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This edited volume fills a gap in the research on place, product and personal branding in the Middle East and North Africa. It critically analyses processes of strategic communication and image building under conditions of globalisation, neoliberalisation and authoritarian rule. It looks at historical and contemporary branding efforts of different actors involved, their interests and motives and at the positioning of brands in time and space.

This edited volume investigates place, product, and personal branding in the Middle East and North Africa, including some studies from adjacent regions and the wider Islamicate world. Going beyond simply presenting logos and slogans, it critically analyses processes of strategic communication and image building under general conditions of globalisation, neoliberalisation, and postmodernisation and, in a regional perspective, of lasting authoritarian rule and increased endeavours for "worlding." In particular, it looks at the multiple actors involved in branding activities, their interests and motives, and investigates tools, channels, and forms of branding. A major interest exists in the entanglements of different spatial scales and in the (in)consistencies of communication measures. Attention is paid to reconfigurations of certain images over time and to the positioning of objects of branding in time and space. Historical case studies supplement the focus on contemporary branding efforts. While branding in the Western world and many emerging economies has been meticulously analysed, this edited volume fills an important gap in the research on MENA countries

pt. 1. The politics and economy of infrastructure and architecture -- pt. 2. Images and iconic brands : constructing markets and identity -- pt. 3. Art production and exhibitions : a critical engagement with urban developments -- pt. 4. Dubai-style elsewhere : plagiarizing or transforming the Gulf model.

Interdisciplinary in approach, this volume explores and deciphers the symbolic value and iconicity of the built environment in the Arab Gulf Region, its aesthetics, language and performative characteristics. Bringing together a range of studies by artists, curators and scholars, it demonstrates how Dubai appeared - at least until the financial crisis - to be leading the construction race and has already completed a large number of its landmark architecture and strategic facilities. In contrast, cities like the Qatari capital Doha still appear to be heavily 'under construction' and in countries like the Sultanate of Oman, ultra-luxury tourism projects were started only recently. While the construction of artificial islands, theme parks and prestige sport facilities has attracted considerable attention, much less is known about the region's widespread implementation of innovative infrastructure such as global container ports, free zones, inter-island causeways and metro lines. This volume argues that these endeavours are not simply part of a strategy to prepare for the post-oil era for future economic survival and prosperity in the Lower Gulf region, but that they are also aiming to strengthen identitarian patterns and specific national brands. In doing so, they exhibit similar, yet remarkably diverse modes of engaging with certain global trends and present - questionably - distinct ideas for putting themselves on the global map. Each country aims to grab attention with regard to the world-wide flow of goods and capital and thus provide its own citizens with a socially acceptable trajectory for the future. By doing that, the countries in the Gulf are articulating a new semiotic and paradigm of urban development. For the first time, this volume maps these trends in their relation to architecture and infrastructure, in particular by treating them as semiotics in their own right. It suggests that recent developments in this region of the world not only represent a showcase of extraordinary initiatives by which these desert states have transformed, but also that the commodification of local 'traditions' acts as an essential element in the countries' effort to design an Arab version of (hyper- )modernity and to position themselves as a regional and global archetype, which has frequently been adopted elsewhere.

Der Sammelband gibt einen Einblick in Entwicklungen und Probleme der Wirtschaft im Vorderen Orient und das wirtschaftliche Handeln der dort Lebenden, seine Bedingungen und seine Folgen. Zugleich zeigt dieses Buch das vorhandene Potenzial von auf Wirtschaft und den Vorderen Orient bezogener Forschung in Deutschland auf. Anlass ist das nun 15-jährige Bestehen und das Herannahen der hundertsten Ausgabe der "Diskussionspapiere" (DKP) des früheren Fachgebietes Volkswirtschaft des Vorderen Orients an der FU Berlin, eine Reihe, die sich durch eine breite Vielfalt von disziplinären Herangehensweisen und fachlichen Perspektiven auszeichnet

Der Sammelband gibt einen Einblick in Entwicklungen und Probleme der Wirtschaft im Vorderen Orient und das wirtschaftliche Handeln der dort Lebenden, seine Bedingungen und seine Folgen. Zugleich zeigt dieses Buch das vorhandene Potenzial von auf Wirtschaft und den Vorderen Orient bezogener Forschung in Deutschland auf. Anlass ist das nun 15-jährige Bestehen und das Herannahen der hundertsten Ausgabe der "Diskussionspapiere" (DKP) des früheren Fachgebietes Volkswirtschaft des Vorderen Orients an der FU Berlin, eine Reihe, die sich durch eine breite Vielfalt von disziplinären Herangehensweisen und fachlichen Perspektiven auszeichnet

AbstractIn the course of the spatial turn, long-established regional subdivisions of the world have been deconstructed, and area studies are increasingly opening up for transregional research. One (re)emerging research field is Trans-Saharan Studies, which considers historical and contemporary entanglements between the Maghreb, the Sahara and the Sahel (with further connections far beyond). Against this background, Steffen Wippel's essay reviews six recently published works that can be assigned to trans-Saharan research: two comprehensive textbooks and a catalogue written in French, two edited volumes that tackle entangled trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean migration flows and a study of an enclosed, yet widely interconnected inner-Saharan place and population group.