The Poetics of Incivility explores impolite modes of expressionâsatire, crude humor, and rudenessâas a critical lens for both aesthetic innovation and sociopolitical critique. In the Arab worldâfrom Cairo's Tahrir Square and the thoroughfares of Beirut to war-torn Gazaâpolitical demands have been framed by satirical cartoons and graffiti or in subversive poetry and song. Emily Sibley shows that these forms of resistance are not new to Arab culture but return to mid-nineteenth-century debates over literary propriety.
In case studies concerning women's education in 1850s' Beirut, the satirical press in colonial Egypt, colloquial theater in the era of decolonization, street art and graphic novels during and after the 2011 Egyptian protests, Sibley follows the threads of an expressive culture that announces and celebrates its own impropriety. Concluding with analyses of Gaza poetry on the internet as a space where the stakes of incivility are acutely visible, The Poetics of Incivility offers a timely consideration of incivility as an aesthetic resource for authors and artists engaging with some of the most controversial issues of their timesâand ours.