Covid‑19, réseaux sociaux et culture pop dans la péninsule Arabique
Abstract
The pandemic crisis which has befallen the world since February 2020 generated, in the Arabian Peninsula as elsewhere, an abundance of media productions: songs, poems, jokes, memes, video skits, etc. shared through social media or broadcast on satellite television, which all participate in the region’s “digital pop culture”. The policies of states confronted with the emergency were reflected by some artists or “influencers”, either spontaneously relaying the official message or commissioned by authorities. Other cultural products translate individual reactions to the crisis and express (within limits tolerated by suspicious states) fear, boredom or a sarcastic attitude toward uncommon behaviors in societies forced to upset their habits. What do these videos, memes and songs tell us about Arabian societies? If some appear as a mere local encoding of universal patterns, others are more particular to the region: the “corona songs”, on a warlike, satirical or dramatic tone; jokes on perturbations induced by the presence of males in the feminine homosocial private space of homes; and a particular encoding of the local vs. foreign relationship, be the foreigner an insider (the working force), the regional ally or enemy, or the one through whom evil happens, or who evil strikes. This essay attempts to analyze how cultural productions translate or negotiate their decoding of state policies and of the challenge posed by the presence of “impossible citizens” (Neha Vora) in the monarchies of the region that enforce a non-integrative model of transnational migration management, when they find themselves confronted with a threat to health that places the whole population in front of a same danger.
Keywords
