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This chapter analyzes the emergence of Arab videogame cultures and industries. Videogames are a massively popular medium with skyrocketing economic relevance, becoming an increasingly important form of cultural production. The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing gaming markets in the world. This growth is driven by the region's young and fast-growing population, a high penetration of smartphones and the internet, and an increasing supply of localised content. The Arab videogame scene is multifaceted and diverse, and encompasses various actors with different visions and interests. Nevertheless, despite its diversity, the scene as a whole can be characterized by a high degree of cultural hybridization, strong emphasis on authenticity of visual representation, and sensitivity to religious and cultural issues. This chapter examines the roles of economics, politics, religion, and global cultural flows in the appropriation of the videogame medium by local players, developers and institutions; linking them to a broader context of global cultural production and transnational consumer culture.

Since emergence of satellite technology and the internet, religious media in the Middle East have developed extensively. This paper focuses on television and addresses a number of transformative and interrelated aspects: the appearance of new technology; the countries’ gradual liberalization of the economy and the media; the fall of former state monopoly and control of media; and new kinds of instruments to control and influence the media landscape. The liberalization and introduction of new technology have led to the appearance of many more television channels, including religious channels. Consequently, the visibility of religion in the mediated public sphere and the competition between different religious channels have increased. As such, the media landscape is no longer only offering one national, secular, primarily Islamic or Christian public, but many publics where also religious minorities have got a voice and a platform to speak from.

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An exploration of the theories, histories, practices, and contradictions of liberalism today. What does it mean to be a liberal in neoliberal times? This collection of short essays attempts to show how liberals and the wider concept of liberalism remain relevant in what many perceive to be a highly illiberal age. Liberalism in the broader sense revolves around tolerance, progress, humanitarianism, objectivity, reason, democracy, and human rights. Liberalism's emphasis on individual rights opened a theoretical pathway to neoliberalism, through private property, a classically minimal liberal state, and the efficiency of “free markets.” In practice, neoliberalism is associated less with the economic deregulation championed by its advocates than the re-regulation of the economy to protect financial capital. Liberalism in Neoliberal Times engages with the theories, histories, practices, and contradictions of liberalism, viewing it in relation to four central areas of public life: human rights, ethnicity and gender, education, and the media. The contributors explore the transformations in as well as the transformative aspects of liberalism and highlight both its liberating and limiting capacities.