Joey Ayoub is an associate doctoral researcher at the University of Zurich. Originally from Lebanon, his academic work focuses on temporality in postwar Lebanon, memory studies and cultural studies more broadly. He was the MENA editor at Global Voices and IFEX and he regularly writes about global politics with a focus on the MENA region. He hosts 'The Fire These Times' podcast.
With Lebanon’s Revolution closing in on its second month, the Lebanese scholar Jamil Mouawad list... more With Lebanon’s Revolution closing in on its second month, the Lebanese scholar Jamil Mouawad listed “discursive hegemony and control over the imaginaries” as one of the three pillars of the sectarian regime being challenged by protesters.
The latter begs the following inquiry: How is the October 17 Revolution catalysing the reclaiming of imaginaries? In order to answer this question, it is important to understand how the collective memory pertaining to the war's kidnapped and victims of enforced disappearances, has thus far been addressed in Lebanon. The following piece explores this topic through Ghassan Halwani's 2018 film “Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible”.
Lebanese cinema serves as a useful tool with which to assess postwar dynamics given the dominance... more Lebanese cinema serves as a useful tool with which to assess postwar dynamics given the dominance of the civil war in artistic production since 1990. As the first postwar generation reached adulthood, we have been witnessing the inevitable rise of a 'second wave' of postwar Lebanese cinema, defined as the generation of filmmakers born towards the end of or after the civil war. This essay will analyse two post-war Lebanese films, Ely Dagher's 2015 Waves '98 and Mounia Akl's 2016 Submarine, as unique responses to a feeling of despair brought about by the city/nation, explored through the theme of decay as touched upon by both films by using Jessica Auchter's study of the politics of decay. This in turn would allow us to identify aspects of the second wave of postwar Lebanese cinema.
Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict, 2017
This is the second excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Me... more This is the second excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
I look at: Sleepless Nights (2012), by Eliane Raheb.
44 years ago, Lebanon descended into civil war. In the first of a three-part series, Joey Ayoub d... more 44 years ago, Lebanon descended into civil war. In the first of a three-part series, Joey Ayoub draws on the work of James Baldwin to explore the “Othering” that resulted from that war and its aftermath, which is now a central component of Lebanese identity.
Five years on from the kidnapping of the ‘Douma 4’ activists, Joey Ayoub pays homage to another D... more Five years on from the kidnapping of the ‘Douma 4’ activists, Joey Ayoub pays homage to another Damascus suburb symbolic of Syria’s peaceful, democratic revolution.
How Lebanon’s political and religious elites promote a toxic, bigoted, and often deadly brand of ... more How Lebanon’s political and religious elites promote a toxic, bigoted, and often deadly brand of masculinity.
A book by Cambridge University's Andrew Arsan arguing Lebanon is "a microcosm of the contemporary... more A book by Cambridge University's Andrew Arsan arguing Lebanon is "a microcosm of the contemporary world" successfully analyzes the country's ills, offering a helpful framework for Lebanese seeking change, writes Joey Ayoub
Review of Sam Dagher's 'Assad or we burn the country: how one family's lust for power destroyed S... more Review of Sam Dagher's 'Assad or we burn the country: how one family's lust for power destroyed Syria'
Lebanese writer Joey Ayoub reviews Yassin Al-Haj Saleh’s The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense ... more Lebanese writer Joey Ayoub reviews Yassin Al-Haj Saleh’s The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy.
Rohini wished to understand how something which is seemingly so ‘pro-human’ (anti-imperialism) co... more Rohini wished to understand how something which is seemingly so ‘pro-human’ (anti-imperialism) could be used to justify that which is inherently ‘anti-human’ (state oppression).
The following is a review of Reconciliation in Global Context: Why it is Needed and how it Works ... more The following is a review of Reconciliation in Global Context: Why it is Needed and how it Works (2018, SUNY Press), edited by Prof. Björn Krondorfer of Northern Arizona University. The three chapters analyzed below are the three that deal with Israel-Palestine. The other four, which have not been reviewed here, but which nonetheless deserve to be read and analyzed, pertain to Northern Ireland/Ireland, Zimbabwe, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
Review of Palestine +100 edited by Basma Ghalayini, Comma Press, July 2019. Published on Mangal M... more Review of Palestine +100 edited by Basma Ghalayini, Comma Press, July 2019. Published on Mangal Media on August 25th, 2019. http://www.mangalmedia.net/english//the-future-palestinian-present
The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco, 2017
This is the third excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Mem... more This is the third excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
The 246-page publication - Enab Baladi: Citizen Chronicles of the Syrian Uprising - gathers toget... more The 246-page publication - Enab Baladi: Citizen Chronicles of the Syrian Uprising - gathers together reportage from a network of journalists who have contributed to a remarkable feat of Syrian journalism.
Enab Baladi is a weekly newspaper which emerged from the Damascus suburbs of Daraya in January 2012, launched as a revolutionary publication to provide a voice to Syria’s voiceless. Since then, Enab Baladi has been published every Sunday, with just a two-week stoppage in August 2012 after a Syrian Government massacre in Daraya. Enab Baladi has become one of Syria’s most prominent media organisations, reaching millions of Syrians inside and outside the country.
Edited and compiled by Joey Ayoub with translation by Alice Bonfatti, this is the first collection of Enab Baladi articles to be published in English, in a book which charts the evolution of the paper, its journalists, and the Syrian uprising which gave birth to the paper.
Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict, 2017
This is an excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Vi... more This is an excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
With Lebanon’s Revolution closing in on its second month, the Lebanese scholar Jamil Mouawad list... more With Lebanon’s Revolution closing in on its second month, the Lebanese scholar Jamil Mouawad listed “discursive hegemony and control over the imaginaries” as one of the three pillars of the sectarian regime being challenged by protesters.
The latter begs the following inquiry: How is the October 17 Revolution catalysing the reclaiming of imaginaries? In order to answer this question, it is important to understand how the collective memory pertaining to the war's kidnapped and victims of enforced disappearances, has thus far been addressed in Lebanon. The following piece explores this topic through Ghassan Halwani's 2018 film “Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible”.
Lebanese cinema serves as a useful tool with which to assess postwar dynamics given the dominance... more Lebanese cinema serves as a useful tool with which to assess postwar dynamics given the dominance of the civil war in artistic production since 1990. As the first postwar generation reached adulthood, we have been witnessing the inevitable rise of a 'second wave' of postwar Lebanese cinema, defined as the generation of filmmakers born towards the end of or after the civil war. This essay will analyse two post-war Lebanese films, Ely Dagher's 2015 Waves '98 and Mounia Akl's 2016 Submarine, as unique responses to a feeling of despair brought about by the city/nation, explored through the theme of decay as touched upon by both films by using Jessica Auchter's study of the politics of decay. This in turn would allow us to identify aspects of the second wave of postwar Lebanese cinema.
Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict, 2017
This is the second excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Me... more This is the second excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
I look at: Sleepless Nights (2012), by Eliane Raheb.
44 years ago, Lebanon descended into civil war. In the first of a three-part series, Joey Ayoub d... more 44 years ago, Lebanon descended into civil war. In the first of a three-part series, Joey Ayoub draws on the work of James Baldwin to explore the “Othering” that resulted from that war and its aftermath, which is now a central component of Lebanese identity.
Five years on from the kidnapping of the ‘Douma 4’ activists, Joey Ayoub pays homage to another D... more Five years on from the kidnapping of the ‘Douma 4’ activists, Joey Ayoub pays homage to another Damascus suburb symbolic of Syria’s peaceful, democratic revolution.
How Lebanon’s political and religious elites promote a toxic, bigoted, and often deadly brand of ... more How Lebanon’s political and religious elites promote a toxic, bigoted, and often deadly brand of masculinity.
A book by Cambridge University's Andrew Arsan arguing Lebanon is "a microcosm of the contemporary... more A book by Cambridge University's Andrew Arsan arguing Lebanon is "a microcosm of the contemporary world" successfully analyzes the country's ills, offering a helpful framework for Lebanese seeking change, writes Joey Ayoub
Review of Sam Dagher's 'Assad or we burn the country: how one family's lust for power destroyed S... more Review of Sam Dagher's 'Assad or we burn the country: how one family's lust for power destroyed Syria'
Lebanese writer Joey Ayoub reviews Yassin Al-Haj Saleh’s The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense ... more Lebanese writer Joey Ayoub reviews Yassin Al-Haj Saleh’s The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy.
Rohini wished to understand how something which is seemingly so ‘pro-human’ (anti-imperialism) co... more Rohini wished to understand how something which is seemingly so ‘pro-human’ (anti-imperialism) could be used to justify that which is inherently ‘anti-human’ (state oppression).
The following is a review of Reconciliation in Global Context: Why it is Needed and how it Works ... more The following is a review of Reconciliation in Global Context: Why it is Needed and how it Works (2018, SUNY Press), edited by Prof. Björn Krondorfer of Northern Arizona University. The three chapters analyzed below are the three that deal with Israel-Palestine. The other four, which have not been reviewed here, but which nonetheless deserve to be read and analyzed, pertain to Northern Ireland/Ireland, Zimbabwe, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
Review of Palestine +100 edited by Basma Ghalayini, Comma Press, July 2019. Published on Mangal M... more Review of Palestine +100 edited by Basma Ghalayini, Comma Press, July 2019. Published on Mangal Media on August 25th, 2019. http://www.mangalmedia.net/english//the-future-palestinian-present
The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco, 2017
This is the third excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Mem... more This is the third excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
The 246-page publication - Enab Baladi: Citizen Chronicles of the Syrian Uprising - gathers toget... more The 246-page publication - Enab Baladi: Citizen Chronicles of the Syrian Uprising - gathers together reportage from a network of journalists who have contributed to a remarkable feat of Syrian journalism.
Enab Baladi is a weekly newspaper which emerged from the Damascus suburbs of Daraya in January 2012, launched as a revolutionary publication to provide a voice to Syria’s voiceless. Since then, Enab Baladi has been published every Sunday, with just a two-week stoppage in August 2012 after a Syrian Government massacre in Daraya. Enab Baladi has become one of Syria’s most prominent media organisations, reaching millions of Syrians inside and outside the country.
Edited and compiled by Joey Ayoub with translation by Alice Bonfatti, this is the first collection of Enab Baladi articles to be published in English, in a book which charts the evolution of the paper, its journalists, and the Syrian uprising which gave birth to the paper.
Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict, 2017
This is an excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Vi... more This is an excerpt of the book chapter I wrote as part of the book “The Social Life of Memory: Violence, Trauma, and Testimony in Lebanon and Morocco” edited by Norman Saadi Nikro and Sonja Hegasy and published in November 2017.
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Papers by Joey Ayoub
The latter begs the following inquiry: How is the October 17 Revolution catalysing the reclaiming of imaginaries? In order to answer this question, it is important to understand how the collective memory pertaining to the war's kidnapped and victims of enforced disappearances, has thus far been addressed in Lebanon. The following piece explores this topic through Ghassan Halwani's 2018 film “Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible”.
I look at: Sleepless Nights (2012), by Eliane Raheb.
Book Reviews by Joey Ayoub
https://isreview.org/issue/110/indefensiblethe-politics-internationalist-anti-imperialism
Books by Joey Ayoub
Enab Baladi is a weekly newspaper which emerged from the Damascus suburbs of Daraya in January 2012, launched as a revolutionary publication to provide a voice to Syria’s voiceless. Since then, Enab Baladi has been published every Sunday, with just a two-week stoppage in August 2012 after a Syrian Government massacre in Daraya. Enab Baladi has become one of Syria’s most prominent media organisations, reaching millions of Syrians inside and outside the country.
Edited and compiled by Joey Ayoub with translation by Alice Bonfatti, this is the first collection of Enab Baladi articles to be published in English, in a book which charts the evolution of the paper, its journalists, and the Syrian uprising which gave birth to the paper.
The latter begs the following inquiry: How is the October 17 Revolution catalysing the reclaiming of imaginaries? In order to answer this question, it is important to understand how the collective memory pertaining to the war's kidnapped and victims of enforced disappearances, has thus far been addressed in Lebanon. The following piece explores this topic through Ghassan Halwani's 2018 film “Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible”.
I look at: Sleepless Nights (2012), by Eliane Raheb.
https://isreview.org/issue/110/indefensiblethe-politics-internationalist-anti-imperialism
Enab Baladi is a weekly newspaper which emerged from the Damascus suburbs of Daraya in January 2012, launched as a revolutionary publication to provide a voice to Syria’s voiceless. Since then, Enab Baladi has been published every Sunday, with just a two-week stoppage in August 2012 after a Syrian Government massacre in Daraya. Enab Baladi has become one of Syria’s most prominent media organisations, reaching millions of Syrians inside and outside the country.
Edited and compiled by Joey Ayoub with translation by Alice Bonfatti, this is the first collection of Enab Baladi articles to be published in English, in a book which charts the evolution of the paper, its journalists, and the Syrian uprising which gave birth to the paper.