Number of pages: 687 pages
Identity Dynamics is a book that analyzes the transnational impact of the reawakening of centuries-old repressed identities in the region, such as the growing awareness of black rights in the Middle East and North Africa, and the recognition of the discrimination they face in more than one Arab or Muslim country, since Barack Obama won the US presidency. All of these transformations have left their mark on identity dynamics in the context of new and changing demands that are stimulating to challenge the dominant paradigms that dominate the coverage of minority issues in the Middle East. Until recently, religious minorities were not the subject of much academic interest, with the exception of some classic works by historians on Christians and Jews in the region.
A dominant paradigm has dominated the literature of Western missionaries, adventurers, and Orientalists (who played a role equivalent to that of anthropologists and ethnologists on the African continent), which has established knowledge of minorities through tragedy and trauma. This paradigm must be changed by rediscovering the rich diversity of the region and its relationship to the changing political and social context.
