Viewing Backwards: Egyptian Historical Television Dramas in the 1990s

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-92
Author(s):  
Joel Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Public History ◽  
Television Viewing ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Ninteenth Century ◽  
Egyptian History

AbstractThe 1990s marked an important moment in Egyptian television, when the country turned its attention increasingly (although never monolithically) toward historical drama as a means of recreating and reinterpreting modern Egyptian history. Mahfouz Abd al-Rahman and Osama Anwar Okasha, in particular, scripted long multi-year series aired during Ramadan, the peak season for television viewing, that covered decades of the late ninteenth century and pre-Nasserist history, in many ways re-writing public history, and making historical drama—and history—fashionable. I focus here on the former and his first mega-hitBawabat al-Halawani (Halawani Gate). Biographical dramas, initially of artists, but later politicians, kings, and religious leaders would follow. As the Egyptian industry atrophied in the following decade these dramatists passed the mantle on to the Syrians, later the Turks, who broke the Egyptian monopoly and brought their own stories to the fore. But a rebirth may be in view.

scholarly journals ‘The New Downton Abbey’? Poldark and the Presentation and Perception of an Eighteenth-century Past

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-113
Author(s):  
Hannah Greig
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public History ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Important Phenomenon ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Historical Dramas ◽  
Historical World

As soon as it was commissioned, Poldark, like a number of other recent historical dramas, was labelled as the ‘new Downton Abbey’ and the comparison has persisted. Given Downton Abbey's hit status such comparisons are surely welcomed by production companies. For historians, however, such associations highlight an important phenomenon: the grouping of diverse period dramas as broadly similar, all perceived as being ‘like’ Downton. In what ways, though, are such dramas part of the same genre? And what implications do such associations have for how we should approach and analyse period dramas as a form of public history? This article uses a case study of Poldark as a starting point for addressing these questions, exploring the history foregrounded in the Poldark narratives and examining what happens to audience perceptions of that history as the story moves from novel to screen. It argues that although Winston Graham created a deeply researched, revisionist historical world in his fiction, his historical innovation is rarely acknowledged when his stories are consumed. While this goes some way to explaining why it is that a drama set in the eighteenth century can be regarded as being ‘like’ Downton Abbey, this apparent lack of engagement with a drama's specific historical content raises important, if difficult, questions for historians keen to analyse historical drama as a form of public history.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

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