Fathy, Safaa

Symbolic and Political power in contemporary Egypt

EUME-HKW Conference; DI/VISIONS: Culture and Politics of the Middle East, 2007

Safaa Fathy was born in Egypt in 1958 and is a poet, filmmaker and essayist. She studied theatre at the Sorbonne and gained her doctorate with a thesis on Bertolt Brecht. In 1994 she started working on her first films. Her co-operation with the philosopher Jacques Derrida for the filmed biography D’ailleurs Derrida attracted considerable attention. Derrida and Fathy reflect on their experiences with the film in their joint book Tourner les mots. Au bord d’un film. She has also made a name for herself as a poet and theoretician.

Di/Visions critically examined ideologies and practices of divisions and borders in the Middle East. It was a joint project of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the research program Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe in the year 2008.

“Di/Visions. Culture and Poltics of the Middle East” was edited by Catherine David, Georges Khalil und Bernd Scherer and included a DVD with the conversations (Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2009). Since 2015 the edited volume has been available as an open access publication.

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