4 - The Sphere In-between: Najib Mahfuz on Power, Status and Authority in Africa’s Public Sphere
Corresponding Author(s) : Oladosu Afis Ayinde
Africa Development,
Vol. 34 No. 2 (2009): Africa Development: Special Issue on The Humanities
Abstract
This paper is hinged on the following propositions: in no other region in Africa are the arguments about the role of the artist in the ‘public’ sphere more intense as in North Africa. The problematic of what constitutes the ‘public’ sphere in North Africa is circumscribed by the struggle for and the contest over ‘power’, ‘status’ and ‘authority’; the attempt by North African writers, particularly Najib Mahfuz (d. 2006), to mirror the socio-political and cultural fissures and contradictions in the public sphere usually leads to conflict not only over what constitutes the ‘public sphere’ and who governs it, but equally on how the ‘private’ and the sphere ‘in-between’ could be reclaimed for the ‘public good’. In grappling with the foregoing, the paper rereads Najib Mahfuz’s Awld Hratin 1959). In reading for ‘meaning’ and the ‘meaning of meaning’ in Awld Hratin, the paper pays attention to the socio-political and cultural codes provided by Najib Mahfuz, even as it searches for possible theoretical insights that the works of Arab-African and Euro-American writers including Ibn Qayyim, Abdul Qhir al-Jurjn, Edward Said, Michel Foucault and Benhabib could yield in an excursus which probes into how the trialectic of power, status and authority continues to shape the ‘public’, the ‘private’ and the sphere ‘in-between’ of Egyptian society.
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- al-Jurjani, 1959, Asrr al-Balgha, Cairo.Ibn Qayyim, n.d., ‘Ilam al-Muwaqqi’in an Rabb al-‘Alamin, ed., T. Abdul Rauf Sa’ad, Beirut: Dar al-Jil.
- al-Azmeh, A., 1982, Ibn Khaldun, Cairo: American University Press. el-Fadl, K.A., 2003, Speaking in God’s Name, Oxford: Oneworld. al-Ibshihi, 1942, al-Mustatraf fi kulli fanin Mustadhraf, Cairo.
- Andy, N., 1893, The Intimate Enemy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Amyuni, M.T., 1999, ‘The Arab Artist’s Role in Society: Three Case Studies: Naguib Mahfouz, Tayeb Salih, and Elias Khoury’, Arabic and Middle Eastern Literatures, Vol. 2.
- Arendt, H., 1968, ‘What is Authority?’, in Between Past and Future, New York: Viking Press.
- Arkoun, M., 2002, Islam: To Reform or to Subvert?, London: Saqi Books.
- Bakhtin, M., 1981, The Dialogic Imagination, ed., M Holquist, trans., C. Emerson and M. Holquist, Austin: University of Texas.
- Benhabib, S., 1992, ‘Models of Space’, in C. Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Friedman, R.B., 1990, ‘On the Concept of Authority in Political Philosophy’, inAuthority, ed., J. Raz, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Eco, U., 1979, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts, Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
- Eco, U., Rorty, R. and Culler, J., 1992, Interpretation and Over-interpretation, ed., Stefan Collini, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Foucault, M., 1980, ‘The History of Sexuality: An Interview’, in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, ed., C. Gordon, trans., C. Gordon, L. Marshall, J. Mepham and K. Soper, New York.
- Foucault, M., 1986, ‘Of Other Spaces’, Diacritics.
- Foucault, M., 1988, The Care of the Self: The History of Sexuality, Vol. 3, trans. R Hurley, New York: Vintage Books.
- Habermas, J., 1962, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Cambridge: MIT.
- Habermas, J., 1992, ‘Further Reflections on the Public Sphere’, in Calhoun, C., ‘Imagining Solidarity: Cosmopolitanism, Constitutional Patriotism and the Public Sphere’, Public Culture, 14, 1.Hijazi, A., ‘Awlad’, 1994, ‘Haratina bayna ‘Alam al-Mu’allif wa Wahy al-Waqi’, al-Ahram.
- Hutcheon, L., 1988, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction, New York: Routledge.
- Khashaba, S., 1994, ‘Awlad Haratina lil-Iman, lil-Insaniyya, wa li Misr’, al-Ahram, 11 November.
- Kishk, H., 1990, Kalimatuna fi al-Radd ‘ali Awlad Haratina, Cairo: al-Mukhtar al-Islami.
- Ayinde: The Sphere In-between 99
- Lefebvre, H., 1991, The Production of Space, trans. N. Donaldson, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Mahfuz, N., 1982, al-A’mal al-Kamila, Beirut: al-Maktaba al-’Ilmiyya al-Jadida. Mehrez, S., 2005, Egyptian Writers Between Fiction and History: On Naguib Mahfouz, Sonallah Ibrahim and Gamal al-Ghitani, Cairo: American University. Mikhail, M., 1992, Studies in the Short Fiction of Mahfouz and Idris, New York University Studies in Near Eastern Civilization, No. XVI.
- Najjar, F.M., 1998, ‘Muslim Fundamentalism and the Intellectuals: The Case of Naguib Mahfouz’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1.
- Oladosu, A.A., 2004, ‘Authority Versus Sexuality’, Hawwa 2,1.
- Oladosu, A.A., 1988, ‘The Muslim at the Threshold of the 21ˢᵗ Century’, Journal of Objective Studies , Vol. 10, No. 2.
- Pearson, M.N., 1982, ‘Premodern Muslim Political Systems’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 102, No. 1.
- Roderfold, P., 2000, Endless Propaganda: The Advertising of Public Goods, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Said, E., 1994, Representations of the Intellectual, New York: Pantheon.
- Said, E., 1996, Peace and Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Process, New York: Vintage Press.
- Said, E., 2001, ‘The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals’, www.thenation.com, accessed September 1, 2008.
- Said, E., 1983, The World, the Text and the Critic, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Said, E., 1980, ‘The History of Sexuality’, An Interview.
- Sharif, M.M., ed., 1963, A History of Muslim Philosophy, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowits.
- Soja, J.E., 1995, ‘“Heterologies”: A Remembrance of Other Spaces in the Citadel- LA’, in Postmodern
- Cities and Spaces, ed., S. Watson and K. Gibson, Cambridge: Blackwell.
- Somekh, S., 1973, The Changing Rhythm, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers. Tuck, R., 1972, ‘Why is Authority such a problem?’, in Philosophy, Politics and Society, ed., P. Laslett, W. Runciman and Q. Skinner, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Woods, D., 1992, ‘Civil Society in Europe and Africa: Limiting State Power through a Public Sphere’, African Studies Review, Vol. 35, No. 2.
References
al-Jurjani, 1959, Asrr al-Balgha, Cairo.Ibn Qayyim, n.d., ‘Ilam al-Muwaqqi’in an Rabb al-‘Alamin, ed., T. Abdul Rauf Sa’ad, Beirut: Dar al-Jil.
al-Azmeh, A., 1982, Ibn Khaldun, Cairo: American University Press. el-Fadl, K.A., 2003, Speaking in God’s Name, Oxford: Oneworld. al-Ibshihi, 1942, al-Mustatraf fi kulli fanin Mustadhraf, Cairo.
Andy, N., 1893, The Intimate Enemy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Amyuni, M.T., 1999, ‘The Arab Artist’s Role in Society: Three Case Studies: Naguib Mahfouz, Tayeb Salih, and Elias Khoury’, Arabic and Middle Eastern Literatures, Vol. 2.
Arendt, H., 1968, ‘What is Authority?’, in Between Past and Future, New York: Viking Press.
Arkoun, M., 2002, Islam: To Reform or to Subvert?, London: Saqi Books.
Bakhtin, M., 1981, The Dialogic Imagination, ed., M Holquist, trans., C. Emerson and M. Holquist, Austin: University of Texas.
Benhabib, S., 1992, ‘Models of Space’, in C. Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Friedman, R.B., 1990, ‘On the Concept of Authority in Political Philosophy’, inAuthority, ed., J. Raz, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Eco, U., 1979, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts, Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Eco, U., Rorty, R. and Culler, J., 1992, Interpretation and Over-interpretation, ed., Stefan Collini, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Foucault, M., 1980, ‘The History of Sexuality: An Interview’, in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, ed., C. Gordon, trans., C. Gordon, L. Marshall, J. Mepham and K. Soper, New York.
Foucault, M., 1986, ‘Of Other Spaces’, Diacritics.
Foucault, M., 1988, The Care of the Self: The History of Sexuality, Vol. 3, trans. R Hurley, New York: Vintage Books.
Habermas, J., 1962, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Cambridge: MIT.
Habermas, J., 1992, ‘Further Reflections on the Public Sphere’, in Calhoun, C., ‘Imagining Solidarity: Cosmopolitanism, Constitutional Patriotism and the Public Sphere’, Public Culture, 14, 1.Hijazi, A., ‘Awlad’, 1994, ‘Haratina bayna ‘Alam al-Mu’allif wa Wahy al-Waqi’, al-Ahram.
Hutcheon, L., 1988, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction, New York: Routledge.
Khashaba, S., 1994, ‘Awlad Haratina lil-Iman, lil-Insaniyya, wa li Misr’, al-Ahram, 11 November.
Kishk, H., 1990, Kalimatuna fi al-Radd ‘ali Awlad Haratina, Cairo: al-Mukhtar al-Islami.
Ayinde: The Sphere In-between 99
Lefebvre, H., 1991, The Production of Space, trans. N. Donaldson, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Mahfuz, N., 1982, al-A’mal al-Kamila, Beirut: al-Maktaba al-’Ilmiyya al-Jadida. Mehrez, S., 2005, Egyptian Writers Between Fiction and History: On Naguib Mahfouz, Sonallah Ibrahim and Gamal al-Ghitani, Cairo: American University. Mikhail, M., 1992, Studies in the Short Fiction of Mahfouz and Idris, New York University Studies in Near Eastern Civilization, No. XVI.
Najjar, F.M., 1998, ‘Muslim Fundamentalism and the Intellectuals: The Case of Naguib Mahfouz’, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1.
Oladosu, A.A., 2004, ‘Authority Versus Sexuality’, Hawwa 2,1.
Oladosu, A.A., 1988, ‘The Muslim at the Threshold of the 21ˢᵗ Century’, Journal of Objective Studies , Vol. 10, No. 2.
Pearson, M.N., 1982, ‘Premodern Muslim Political Systems’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 102, No. 1.
Roderfold, P., 2000, Endless Propaganda: The Advertising of Public Goods, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Said, E., 1994, Representations of the Intellectual, New York: Pantheon.
Said, E., 1996, Peace and Its Discontents: Essays on Palestine in the Middle East Process, New York: Vintage Press.
Said, E., 2001, ‘The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals’, www.thenation.com, accessed September 1, 2008.
Said, E., 1983, The World, the Text and the Critic, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Said, E., 1980, ‘The History of Sexuality’, An Interview.
Sharif, M.M., ed., 1963, A History of Muslim Philosophy, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowits.
Soja, J.E., 1995, ‘“Heterologies”: A Remembrance of Other Spaces in the Citadel- LA’, in Postmodern
Cities and Spaces, ed., S. Watson and K. Gibson, Cambridge: Blackwell.
Somekh, S., 1973, The Changing Rhythm, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers. Tuck, R., 1972, ‘Why is Authority such a problem?’, in Philosophy, Politics and Society, ed., P. Laslett, W. Runciman and Q. Skinner, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Woods, D., 1992, ‘Civil Society in Europe and Africa: Limiting State Power through a Public Sphere’, African Studies Review, Vol. 35, No. 2.