Smail Salhi, Zahia (ed.). — Gender and Diversity in the Middle East and North Africa

L’avantage du titre de cette collection de contributions éditées par Zahia Smail Salhi (désormais zss), senior lecturer en littérature arabe et gender studies à l’université de Leeds, est de parer à la première impression qui se dégage de cet ouvrage, à savoir l’extrême diversité de nature, de perspective et d’intérêt qui caractérise les dix contributions le constituant. Les sociétés marocaine, algérienne, tunisienne, libanaise, turque, israélo-palestinienne, saoudienne et afghane sont évoqué..

Khaled El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-IslamicWorld, 1500-1800

Cette étude est appelée à faire date dans les gender studies consacrées à la civilisation arabo-musulmane et dépasse, par son importance, ces limites mêmes. Après la publication aux États-Unis, ces dernières années, de différentes collections d'articles consacrées à la question de l'homoérotisme dans la culture arabo-musulmane (Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature, J.W. Wright & Everett K. Rowson eds., New York, Columbia University Press 1997 ; Islamic Homosexualities, Stephen O. Murr..

Re-assessing the radial-velocity evidence for planets around CoRoT-7

CoRoT-7 is an 11th magnitude K-star whose light curve shows transits with depth of 0.3 mmag and a period of 0.854 d, superimposed on variability at the 1% level, due to the modulation of evolving active regions with the star's 23 d rotation period. In this paper, we revisit the published HARPS radial velocity measurements of the object, which were previously used to estimate the companion mass, but have been the subject of ongoing debate. We build a realistic model of the star's activity during the HARPS observations, by fitting simultaneously the line width and the line bisector, and use it to evaluate the contribution of activity to the RV variations. The data show clear evidence of errors above the level of the formal uncertainties, which are accounted for either by activity, nor by any plausible planet model, and which increase rapidly with decreasing signal-to-noise of the spectra. We cite evidence of similar systematics in mid-SNR spectra of other targets obtained with HARPS and other high-precision RV spectrographs, and discuss possible sources. Allowing for these, we re-evaluate the semi-amplitude of the CoRoT-7b signal, finding Kb=1.6 +-1.3 m/s, a tentative detection with a much reduced significance (1.2-sigma) compared to previous estimates. We also argue that the combined presence of activity and additional errors preclude a meaningful search for additional low-mass companions, despite previous claims to the contrary. Our analysis points to a lower density for CoRoT-7b, the 1-sigma mass range spanning 1-4 MEarth, allowing for a wide range of bulk compositions. In particular, an ice-rich composition is compatible with the RV constraints. This study highlights the importance of a realistic treatment of both activity and uncertainties, particularly in the medium signal-to-noise ratio regime, which applies to most small planet candidates from CoRoT and Kepler.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS, revised version with minor modifications and one additional figur

The Earth as an extrasolar transiting planet: Earth's atmospheric composition and thickness revealed by Lunar eclipse observations

An important goal within the quest for detecting an Earth-like extrasolar planet, will be to identify atmospheric gaseous bio-signatures. Observations of the light transmitted through the Earth's atmosphere, as for an extrasolar planet, will be the first step for future comparisons. We have completed observations of the Earth during a Lunar eclipse, a unique situation similar to that of a transiting planet. We aim at showing what species could be detected in its atmosphere at optical wavelengths, where a lot of photons are available in the masked stellar light. We present observations of the 2008 August 16 Moon eclipse performed with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Locating the spectrograph fibers in the penumbra of the eclipse, the Moon irradiance is then a mix of direct, unabsorbed Sun light and solar light that has passed through the Earth's limb. This mixture essentially reproduces what is recorded during the transit of an extrasolar planet. We report here the clear detection of several Earth atmospheric compounds in the transmission spectra, such as ozone, molecular oxygen, and neutral sodium as well as molecular nitrogen and oxygen through the Rayleigh signature. Moreover, we present a method that allows us to derive the thickness of the atmosphere versus the wavelength for penumbra eclipse observations. We quantitatively evaluate the altitude at which the atmosphere becomes transparent for important species like molecular oxygen and ozone, two species thought to be tightly linked to the presence of life. The molecular detections presented here are an encouraging first attempt, necessary to better prepare for the future of extremely-large telescopes and transiting Earth-like planets. Instruments like SOPHIE will be mandatory when characterizing the atmospheres of transiting Earth-like planets from the ground and searching for bio-marker signatures.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

High precision astrometry mission for the detection and characterization of nearby habitable planetary systems with the Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope (NEAT)

(abridged) A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood with uniform sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to several AUs would be a major milestone in extrasolar planets astrophysics. This fundamental goal can be achieved with a mission concept such as NEAT - the Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope. NEAT is designed to carry out space-borne extremely-high-precision astrometric measurements sufficient to detect dynamical effects due to orbiting planets of mass even lower than Earth's around the nearest stars. Such a survey mission would provide the actual planetary masses and the full orbital geometry for all the components of the detected planetary systems down to the Earth-mass limit. The NEAT performance limits can be achieved by carrying out differential astrometry between the targets and a set of suitable reference stars in the field. The NEAT instrument design consists of an off-axis parabola single-mirror telescope, a detector with a large field of view made of small movable CCDs located around a fixed central CCD, and an interferometric calibration system originating from metrology fibers located at the primary mirror. The proposed mission architecture relies on the use of two satellites operating at L2 for 5 years, flying in formation and offering a capability of more than 20,000 reconfigurations (alternative option uses deployable boom). The NEAT primary science program will encompass an astrometric survey of our 200 closest F-, G- and K-type stellar neighbors, with an average of 50 visits. The remaining time might be allocated to improve the characterization of the architecture of selected planetary systems around nearby targets of specific interest (low-mass stars, young stars, etc.) discovered by Gaia, ground-based high-precision radial-velocity surveys.Comment: Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy. The full member list of the NEAT proposal and the news about the project are available at http://neat.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

Frīj

This article aims at linking the question of representation of the self and the other to linguistic analysis. An episode of Freej, a popular Emirati cartoon show, is examined both from an anthropological and discursive perspective. Although superficially seeming to denounce unorthodox adorcism (zār) as practised by women of African origin, the episode here considered actually proposes an ambiguous discourse on Emirati identity, challenged by the multiple influences of globalization and popular Arab cultures, a national identity which has become «possessed» by the outside world, as it is forced to open up toward the Other while preserving its specificity

Szombathy, Zoltan Mujūn, Libertinism in Mediaeval Muslim Society and Literature. Exeter, Gibb Memorial Trust, 2013

Lagrange Frédéric. Szombathy, Zoltan Mujūn, Libertinism in Mediaeval Muslim Society and Literature. Exeter, Gibb Memorial Trust, 2013. In: Bulletin critique des annales islamologiques, n°30, 2016. pp. 23-27

Albert Cossery écrit‑il arabe ?

Les mérites d’Albert Cossery sont nombreux. Le plus grand, à mon sens, est d’avoir surmonté la tentation du pittoresque, et de nous avoir épargné les inévitables scènes folkloriques auxquelles croient devoir sacrifier les écrivains qui traitent de l’Orient. Lorsque Cossery parle de quelqu’un qui fume la “ghoza”, il ne cherche pas à centrer l’attention sur ce détail ni à en tirer une diversion distrayante ; on peut impunément remplacer le mot “ghoza” par le mot pipe, sans rien changer à la ton..

Umm Kulṯūm est-elle une interprète de musique savante?

Si l’ensemble du répertoire d’Umm Kulṯūm est actuellement considéré dans le monde arabe comme « classique » au double sens de son statut élevé dans la hiérarchie des arts et de sa valeur propédeutique, dans quelle mesure relève-t-il de la musique savante et garde-t-il les traces de l’école de la Nahḍa ? L’article part du terme waṣla employé tout au long de sa carrière pour désigner une chanson lors d’un concert, et fait le bilan de notre connaissance actuelle de la politique interprétatrice de la chanteuse, considérablement augmentée par la diffusion sur l’internet de l’ensemble de ses concerts, en plus des versions commercialement diffusées. Il suggère que c’est dans les deux formes d’improvisation libre (mursal) et mesurée (muwaqqaʿ) que se repère le plus clairement la continuité avec les principes esthétiques de l’école précédente des musiciens de cour, et examine plus précisément deux versions de la chanson Salū kuʾūs al-ṭilā illustrant les avatars successifs de la forme savante « traditionnelle » dite qaṣīda ʿalā l-waḥda.While in the Arab world, the totality of Umm Kulṯūm’s repertoire is currently considered as being “classical” both in the sense of its highly regarded status in the artistic hierarchy as well as that of its propaedeutic value; to which extent does it actually qualify as “art music” and what traces of the Nahḍa school has it retained? Starting from the term waṣla, employed throughout her career to identify a song during a concert, the article presents an appraisal of our present knowledge of the singer’s performance policy, which has greatly increased since the internet diffusion of most of her concerts, in addition to the commercially distributed versions of her songs. It suggests that Umm Kulṯūm’s metric (muwaqqaʿ) and non-metric (mursal) improvisations are the forms in which a continuity between her art and the ­aesthetic principles of the former school of court musicians is best observed. Two renditions of Salū kuʾūs al-ṭilā illustrate the successive vicissitudes of the “traditional” learned form known as qaṣīda ʿalā al-waḥda.إذا كان مجمل أعمال أم كلثوم الفنية يعتبر اليوم "كلاسيكيًا" في العالم العربي مع ما يحمله هذا الوصف من ازدواج في المعنى ليعبر عن مركزها المرموق في تسلسل الفنون وقيمتها التمهيدية، فإلى أي حد تنتمي أعمالها إلى الموسيقى الراقية وإلى أي حد تحتفظ بآثار مدرسة النهضة؟ ينطلق هذا المقال من مصطلح "وصلة"، وهذا المصطلح كان مستخدمًا على مدى تاريخها الفني للاشارة إلى أغنية في حفلة موسيقية. كما يقدم المقال محصلة لمعرفتنا الحالية للسياسة الغنائية للمطربة، التي تضخمت بشكل ملحوظ بعد إذاعة مجمل حفلاتها على الانترنت علاوة على النسخ التجارية المُذاعة. ويشير المقال إلى وجود استمرارية واضحة مع المبادئ الفنية للمدرسة السابقة لموسيقى البلاط في شكلي الارتجال الحر (المُرسل) والإيقاعي (الموَقع). وفي النهاية يتعرض المقال بشكل أكثر تحديداً إلى نسختي أغنية "سلوا كؤوس الطلا" التي توضح التحورات المتتالية للشكل الفني الراقي "التقليدي" المعروف باسم "قصيدة على الواحدة"

Ze’evi Dror, Producing Desire, Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle-East, 1500-1900. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2006

Lagrange Frédéric. Ze’evi Dror, Producing Desire, Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle-East, 1500-1900. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2006. In: Bulletin critique des annales islamologiques, n°24, 2008. pp. 148-152