Books in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century played an important role in the dissemination of liberal and nationalist ideologies, thus instigating social change in the Arab world. The... Show moreBooks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century played an important role in the dissemination of liberal and nationalist ideologies, thus instigating social change in the Arab world. The focus of this study are printed Arabic books where the ideas of modernity in both form and content were advocated. Secular and literary publications, written in the Arabic language, printed and produced in the Arab world—namely in Cairo and Beirut—are selected as case studies. This research examines their formal aspects and investigates how their visual design has promoted ideals of modernity, thus painting a picture of a contemporary Arab design language that blends Islamic and western design conventions. It proves that the visual aspect of books creates a lasting bond with its readership and becomes a significant part of their perceived (or imagined) cultural identity. The study also proves that visual design, by imposing the stamp on the book-object, does flavor the reading of books. This research also confirms that cultural exchange has contributed to a modern Arab publishing and book design culture; and that the ensuing (typo)graphic design conventions still resonate in contemporary Arabic book design and constitute a foundation for designing future Arabic books. Show less
Three Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the... Show moreThree Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the Beninese video film "Yatin: Lieu de souffrance" (2002). The discussion centres on how people receive and understand these films together with the digital video technology that facilitate their recent success. Christian films are so important in this part of Benin that the question needs to be raised whether Christianity is shifting from a religion of the book towards a religion of film. The theoretical starting point is semiotics, a theory that has been foundational not only for film, media and media reception studies, but more recently also for the study of materiality. This thesis' main theoretical contribution is a critique of semiotics, arguing that this theory, which has been foundational to Western science, is in fact too limiting. Semiotics, even in its Peircean orientation, cannot sufficiently explain how people in the Commune of Cobly understand shrines, film and media more generally, both through their material manifestations and interactively in terms of communication. Instead, a process called "presencing", which goes beyond semiotics, can explain better people's understanding of shrines and media. Show less
