Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age – A Talk by Tarek El-Ariss

Exploring hacking, leaking, and scene-making as writing and political practices, as well as conceptual tools for understanding Arab culture in the digital age, this talk examines affective forms of protest, incivility, digital consciousness, fiction, and knowledge production. Focusing on a new generation of activists and authors, and leakers and hackers from the region and beyond, El-Ariss connects Wikileaks to The Arabian Nights, Twitter to mystical revelation, cyberattacks to pre-Islamic tribal raids, and digital activism to the affective scene-making of Arab popular culture.