Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture | Equivocal encounters

On the last day of the fair Johannes Ebert, head of Goethe Institute in Cairo, tells Rania Gaafar about the German response to the Arab contribution, while Dina Ezzat gauges out Arab-German reactions

Having the Arab world as the 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair guest of honour has helped Germans of Arab descent, especially from the post-11 September viewpoint. "It is a good thing to have the Arab world as the guest of honour at the International Book Fair especially now," said 22- year old Karam, a German of Lebanese origin. "I mean after the 11 September attacks, when we as Germans of Arab and Muslim origin are at times subjected to discrimination and even racism." Karam, a graduate of the school of engineering in Berlin, is one of several Arab- Germans to have been recruited as escorts, translators and mediators for the huge numbers of Arabs who flocked to Frankfurt to attend the fair, be they participants, officials, intellectuals or media personnel. Like many others who took a weeklong job with the Arab presentation, Karam felt proud. "I cannot say that I feel Arab as such. I arrived in Germany at the age of six and attended German schools, so I really consider myself German, but still I know that I hail from an Arab country and, even though I don't read or write Arabic, I live in a house where the mother speaks only Arabic to her children and cooks only Lebanese dishes..." In the hallways and symposium halls of the International Frankfurt Book Fair, and especially in the Arab pavilion, Arab- looking young men and women who spoke fluent German -- some were veiled, many inserted Muslim expressions into their conversation -- abounded.

"I can read and write Arabic, French, English and of course German. I work for a leading German publishing house and I am here looking at books for them -- not just at the Arab pavilion," said Rana, a 29-year old Arab-German of Syrian origin. Unlike Karam, who has not been to Lebanon since he arrived in Germany some 16 years ago, Rana visited Syria more than ten times. She is in touch with Arab culture and familiar with Arab writers, movies and singers. "I have the tape of Shaaban Abdel-Rehim ' Bahib Amr Moussa we Bakrah Israel ' (I Love Amr Moussa And I Hate Israel)," she offered with a smile, adding, "This is actually one of the images that I do hope that the official presentation will help defy; as Arabs or even Europeans of Arab origin, we are perceived to be in conflict with Western culture -- the notion that we can only communicate with ourselves." Such were the concerns expressed by Arab-Germans eager to capitalise on the opportunity to corroborate their position within German society, which variously alienates them.

While official participants saw the fair as an opportunity to rejoice -- "We have every right to celebrate," said Ramzy, a Lebanese publisher. "We are here to display our culture, to tell the rest of the world that we have so much of it." -- Arab-Germans like Karam and Rana approached the fair with critical interest; there was a feeling that they were assessing the contents of the fair. Both were keen to examine, either directly or through a translator, the titles displayed -- to look at the index of the books on offer. Sometimes they were impressed by what they saw, but at other times they seemed dismayed, feeling that some of the titles exhibited were too simplistic and too direct in their approach to introducing the West to the Arab world. They were particularly dismayed with the few pictures of Arab heads of state -- from the Arab Gulf states -- that found their way onto the walls of the Arab pavilion. "This is really the last thing that we needed to have here," Karam offered. "Already Arab states are viewed by most Germans as highly autocratic countries where the head of state is the most important figure and where the people do not count." While in Frankfurt with the object of improving the Western image of Arabs, he added, Arabs should not be hanging pictures of their rulers on the walls or offering books in praise of their personal genius.

A 30-minute drive away from the fair grounds and all signs of Arab presence in the city have disappeared; not even Arabic literature is particularly well publicised. Apart from a few posters advertising the official presentation, there is no sign of it at all. Even those working in bookshops and the city library took little interest. "Books by Arab writers translated into German?" asked a sales assistant at a leading bookshop. "I am not sure we have that many. Do they have to be Arabs? We have titles translated from Russia, England and Latin America." At the central public library the librarian responded in like manner: "Yes, we have a section for translations but we do not have that many books by Arab writers. I am not sure. Let me show you some names and we'll see if they are by Arab writers, because I'm not sure if they're Pakistani."

"This is true," Ibrahim El-Moallim, chairman of the Arab Publishers' Union, conceded. "Not so many Arabic books are translated into German but this is one of the main objectives of the presentation -- we want to get more Arabic books translated not just into German but into other foreign languages as well. We have already started," he added. "This year alone we produced 50 new translations -- more than any other year." Yet such optimism sounded a hollow note in the light of what Karam and Rana had to say, for notwithstanding the marginal improvement that the presentation or any subsequent rise in the number of Arabic books available in translation might achieve, they both insisted that what was "desperately needed" was a concerted effort by Arab governments and their embassies in Western capitals to embody, not only promote, a positive image of Arab culture and society, and to actively combat racism in the press and the media. Otherwise, they argued, the presentation will have little or no effect on the image of Arabs in the West.

It would be difficult to sum up the event overall, or to assess its success, there were simply too many discussion panels, readings and other events, making it impossible to follow everything. The media attention was certainly remarkable, a friend who attended the fair just told me she had never experienced anything like it. I particularly appreciated the presentations made by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Egyptian publishing community. I can also tell you that some events -- modern art and folklore exhibits -- were very well visited.

But readings by famous Arab authors, for example, were not, and Arabs complained of being invited to Germany in order to talk to each other, as it were.

Yes, I heard from different people that at some events the audience was mostly Arab, but on Saturday and Sunday, the visitors' days, events were very well attended by Germans as well -- Libyan writer Ibrahim El-Kony's reading, for example. So I heard. What I don't know is whether or not contacts between publishing houses were made.

There were some very critical voices in the run-up to the fair, both here and across the Arab world, a lot of scepticism about the Arab League's ability to present the Arab world.

I personally don't think such scepticism was very well founded, because it wasn't just the Arab League that organised events, we have to look at the whole programme. Nasr Abu Zeid was there, Al-Azm came. On the other hand I really enjoyed the very critical public debates that took place in Egypt during preparation for the fair -- whether Germans made the right choice, what steps should be taken and all that.

The Goethe Institute has contributed several projects to this fair. The most important Arab- German project we established was MIDAD, an Internet-based literary project that does three things -- presents 70 young authors from 18 Arab countries, offers a bibliography of German literature in Arabic translation and undertakes writer-in-residence programmes, five of which have been held. The project is about six German authors who travel to different cities in the Middle East and six Arab authors who travel to six German cities: all are asked to keep an online diary over four weeks. This was the main focus of the Goethe Institute's Middle East work. The Goethe Forum in Munich presented "Ortszeit Alexandria" (Local Time Alexandria) with Edwar El-Kharrat and Hassan Hosni, and "Swinging Cairo" with Gamal El-Ghitani, Zahra Yousri and Mansoura Ezzeddin. We had a discussion on the limitations of language with MIDAD participants and those involved in the West-Eastern Diwan. And our president, Jutta Limbach, introduced Palestinian writer Sahar Khalifa. But there was also an event about young Korean authors in anticipation of the next year's fair.

First of all I think the problem in general is that there are lots of prejudices and misunderstandings of both Arab culture and life in Germany, especially regarding the small details of daily life. Impressive as its magnitude may be, knowledge is somewhat too thinly spread, and remains embedded within stereotypes, which all such projects help to combat -- the notion that literature is censored in Egypt, for example. The discussion held here made it clear that while there is no longer any state censorship as such, public opinion counts and has an enormous impact. But it's very important that, before the discussion, people here did not realise that there was no official censorship. In my personal experience exchange works best at the level of individuals, not institutions; it's heartening to see the individual representatives of a specific culture meeting and working closely as individuals.

What is the function and aim of German cultural policy in the Middle East today ?

That's a very difficult question, I think. German cultural policy is rooted in German foreign policy, whose principal aim is to secure peace worldwide. What cultural policy has to achieve, first of all, is to concentrate on stereotypes and prejudices, whether to eliminate or to simply place them on the agenda of discussions. It also has to effect non-judgemental East-West communication, accepting the values of each culture without saying you are right and you are wrong. Educational reforms are currently being undertaken in the Middle East, it's a fast-paced development that German policy must support. It must also support efforts to open up Arab societies, improving accessibility to Western countries via translations, libraries, education, etc. German policy has many aims but the most important thing is that they be achieved in collaboration with Arab partners. We must never go to Arabs and say, "Now this is what we want to do whether you like it or not." Then again, there has to be a will to change on the Arab side.

Of course, sometimes it is. I mean, there is this idea in the Arab world that the West is immoral, which is simply wrong. There are moral principles and ideas here as well as elsewhere, even if they are different. These differences can make it feel like a balancing act if our conceptions keep drifting away from each other, but such balancing acts can also generate discussion in which opinions and ideas are driven to the margins of understanding, and I think that's interesting. I mean, it can be very relaxing to enjoy events for what they are without any political background, but sometimes we arrive at dead ends and that is where discussion must take over.

How do you attract people and entice them to visit your cultural events in Cairo, where it can seem like sheer extravagance?

We need co-op events and we strive to include Egyptian cultural life, because if we didn't we would appear to be imposing our cultural ideas on Egyptian society and we wouldn't have much of an audience.

How does Goethe Institute recruit young artists in the light of questions about nepotism in Arab societies, where younger artists remain unable to work creatively with a minimum of media attention?

Either the artist comes to us and introduces his project, or we find out about him in the course of our efforts to engage with the Egyptian cultural scene, ask him whether he wants to cooperate with us and suggest projects -- and either he agrees or he doesn't. We have changed several things. We now focus on Egyptian-German collaborations rather than inviting a German photographer to come and photograph and exhibit his work on Egyptian society, for example.

Returning to the MIDAD project, on what basis were the young Arab authors selected? Stefan Weidner says that it is very difficult to find Arab authors because no comprehensive index or catalogue exists.

This question is perfectly justified. As a German cultural institution we don't usually set out to promote Egyptian literature in Germany, but in recent years there has been a dissolving of boundaries. The Goethe Forum in Germany takes responsibility for this, and they say cultural work cannot proceed on a one-way track, that there has to be mutual exchange. Two years ago we invited a German writer to reside in Cairo and start an online diary; but in the run-up to the fair we thought it would be implausible to concentrate solely on German writers subjecting Arab society to scrutiny, so we invited Arabs to reflect on Germany as well.

Would you say that it's easier to adopt a critical perspective in Germany than it is in Egypt? To what extent is self-reflection and self-irony, which I see as an element of German popular culture, part of German cultural life?

It may be that it's a bit easier to criticise circumstances in Germany than in Egypt, yes. I think Egyptians are very touchy when it comes to foreigners criticising them. Sensitivity runs high. Nonetheless, I think German writers abroad managed to achieve a delicate balance as they reflected on circumstances fundamentally alien to them -- not necessarily unpleasant but just different.

But it remains difficult to select Arab authors for non-native speakers of Arabic, doesn't it?

It's an enormous problem. There is no systematic directory of Arab authors and no literary scouts comparable to those you find in Germany. As a German institution we do not have the know- how, the expertise, with which to judge Arab authors. However, what we did was to set up a committee of experts: writers, journalists and literary critics who suggested authors (no more than 40), and we chose those authors prioritised by jury members, or those who had an impressive record. The project focussed on prose rather than poetry, and the response in German "Literaturhöuser" (houses of literature) was very good. The precondition was also that the candidate should be able to speak English. Ibrahim Farghali was in Germany. Najwa Barakat, the Lebanese writer, said that she came to Frankfurt and thought she would love it, but it wasn't until she admitted how much she disliked Frankfurt that she was able to start writing. We do not expect writers to come here and write positively about Germany; we want writers to observe their environment and reflect on it on the Internet. For some of them it was quite difficult to immediately start writing, to write every day and to publish very personal things on the Internet.

The 1970s in Germany were characterised by ideological tendencies among writers, who were very politicised, but the 1980s witnessed a retreat into private and personal spheres, the self, so to speak. I am not an expert on the topic but I feel there is a similar tendency in Egypt. Writers, and this was said on the panel, are no longer representatives of a political agenda, and this means that self-irony is creeping in as a step on the way to relativising self understanding without setting out to change the world as such. My tentative opinion is that this is what's happening now in Egypt.

I sometimes feel that it's easier to adopt an outside perspective and to be critical in Germany, where critique is understood as a constructive drive to improve things...

This might be a tendency in Germany, yes. Germans take criticism easily. However, the most important thing is the drive to discuss such cultural differences positively and it would be wrong to generalise any one slice of life at the expense of another. No moral hierarchies should be constructed...

And one has to look at problems within their cultural context. Context-specific analysis, so to speak.

Right, but letting go of particular contexts can open up new horizons, too. It's never as simple as all that.

		14 - 20 October 2004 Issue No. 712 Culture	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875