Rabie Barakat joined our community as the Gallatin Global Faculty in Residence for the Spring ‘22 semester. Rabie Barakat’s expertise primarily relates to media and politics in the Arab world. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2016. His research addressed al-Jazeera’s coverage of the 2011 Arab uprisings and the network’s contribution to reconfiguring social and political realities in the Arab world. This past semester, Professor Barakat taught the course An Interdisciplinary Anatomy of Post-Truth. Barakat has co-authored Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon (Pluto Press, 2015) in which he casts light on the role of Lebanese media in reinforcing sectarian modes of identification and mobilization. He has also taught a range of courses at the American University of Beirut covering interdisciplinary areas including gender, communication and conflict resolution; communication theory; journalism and society; media law and ethics; political communication campaigns; public opinion; and media activism for social change. He has also taught a graduate course addressing Political Communication in the Digital Age and an introductory course on Arab and International Media at the Lebanese American University (LAU).
Brander Suero: What about Gallatin attracted you to become a Gallatin Global Faculty in Residence and how have the last five months influenced you?
Rabie Barakat: I was mainly intrigued by Gallatin’s interdisciplinary approach to social sciences. My work – as a lecturer, researcher, and media practitioner – is interdisciplinary in nature, as it primarily covers the intersections between politics and media along with other fields that overlap with political and communication theory and practice. I find it quite interesting that Gallatin offers students the chance to design their own courses of study very early on. I believe that this contributes to shaping an environment that fosters creativity and encourages knowledge exchange, not only amongst students but also between students and their professors. In this sense, I thought that this would be an enriching experience for me, and it truly was. I can comfortably say that it has broadened my perspective regarding the possibilities of applying new pedagogical approaches. I can also say that it has prompted me to start exploring research topics that extend beyond my usual scope of work.
BS: You have taught a range of courses in multiple universities, covering topics such as media activism for social change, political communication campaigns and communication theory. Can you describe your teaching philosophy? How do you choose what to teach and how do you create a course that is both engaging and meaningful?
RB: Perhaps the most challenging thing in offering a course on post-truth from multidisciplinary perspectives – which is what I was doing at Gallatin – is the fact that the topic is quite new in scholarly literature, and that it is underexplored outside American and British contexts. The relative deficiency in the academic examination of this phenomenon, despite its cross-disciplinary theoretical and tangible implications, makes it more interesting, yet more demanding in terms of offering rigorous and engaging content.
That said, I think that multiple factors contribute to making a course interesting and engaging. The use of multimedia tools in class, for example, helps in presenting more coherent and real-life illustrations of the topics at hand, even if they were of a conceptual nature. Particularly when they are, actually. Opening up to a dialogical interplay with students, encouraging peer-to-peer discussions, familiarizing students with the material through analogies and examples, and encouraging critical thinking when it comes to predominant narratives and hegemonic cultural practices, are all useful means to unpack intricate social phenomena while avoiding the trap of monotony. This applies to topics ranging from post-truth politics to communication theory, political communication campaigns, as well as others.
BS: Do you have recommendations for how to better prepare Gallatin students to succeed in international journalism in a digital age with so much as you put it “political weaponization of virtual platforms?”
RB: I think that the age of digital convergence in which we live has not only complicated the study and practice of journalism but also burdened students planning to work in this field with additional professional and ethical considerations. We’ve seen how misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation have played a massive role in shaping public discourse and configuring social and political realities during the past few years in various countries around the world. If journalism is mostly about presenting accurate, balanced, and nuanced information to the public, then the constant trivialization of “truth representation” – whether by powerful public figures and institutions or by private individuals – would definitely complicate the role of journalists. For if truth in its simplest forms – especially regarding issues that directly impact us as citizens – doesn’t matter as much as opinion and ideological affiliations do, would journalism and its professional guidelines be of any use?
Today, not only do journalists have to be tech-savvy and adherent to professional journalistic standards, but also equipped with the skills needed to distinguish meaningful and trustworthy content from noise and propaganda, while bearing in mind time restrictions, vested interests, and the additional complications stemming from algorithmic interventions designed by huge conglomerates running social media and search engines. Building awareness of all these complexities and nourishing one’s critical thinking is my main recommendation. Thinking of these difficulties as offering opportunities rather than only posing threats and drawing limitations is my other recommendation. I think that an “opportunistic” approach – in the sense aforementioned – is how every discipline evolves, in both theory and practice.
BS: What current trends in the politics of the Arab world have you worried?
RB: I have examined the role of Arab media – televised in particular – in deconstructing political realities in the Arab world in the wake of the Arab Spring. I have also done some work on narrative construction and representation as well as on discourses and counter discourses – more broadly speaking – in turbulent Arab contexts. On a more local scale, I have tried to examine the modes and mechanisms of sectarian identification and mobilization in my home country, Lebanon. Since sectarianism has been normalized and institutionalized in other Arab countries during the past two decades, and has had devastating effects on the functionality of social contracts and the sustainability of social cohesion, I believe that it requires further inspection and examination based on emerging empirical data.
BS: We are near the end of the semester and your residency at Gallatin, can you reflect on your time here, maybe speak of a rewarding experience you’ve had with your students?
RB: It certainly feels good to be gradually gaining a sense of post-Covid normalcy – almost that is. I’d like to think of my stay at Gallatin as a very rewarding transition in this direction. Rewarding because it was stimulating on so many levels. It was a chance to explore the potential of creative individuals with impressive intellectual capacities and critical mindsets and to engage with them in vigorous discussions, not only about the course materials but on other issues of shared concern as well. What more could one hope for after two exhausting years of lockdowns and quarantines?
BS: Great, thank you Rabie, I hope we see you again soon here at Gallatin!