinative and integral to the Arab Revolutions—now, mostly by those who are uneducated on the topic. Courtney Radsch in her article ‘Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt’ argues against this theory. Although Radsch admits that the internet and social media—citing both Facebook and Twitter as important examples—create a new phase of the public sphere, she argues that this does not mean that they ‘determined’ the Arab Revolutions or the course of them. Deborah Wheeler in her article ‘Digital Resistance in the Middle East’ makes nearly the same argument. Although Wheeler rejects the notion that technology determined the course of the revolutions, she argues that the technology led to the creation of Digital Resistance—hence the name of the article. Wheeler states that citizens in the Middle East are now using new media technologies to circumvent the state. She goes on to make the argument that this loss of control by the state is a force of change in the region. In effect, the theory is largely refuted by these two works. However, it is worth mentioning that both authors retain that both the internet and social media had a profound effect on the ways in which people disseminate information apart from the