The Empathic Reporter: A Simulation of Perspective-taking in an Arabic Reportage on the 1936 Revolt in Palestine

• Pasquale Macaluso ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Cape Town

     University of Cape Town

     City of Cape Town, Sudáfrica

     
• Localización: The Routledge Companion to World Literary Journalism / John S. Bak (ed. lit.), Bill Reynolds (ed. lit.), 2023, ISBN 978-0-367-35524-1, págs. 181-191
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Rihla bayna al-jibal fi maʿaqil al-thaʾirin [Journey across the mountains in the strongholds of the rebels] represents an early case of transmission of literary journalism to the Arabic press of Palestine. This anonymous literary reportage on the 1936 Great Arab Revolt in Palestine fictively constructs the perspective-taking of a significant other with the Palestinian Arabs in order to report and celebrate their anticolonial struggle. The narrator of the book explores the cultural, geographical, and political context from which the aspirations of the insurgency originate, acquiring the knowledge and cultural sensitivity that enable him to deeply understand the local population and identify with them. Imitating the kind of literary journalism popularized by left-leaning writers from Europe and the United States who covered political revolutions, colonized countries, and the living conditions of the working class and the poor, this Arabic reportage proves that those who more often were the object of journalistic research could themselves employ the format to voice their claims. At the same time, it acknowledges the efficacy of this genre in communicating deep understanding across cultural and sociopolitical borders.