A House divided. An alternative history of Pan-Arabism
A House divided. An alternative history of Pan-Arabism [working title] draws on the research developed in Yasmina Reggad’s long-term project we dreamt of utopia and we woke up screaming and takes a closer look at the possibilities of performing an academic essay. The research is titled after and based on an academic essay published in the 70s that recounts the history of the radio Voice of Palestine, a Palestinian broadcast in exile. This particular essay combines scholarship, sonic elements and dramatisation to tell the story of the (failed) Pan-Arabism project through the history of the multiple Voice of Palestine.
In previous works, Yasmina Reggad explored the idea of the ‘essayistic performance’, employing choreography or performance’s processes as an alternative or equivalent to essay writing. With A House divided. An alternative history of Pan-Arabism [working title] she questions to which extent a performative work or gestures could carry the essence of an essay or hold essayistic textures and qualities, while producing new forms of processing and disseminating knowledge and archival material. On the other hand, she interrogates how an essay – drawing the sketch of a demonstration – could become performative. Interested in exploring the position of the researcher, she specifically examines the notions of production of proof and authenticity. This enquiry calls on the re-enactment of an essay as an artistic strategy of translation/transformation and researches how to unveil elements intrinsic to the writing process from metatext, footnotes, and fieldwork, to bibliography.
The Friends School Students while Climbing a Radio Mast, anonymous, 1941-1950, courtesy The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive
Credits
Supported by: Flemish Government Residencies: workspacebrussels