During the month of July, the Tres Culturas 'Reflections' space will host, in video format, some of the most interesting interventions from two of the international meetings organised by this institution in recent months within the framework of the programme. AlQANTARA: bridges for dialogue and coexistence. This initiative, the result of cooperation between the Three Cultures Foundation and the Ministry of Moroccans Living Abroad and Migration Affairs, aims to address the major issues that make up today's Mediterranean in all its aspects, from literature and the arts to the media, the economy and immigration, recognising the necessary cross-cutting nature of these issues at a time of particular complexity.
This week's video shows the opening conference of the meeting. 'THREE Med. Communicating the Mediterranean'which took place in Malaga between 1 and 3 June 2016, with the aim of analysing the way in which the media are tackling the major current issues in the region. The forum, which had the collaboration of Malaga City Council, the University of Malaga, the Centre of Contemporary Art of Malaga, the Anna Lindh Foundation, the Port of Malaga, the Malaga Press Association, the Andalusian College of Journalists in Malaga and the Andalusian Public Company of Tourism, brought together experts, journalists, writers, etc. from the main media in the Mediterranean basin to discuss issues such as the intensification of migratory flows, the refugee crisis, armed conflicts, the threat of phenomena such as radicalism and fundamentalism or racism and xenophobia. Khadija Elmadmad, Bichara Khader, Mustapha Labassi and Manuel Campo Vidal, among others, took part in this meeting.
At the same time, we would like to take advantage of the coming months, when a large part of our public may have more leisure time available to them, coinciding with the summer holidays, to launch some Literary RecommendationsThe material published by the Fundación Tres Culturas itself or available on loan from our Specialised Library.
Communicating the Mediterranean'. Xavier Vidal Folch. Deputy Editor of the newspaper El País
The question of how to define the Mediterranean, an old place of cultural confluences, disparate economies and, to a large extent, a place under construction, served the Deputy Editor of the newspaper El País as the starting point for the inaugural conference of this conference. Described by Leonardo da Vinci as a space of fragmentation, division and contradictions, for Vidal Folch the Mediterranean is fundamentally its own human landscape, and the great challenge consists precisely in converting this human landscape into a more articulated political, economic and cultural project.
In his presentation, Vidal Folch reviews the attempts to articulate this Mediterranean project that have taken place since the mid-1990s, with the launch of the 'Euro-Mediterranean Partnership' initiative - an ambitious project that aspired to involve not only the region's actors, but also the countries of Eastern Europe. The results of the so-called 'Barcelona Process' were, however, rather uneven, due to factors such as the withdrawal of European investment, the ever-present Israeli-Palestinian conflict and agricultural protectionism, among others.
After including the 'Barcelona Process' in the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Union for the Mediterranean emerged in 2008, at the initiative of the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy. For Vidal Folch, this new initiative, although suffering from some serious obstacles such as the exclusion of countries outside the Mediterranean shore, began to achieve some results, although less ambitious, at least more tangible, in specific areas such as investment, decontamination and civil society.
Vidal Folch also reviews some of the achievements of the last few years leading up to the Arab Spring, a great illusion that has, however, had a negative outcome in most of the region, with the implosion of some states and the subsequent wave of refugees to neighbouring countries and the rest of Europe.
The rapporteur concludes by emphasising the great responsibility that the media must exercise in a context in which the lack of articulation of the Mediterranean project could affect the very essence of the European Union.
This conference took place on Thursday, 2 June 2016 in the Assembly Hall of the Rectorate of the University of Malaga.
Tres Culturas' literary recommendations for this summer
All the recommended readings in this section are available on the website of the Fundación Tres Culturas (www.tresculturas.org) or in our Specialised Library, which also offers the possibility of collective loans of some of these works (for more information: http://www.tresculturas.org/club/PAUTAS.pdf). The opening hours during the summer are Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 14:00. The Library will be closed during the month of August.
The Image of the Arab and Muslim World in the Spanish Press. VVAA
This publication, edited by the Fundación Tres Culturas, is the result of a research project commissioned by this institution to the Centro de Investigación y Análisis de Medios (CICAM). The work offers a thorough and detailed analysis -both quantitative and qualitative- of the contents related to news about the Arab and Muslim World published in six of the main Spanish newspapers.El País, The World, La Razón, ABC, La Vanguardia y El Periódico de Catalunya- during a specific year.
With this premise as a starting point, the report analyses in depth the treatment of issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the image of Morocco, the journalistic link between terrorism and Islam, and the cultural clash and bridge-building between the Western and Arab-Muslim worlds.
The full text of this publication can be found at the following link:
http://www.tresculturas.org/noticia/la-imagen-del-mundo-arabe-y-musulman-en-la-prensa-espanola/
Arab Media and Political Renewal. Community, Legitimacy and Public Life. Ed. Naomi Sakr
"People have begun to mobilise across the Arab world, demonstrating, voting and organising politically in new ways. The Arab media has undergone a transformation and is still in a state of flux. It is therefore crucial that we are able to discuss political initiatives in the region in the light of media developments. This book responds analytically to key questions about the links between media and political change in the Arab world. Using audience and election coverage studies, as well as the practices of internet users, journalists, protesters, NGOs and media producers, this book provides an analytical response to key questions about the links between the media and political change in the Arab world. reality showsexplores the interconnectedness of the public through the airwaves, at the polls and on the street.
A group of contributors offer lively insights into the extent to which new media are able to promote the advancement of oppositional and marginalised groups and the real significance of events that capitalise on media attention. Issues such as the ability of new media to respond to the needs of young people, the potential of blogging as an influential political tool, or the influence of satellite news on diaspora communities, among others, are analysed in this book.
Discussing the main issues of general interest and popular culture in the Arab countries, this book is intended for any reader interested in understanding the media politics of this centrally important but often misunderstood region". (I.B. Tauris Publishing House).
Contributors: Oliver Hahn, Albrecht Hofheinz, Imad Karam, Lina Khatib, Marwan M. Kraidy, Giovanna Maiola, Dina Matar, Tarik Sabry, Naomi Sakr, Burce Stanley, David Ward.
Portuguese