In the
popular imagination, the Muslim Middle East is frozen in its own
traditions and history—a land of mosques and minarets, veiled
women, despotic regimes, and desert sand. But this assumption fails
to recognize that social and political change comes in many guises.
In this eye-opening book, Asef Bayat reveals how under the shadow of
the authoritarian rule, religious moral authorities, and economic
elites, ordinary people can make meaningful change through the
practices of everyday life.
Though not as
visible on the world-stage as a mass protest or a full-scale
revolution, millions of people across the Middle East are discovering
or creating new social spaces within which to make their claims
heard. The street vendor who sets up his business in the main square,
squatters who take over public parks, Muslim youth who frequent
public hangouts in blue jeans, and protestors who march in the
streets, poor housewives who hang their wash in the alleyways, and
educated women who pursue careers doing "men's work"—all
these people challenge the state's control and implicity question the
established public order through their daily activities. Though not
coordinated in their activities, these "non-movements"
offer a political response, not of protest but of practice and direct
daily action.
Offering a
window into the complex social processes in a too-often misunderstood
part of the world, this unique book provides a much-needed Middle
Eastern perspective on global debates over the meaning of social
movements and the dynamics of social change.
Click here to access a copy of this book.
