Arab Studies: Mapping the Field by Marwan M. Kraidy

Modernity is what all developing countries seek, because modernity can only be a good thing, right? However, there is a complex relationship that exists between modernity, the nation-state that could be the cause sectarianism. Modernity is a very unclear topic, due to the different interpretations of its meaning, is there only one type of modernity or is it flexible? how can nationalism, and the idea of unity lead to sectarianism and violence? These questions surely do merit further research and development, because we are in the process of dealing with them right now in the Arab World, with the fall of several regime's in the region that kept everything stable and tense at the same time. Perhaps we experiencing the calm before the storm, many would argue that the storm has already begun. The focus of this paper is to use history and examples from contemporary Arab nations, namely, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, in order to relate modernity , the rise of the nation-states and sectarianism in the context of the Arab World, and all it has been through in the not too distant past.

There is not one answer to the question of how modernity is achieved, and there is no magical formula that one could simply buy, or adopt, that would lead to modernity. One experiment would be the Saudi experience which also reflects most of the neighboring Arab states, of course this is a wide generalization that not everybody would necessarily agree to, it is useful nonetheless . Marwan M. Kraidy, in the chapter "The Saudi Modernity Wars According to Abdallah Al_Gathami: A Template for the Study of Arab Culture and Media." in the book "Arab Cultural Studies: Mapping the Field" he said "Saudi modernity, in Al-Gathami's opinion, reflects a socio-cultura...

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