Abu Naddara

Abu Naddara (Arabic: أبو نظارة, lit. 'Man with Glasses'; full title Abu Naddara Zarqa) was an Arabic political satire magazine based in Cairo, Egypt, and then in Paris, France. Its title, Abu Naddara, was the pseudonym of the founder, Yaqub Sanu.[1] The magazine was the first Arabic publication which employed cartoons to express social and political criticism.[2] It existed in the period 1877–1910.

Abu Naddara
CategoriesPolitical satire magazine
FrequencyWeekly
PublisherYaqub Sanu
FounderYaqub Sanu
Founded1877
First issue21 March 1877
Final issueDecember 1910
Country
Based in
  • Cairo (March 1877–August 1878)
  • Paris (August 1878–December 1910)
Language

History and profile

Abu Naddara was established by Yaqub Sanu in 1877 in Cairo as a four-page publication,[3] and the first issue appeared on 21 March that year.[4][5] Yaqub Sanu had been involved in theatre, and the magazine was an extension of his theatrical activities since it covered satirical sketches based on theatrical elements.[6]

A political activist and Yaqub Sanu's mentor, Jamal al Din Al Afghani, encouraged him to launch Abu Naddara.[7] The magazine was published on a weekly basis.[4] All caricatures published in the magazine were produced by Yaqub Sanu himself.[8] It covered both Arabic language and French language materials in the caricatures.[9] The Arabic materials were written in colloquial style.[10][11] The magazine managed to have a large audience and sold nearly 50,000 copies.[7] It was also distributed free of charge to army officers.[1]

However, soon Abu Naddara began to publish caricatures which criticised Khedive Ismail, ruler of Egypt, and also, the royal family of Egypt.[1][4] Yaqub Sanu employed symbolism to criticize the rulers of Egypt and Ottoman Sultan and created the following carton figures: Sheikh Al Hara (Arabic: the Chief of the quarter) represented Khedive Ismail, Al Wad Al Ahbal (Arabic: the Foolish Boy) for Khedive Tewfik and Sheikh Al Tumn (Arabic: the chief of the prison) for the Ottoman ruler Sultan Abdul Hamid.[12] Due to the critical approach of the magazine Yaqub Sanu was forced by Khedive Ismail to leave Egypt, and as a result, he settled in Paris where he continued to publish Abu Naddara.[4][13] The first issue published there appeared in August 1878, and the magazine was also sent to Egypt in secret.[4] The new target of the magazine became the British authorities in Egypt from 1882.[14] Abu Naddara attempted to get assistance from the French authorities to end the British rule in the country.[1][4] The magazine ceased publication following the December 1910 issue.[4][8][13]

The full issues of Abu Naddara were archived at Occidental College, Los Angeles, California.[15]

References
  1. Irene L. Gendzier (Winter 1961). "James Sanua and Egyptian Nationalism". The Middle East Journal. 15 (1): 16–17, 19, 26. JSTOR 4323314.
  2. Reuven Snir (September 2006). "Arabic in the Service of Regeneration of Jews The Participation of Jews in Arabic Press and Journalism in the 19th and 20th Centuries". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 59 (3): 298. doi:10.1556/aorient.59.2006.3.2.
  3. Salwa Samir (23 December 2019). "Cairo gallery ends decade on a funny note". Al Monitor. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  4. Ziad Fahmy (2011). Ordinary Egyptians. Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. pp. 47–48. doi:10.1515/9780804777742-007. ISBN 978-0-8047-7774-2. S2CID 242288608.
  5. Jonathan Guyer (January 2017). "On the Arab page". Le Monde diplomatique. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  6. Elisabeth Kendall (July 1997). "The Marginal Voice: Journals and the Avant-garde in Egypt". Journal of Islamic Studies. 8 (2): 218. doi:10.1093/jis/8.2.216.
  7. Afaf Lutfi Al Sayyid Marsot (January 1971). "The Cartoon in Egypt". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 13 (1): 11. doi:10.1017/S0010417500006083. JSTOR 178195. S2CID 143399313.
  8. Eliane Ursula Ettmüller (2012). "Caricature and Egypt's Revolution of 25 January 2011". Zeithistorische Forschungen. 9. doi:10.14765/zzf.dok-1605.
  9. Sarah H. Awad (2020). "Political Caricatures in Colonial Egypt: Visual representations of the people and the nation". In Anthony Gorman; Sarah Irving (eds.). Cultural Entanglement in the Pre-Independence Arab World: Arts, Thought and Literature. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7556-0632-0.
  10. Ziad Adel Fahmy (2007). Popularizing Egyptian Nationalism: Colloquial Culture and Media Capitalism, 1870-1919 (PhD thesis). University of Arizona. p. 74. hdl:10150/195746.
  11. Joel Beinin (Summer 1994). "Writing Class: Workers and Modern Egyptian Colloquial Poetry (Zajal)". Poetics Today. 15 (2): 193–194. doi:10.2307/1773164. JSTOR 1773164.
  12. Doaa Adel Mahmoud Kandil (2016). "Abu Naddara: The Forerunner of Egyptian Satirical Press". Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality. 13 (1): 12. doi:10.21608/JAAUTH.2016.49733.
  13. Matti Moasa (September 1974). "Ya'qub Sanu' and the Rise of Arab Drama in Egypt". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 5 (4): 411. JSTOR 162087.
  14. Adam Mestyan (2014). "Arabic theater in early khedivial culture, 1868-72: James Sanua revisited". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 46 (1): 118. doi:10.1017/S0020743813001311. hdl:10161/12572. S2CID 162781557.
  15. "Middle East, Islamic Studies & Arabic Studies: Newspapers". Occidental College Library. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
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