"Arab Cities and the Chaos of Media Platforms" at the BA
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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina held the fourth seminar of its "Social Sciences in a Changing World" series, under the title "Arab Cities and the Chaos of Media Platforms (The Conflict of Three Ages)". The seminar was delivered by Prof. Ahmed Zayed, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and Prof. Khalid Omar Bin Qaqa, writer, researcher, and former Professor at the University of Science and Technology in Oran.
At the beginning of the session, Prof. Ahmed Zayed confirmed the continuation of this lecture series that tackles social and intellectual issues, as part of the BA leading cultural role in the region. He also pointed to the publication of a book, set to be released this year, which gathers the results of these discussions, highlighting the fact that the Library will invite those with an interest in the field of sociology to hold similar meetings over the next year.
For his part, Prof. Khalid Omar Bin Qaqa examined the change that has occurred to Arab cities in recent years due to the impact of new media platforms, and their shift towards consumerism.
He referred to six Arab cities (Alexandria, Cairo, Algiers, Baghdad, Jerusalem, and Mecca) that have undergone significant changes in their cultural structure by adopting consumerism, despite the significant specificity they embodied in their past.
He provided proposals at the end of the session on how to address these new phenomena, and stressed the importance of conducting serious open discussions between specialists and the general public about the specificity and identity of Arab cities.