Young Arabs are too often reduced to the figures of the potential terrorist, the migrant or the exotic icon of the revolution. But the reality is much richer.

Coming from both sides of the Mediterranean, the researchers in this book travel off the beaten track by exploring how young Arabs spend their free time. The case studies take in a wide range of countries, including Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and all manner of activities, from football to rap music, café culture to sex work. Drawn with sensitivity and humour, Arab youths presents an exceptional portrait of a generation that is much talked about but rarely listened to.

This book gives a voice to young men and women who, as heirs of plural traditions, animated by new ideas and influenced by various cultural movements, are inventing the future of their societies in the midst of radical change.

Preface: Arab youth inside out - François Burgat

General introduction: deconstructing stereotypes: interwoven trajectories of young Arabs - Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse

Part I: Living in the present
Introduction: living in the present - Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse
1 'Go ahead, burn your tyres!': the lust for life of Saudi joyriders- Pascal Ménoret
2 'Just watching the time go by': the 'hittists' of Algeria - Loïc Le Pape
3 Coffee shops and youth sociability in Abu Dhabi- Laure Assaf
4 From TV soaps to web dramas: a new platform for young Arabs - Yves Gonzalez-Quijano
5 The Buyat: subverting gender norms in Saudi Arabia - Amélie Le Renard
6 From Jihad to Sufi ecstasy: politico-religious trajectories in pre-revolutionary Syria - Thomas Pierret
7 The Faculty of Education of Lab'us: salafism as a student subculture in Yemen - Laurent Bonnefoy
8 'A man, a real man!': Halima, a woman rebel in Gafsa (Tunisia) - Amin Allal
9 Long-distance supporters: Barca and Real fans in Palestine - Abaher El Sakka
10 Commentary in Arabic... or in Tigrinya? Football fans and the search for free television broadcasting - Mahfoud Amara and Laurent Bonnefoy

Part II: Rooting the future
Introduction: rooting the future - Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse
11 Drinking in Hamra: youthful nostalgia in Beirut? - Nicolas Dot-Pouillard
12 The end of a world? Shifting seasons in Lejnan (Algeria) - Mohand Akli Hadibi
13 Finding Baghdad: young people in search of 'normality' - Zahra Ali and Laurent Bonnefoy
14 Two brothers: family and hospitality in Al-Karak (Jordan) - Christine Jungen
15 In Massada Street's coffee shops: the ambiguous social mix of the Palestinians of Israel in Haifa - Mariangela Gasparotto
16 In the shade of the Khayma: cultural and political resistance of the young Sahrawis at Dakhla - Victoria Veguilla Del Moral
17 Recreation, re-creation, resistance: what roles for dabké in Palestine? - Xavier Guignard
18 Taranim and videos: the Egyptian Church stripped bare by its children? - Laure Guirguis
19 'My identity is becoming clear like the sun': theatre in the Shiite schools of Lebanon - Catherine Le Thomas

Part III: Constructing oneself
Introduction: constructing oneself - Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse
20 'A room of one's own': young people in search of privacy - Anne-Marie Filaire
21 A different way of being a young woman? Self-defence in Cairo - Perrine Lachenal
22 Chewing alone? The transformations of Qat consumption in Yemen - Marine Poirier
23 Gulf holiday-goers in Europe: five-star family favourites - Claire Beaugrand
24 In SOS Bab el Oued: rappers and rockers between integration and transgression - Layla Baamara
25 Leaving the camp: the wanderings of young Palestinian refugees in Lebanon - Nicolas Puig
26 'Rainbow Street': the diversity, compartmentalization and assertion of Youth in Amman (Jordan) - Cyril Roussel
27 Brahim: autopsy of a suicide in Kabylia - Kamel Chachoua
28 "Bnat lycée dayrin sexy": from fun to sex work in Tangier (Morocco) - Mériam Cheikh

Part IV: Speaking Out
Introduction: speaking out - Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse
29 'A bad day for Ammar': when Tunisian bloggers took on internet censorship - Romain Lecomte
30 A new social world? Young Syrian activists and online social networks - Enrico De Angelis
31 Stand up: Saudi Youth take the floor... on YouTube! - Yves Gonzalez-Quijano
32 The café in Jadu: a place for 'revolutionary' emancipation in Libya - Arthur Quesnay
33 From consumerism to political engagement: young 'Sunnis' in Bahrain react in 'defence of their country' (2011-12) - Claire Beaugrand
34 When walls speak: revolutionary street art in Yemen - Anahi Alviso-Marino
35 Art under occupation: 'The Young Artist of the Year' (Palestine) - Marion Slitine
36 'The instinct of rap': Palestinian rap, political contents and artistic explorations - Nicolas Puig
37 Rocking in Morocco: the new urban scene in Casablanca - Dominique Caubet and Catherine Miller
38 Alexandrians in fusion: trajectories of Egyptian musicians from alternative milieux to the revolution - Youssef El Chazli

Index

Editors

Laurent Bonnefoy is a CNRS researcher at the Centre for International Studies, Sciences Po Paris

Myriam Catusse is a CNRS researcher and Director of the Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Beirut