1 ‘Go ahead, burn your tyres!’
-
Laurent Bonnefoy
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the dynamics behind the practice of tafhit. It examines Riyadh’s politically disenfranchised, urban, male youth and the ‘lust for life’ of some of these apparent ‘rebels without a cause’. But unlike the heroes of Nicholas Ray’s 1955 film, these young Saudis who competed in their cars did have a cause. What struck me during fieldwork was that most of the young people were less concerned with Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood than with a good session of joyriding, with its roar, its risks and its forbidden pleasures.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the dynamics behind the practice of tafhit. It examines Riyadh’s politically disenfranchised, urban, male youth and the ‘lust for life’ of some of these apparent ‘rebels without a cause’. But unlike the heroes of Nicholas Ray’s 1955 film, these young Saudis who competed in their cars did have a cause. What struck me during fieldwork was that most of the young people were less concerned with Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood than with a good session of joyriding, with its roar, its risks and its forbidden pleasures.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Contributors ix
- Foreword: Arab youth inside out xiv
- Note on translation xvii
- General introduction: Deconstructing stereotypes: interwoven trajectories of young Arabs 1
-
General introduction
- I Living in the present 17
- Introduction 19
- 1 ‘Go ahead, burn your tyres!’ 22
- 2 ‘Just watching the time go by’ 33
- 3 Coffee shops and youth sociability in Abu Dhabi 43
- 4 From TV soaps to web dramas 53
- 5 The buyat 57
- 6 From jihad to Sufi ecstasy 67
- 7 The Faculty of Education of Lab‛us 77
- 8 ‘A man, a real man!’ 88
- 9 Long-distance supporters 93
- 10 Commentary in Arabic … or in Tigrinya? Football fans and the search for free television broadcasting 101
- II Rooting the future 107
- Introduction 109
- 11 Drinking in Hamra 112
- 12 The end of a world? Shifting seasons in Lejnan (Algeria) 121
- 13 Finding Baghdad 128
- 14 Two brothers 133
- 15 In Massada Street’s coffee shops 139
- 16 In the shade of the khayma 150
- 17 Recreation, re-creation, resistance 160
- 18 Taranim and videos 170
- 19 ‘My identity is becoming clear like the sun’ 180
- III Constructing oneself 189
- Introduction 191
- 20 ‘A room of one’s own’ 194
- 21 A different way of being a young woman? Self-defence in Cairo 198
- 22 Chewing alone? The transformations of qat consumption in Yemen 208
- 23 Gulf holiday-goers in Europe 212
- 24 In SOS Bab-el-Oued 217
- 25 Leaving the camp 227
- 26 ‘Rainbow Street’ 235
- 27 Brahim 242
- 28 ‘Bnat lycée dayrin sexy’ 250
- IV Speaking out 261
- Introduction 263
- 29 ‘A bad day for Ammar’ 266
- 30 A new social world? Young Syrian activists and online social networks 276
- 31 Stand up 285
- 32 The café in Jadu 289
- 33 From consumerism to political engagement 293
- 34 When walls speak 300
- 35 Art under occupation 308
- 36 ‘The instinct of rap’ 318
- 37 Rocking in Morocco 323
- 38 Alexandrians in fusion 336
- Index 347
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Contributors ix
- Foreword: Arab youth inside out xiv
- Note on translation xvii
- General introduction: Deconstructing stereotypes: interwoven trajectories of young Arabs 1
-
General introduction
- I Living in the present 17
- Introduction 19
- 1 ‘Go ahead, burn your tyres!’ 22
- 2 ‘Just watching the time go by’ 33
- 3 Coffee shops and youth sociability in Abu Dhabi 43
- 4 From TV soaps to web dramas 53
- 5 The buyat 57
- 6 From jihad to Sufi ecstasy 67
- 7 The Faculty of Education of Lab‛us 77
- 8 ‘A man, a real man!’ 88
- 9 Long-distance supporters 93
- 10 Commentary in Arabic … or in Tigrinya? Football fans and the search for free television broadcasting 101
- II Rooting the future 107
- Introduction 109
- 11 Drinking in Hamra 112
- 12 The end of a world? Shifting seasons in Lejnan (Algeria) 121
- 13 Finding Baghdad 128
- 14 Two brothers 133
- 15 In Massada Street’s coffee shops 139
- 16 In the shade of the khayma 150
- 17 Recreation, re-creation, resistance 160
- 18 Taranim and videos 170
- 19 ‘My identity is becoming clear like the sun’ 180
- III Constructing oneself 189
- Introduction 191
- 20 ‘A room of one’s own’ 194
- 21 A different way of being a young woman? Self-defence in Cairo 198
- 22 Chewing alone? The transformations of qat consumption in Yemen 208
- 23 Gulf holiday-goers in Europe 212
- 24 In SOS Bab-el-Oued 217
- 25 Leaving the camp 227
- 26 ‘Rainbow Street’ 235
- 27 Brahim 242
- 28 ‘Bnat lycée dayrin sexy’ 250
- IV Speaking out 261
- Introduction 263
- 29 ‘A bad day for Ammar’ 266
- 30 A new social world? Young Syrian activists and online social networks 276
- 31 Stand up 285
- 32 The café in Jadu 289
- 33 From consumerism to political engagement 293
- 34 When walls speak 300
- 35 Art under occupation 308
- 36 ‘The instinct of rap’ 318
- 37 Rocking in Morocco 323
- 38 Alexandrians in fusion 336
- Index 347
