The images of the Arab uprisings are all too familiar. In the fields of political science, sociology and history, countless pages have been devoted to explain and meet the challenges which occurred in the past three years. The lecture will take a closer look at what has been left understudied so far, namely the structures and frameworks of intervention and regulation in the cultural field. The increased interest of the western global North in cultural and artistic productions from the Arab World in the frame of the so-called Arab Spring raises questions focusing on the entanglements and dynamics of politics of funding, and of identity and representation.

Ilka Eickhof, PhD-Researcher (University of Amsterdam) at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, was a research associate and lecturer at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics at Freie Universität Berlin (2011-2014), and obtained her Master’s Degree in Islamic Studies, Sociology and Modern History in Berlin, Damascus and Istanbul (2009). In her research and teaching, she focuses on Postcolonial Critique, (Neo-)Orientalism, and Popular Culture. Before conducting her PhD, Ilka Eickhof has worked as a project assistant at the renowned Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.