Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in thesocial sciences are ofextremely poor qualityby global standards,are highly local innature, and do notadhere to neutralpeer-review methodsIf we distributed allthe books publishedevery year among thepopulation, for every11,950 Arab citizensthere would be onebook, whereas therewould be one bookfor every 491 Britishcitizens and every713 Spanish citizenspublications in global databases. A surveyof twenty-two journals published during2007 in the USA, Canada, and Europe,four of which were specialised in the Arabregion, showed that only two studies werepublished by Arab researchers residingin Arab countries. Yet most Arabiclanguageperiodicals in the social sciencesare of extremely poor quality by globalstandards, are highly local in nature, and donot adhere to neutral peer-review methods(Hanafi, 2008).In summary, the development ofthe human and social sciences in theArab world remains dependent on thefostering of an enabling environment forknowledge that guarantees the freedom ofexpression and the flow of informationand strengthens the political participationof both citizens and researchers. Whileit is true that some Arab countries haveseen promising activity in human andsocial science research, it is also true thatthis improvement remains much weakerthan the development of research in thebasic sciences and technology. It is alsoironic that while Western agencies showincreased interest in social sciences in theArab world and offer direct and generousfunding for it, such interest is absent amongArab governments and institutions. Thusthe increasing marginalisation of socialscience research drives serious researcherstowards increasing dependence on foreignprogrammes and funding.LITERARY AND ARTISTICINNOVATIONArtistic and literary production occupiesa knowledge space that is intimatelylinked to reality. It constitutes theoreticalactivity based on the employment of theimagination to create symbolic worldsimbued with open-ended and creativeresonance. It reformulates an imaginaryreality that may not bow to digital systems orpositivist logic, but which rather constructsadditional spaces that enrich the mindand the soul. The knowledge society forwhich we aim must go beyond quantifiablescientific knowledge to embrace creativeknowledge in all its literary, artistic, andcultural forms. Unlike the sciences andtechnology, artistic innovation contributesto enriching the symbolic existenceof humankind. Despite differences indefinitions, concepts, processes, andresults, creative knowledge forms a primarycomponent of contemporary humanknowledge and an element of regenerationfor its concepts and tools. While the effectof a painting, piece of music, novel, poem,or play cannot be quantitatively measured,a statistical measure of the number ofliterary writers, musicians, and theatreprofessionals provides a general idea ofthe scope of cultural activity, although itfails to capture the human and aestheticdimensions of creative production.Contemporary studies of how conceptsare passed on within widely separated fieldsof knowledge have shown that conceptssignificantly increase in value as they aretransferred from one field of knowledgeto another.Arab cultural production faces numerouschallenges related to the climate of freedomand stability, the need for sustainedinstitutional and financial support, and theneed to raise the awareness of the public(see Chapter 2). Among its most prominentchallenges are the limited publicationof books in proportion to the Arabicreadingpopulation and the weak quality ofthese books, and, more significantly, theextremely limited base of actual readersamong the Arabic-reading population.On average, the individual Arab readsvery little annually. The first Arab Reporton Cultural Development, published bythe Arab Thought Foundation, states that“if we distributed all the books publishedevery year among the population, for every11,950 Arab citizens there would be onebook, whereas there would be one bookfor every 491 British citizens and every 713Spanish citizens. This means that the Arabcitizen’s share in published books equals4 per cent of the British citizen’s shareand 5 per cent of the Spanish citizen’s”(Mu’assasat al-Fikr al-’Arabi, 2008, in204 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009