Urban Portraits: Jerusalem, Beirut, Baghdad, and Dubai

In this course we will explore how contemporary Arab artists create urban portraits through their work. Each week we will focus on a different capital of the Arab Middle East that continues to capture the world’s fascination: Jerusalem, a contested and divided city claimed by all three monolithic religions; Beirut, a city recovering from a 15-year civil war; Bagdad, a city today besieged by violence; and Dubai, a city transformed by rapid globalization. Looking at a range of media, we will ask how cultural production confronts the traumas of the past, intervenes in a city’s socio-political realities, and imagines the future.