Vision Machines: The Multi-Worlds of Arab Science Fiction Narratives
What alternative and encompassing views of time, technology and the cosmos do Arab science fiction narratives have to offer? A genre popularized in the twentieth century by comics /manga, blockbuster movies/anime and Anglo-American authors, science fiction is frequently referenced today to describe a world that is being dramatically and rapidly transformed by warfare, artificial intelligence, and environmental destruction. Vision Machines examines the work of authors, artists and filmmakers who alter widely held conceptions about the genre. Participants will have the opportunity to explore a vibrant range of material, including mainstream Egyptian movies and TV shows, experimental films by Palestinian and Lebanese artists, children’s comics, and serialised graphic novels. Drawing on Islamic tradition and culture, inventions and ancient myths, this course will enhance our understanding of the past, present and future as conceived in the Arab world.
Each session will include a presentation of key texts, structured discussions based on a series of questions and critical concepts and group activities where participants will be invited to engage with, analyse and reflect on the images and ideas presented. The course is open to adults interested in popular culture and willing to challenge colonial and orientalist visions of the Arab world. Knowledge of Arabic is not a requirement.
This course is based on an ongoing book project in development, so the material presented is evolving and not for redistribution. Classes will not be recorded but class resources will be shared via the Teachable platform.
Launch price £225
Was £250, 10% launch discount applied
Concession price £187.50
25% off a full price course place. For students or those on lower incomes
Our pricing reflects a commitment to fairly paying artists and coursemakers, whilst also supporting the work of the Arab British Centre, which is a registered charity. We offer a concession discount to help ensure accessibility to our courses.
Image credit: Mo Salah
Course Overview
All classes will be held through Zoom, accessed via the Teachable platform. Classes will be held weekly from 6pm BST and last between 90 mins and 2 hours each week.
Tuesday 7 July 6-8pm BST
Week 1: Introduction and course overview: “Arab” Science Fiction
In this session, participants will be given an overview of the key texts covered in the course and discuss the different ways that science fiction as a genre has been defined and understood, putting into consideration the associations it has with technological innovation, environmental destruction, colonialism, empire, and the anxieties about the Other.
Tuesday 14 July 6-8pm BST
Week 2: “Real” Science Fiction: The Vast Earth, Fantasy and the Imagination
Participants will be introduced to key concepts and the world views made possible in work of Islamic philosophers and writers. Drawing on ancient civilisations and Islamic tradition and culture, this session will provide an opportunity to develop alternative frameworks of analysis and a reconsideration of the cosmos, fantasy, and the imagination.
Tuesday 21 July 6-8pm BST
Week 3: Earth as Seen from Space: Science Fiction as Apparatus
What lies beyond the limits of “looking” as we understand it from a Eurocentric framework. Highlighting the work of Arab inventors, scientists, illusionists and tricksters that preceded the so called “machine age” and screen-based devices, participants will develop a second set of alternative frameworks to think about technology and science.
Tuesday 28 July 6-8pm BST
Week 4: The (Mechanical) Body in Parts
This session will explore the relationship between – and merging of – bodies and machines. From cyborgs and superhumans to everyday surgical interventions (in which failing human organs are replaced with mechanical parts from home appliances and automobiles) participants will be invited to examine the different kinds of robots and humanoids that have been conceived by Arab filmmakers and artists.
Tuesday 4 August 6-8pm BST
Week 5: The Consequence of Place
Shedding light on the relevance of imagined future city-scapes and the impact of warfare and environmental disaster on the urban and natural environment, emphasis is placed on the ways in which territorial space can be re-imagined and visualized. Participants will be invited to explore anxieties about urban development in the context of social, political and economic transformation, military destruction and environmental disaster.
Tuesday 11 August 6-8pm BST
Week 6: Time Travel Today
In the final session, participants will be invited to examine the widespread incorporation of references Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the narrative. In the process, we will reflect on the fraught relationship between technology and progress, and the how new technologies have been used to negate or undermine real and lived experiences at the same time as ancient narratives about time and the cosmos are being brought back into view.
Meet Your Tutor
Iman Hamam is an Egyptian/British interdisciplinary researcher and writer. She has published on humour in mainstream Egyptian cinema; the body and technology in Arab satellite television; graphic representations of space and time in comics and science fiction; and the 6th of October war in experimental documentaries and fiction films. With a PhD from the University of Sussex (on Representations of Ancient Egyptian mummies), she has taught Arab Film, Media, Cultural Studies, Literature, Critical Thinking and Rhetoric in various universities in the UK, Egypt, and Qatar. A regular participant in academic conferences, Iman has also been involved in comics and film festivals as a jury member and program consultant. As El-Doktora, she has worked with visual artists on music videos, films, site-specific installations and in community-based initiatives in popular districts in historic Cairo.
