Pop Culture: De Con

Looking back I have read two novels that show decolonization. First, The Kite Runner was about the struggles of a young boy from Pakistan who moves to the U.S. Second, recently I read Things Fall Apart which is about a village colonized by the white man and it is about their struggles to fight it. 

Also, I have seen many movies on this subject including Babel, The Kite Runner (movie), and The Kingdom. 

Pop Culture: Decolonizatino

After learning about decolonization in class, as well as through The Battle of Algiers, when I think about it their have been a few movies, as well as a book that I recently read that deal with recent decolonization.

Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe

The Battle of Algiers 

The Kite Runner

Pop Culture

I haven't read many books about Africa and the Middle East. The only two that I remember are the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which we read in Freshman year, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which we read this year. The Kite Runner was about a boy who immigrates from the Middle East to America, and it follows him through his life and even involves conflict with the Taliban at the end. Things Fall Apart was about the colonization of a small village in Africa by the Europeans and explores the true relationship between the two cultures and the effects of the European's arrival.

Pop-Culture

As the numerous posts before this one have mentioned, the only thing that I have read from the Middle East/ Africa are Things Fall Apart and The Kite Runner. When I think of the Middle East or Africa I usually think of oppression and lack of free speech. This is probably the reason that not very many books/movies are published there are heard about world-wide. In countries such as Pakistan terrorist groups such as the Taliban control the nation and do not allow free speech. If someone wanted to say something that did not agree with the views of the people in power, it would result in severe consequences such as death. I think its sad that people in those countries have to be afraid to speak out.

Middle East-Media/Literature

Here are a list of media and literature that reference or center around the middle east:

Things Fall Apart

The Kite Runner

Infidel- Deep book. Incredible insight into life in an Islamic state as a woman. A chronicle of the terrible injustices that are committed upon women in the middle east. A personal account and memoir. Just scrumptious.

Babel

The Kite Runner

The Kingdom

Generation Kill (HBO)

The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (Doc.)

Munich

Syriana- A particularly interesting movie that portrays the absolute significance of oil in the middle east and the exaggerated politics behind it.

Rendition

Charlie Wilson's War

In the Valley of Elah

Saddam (HBO)

Pop-culture/MENA/Africa

The Kite Runner: A book about a boy who immigrates to America from the middle east, and the hardship he experiences along the road.

Things Fall Apart: getting old

To be honest I have not read much about Africa let alone the Middle East. However, I have never really affiliated the term pop-culture with many African nations.