Red Mecca: The Life and Afterlives of the Arab-Soviet Romance

Russia features prominently in the lives and minds of certain Arab writers, thinkers and filmmakers. While Arabic writings on what is today Russia go back centuries and include seminal works such as Ibn Fadlan’s Land of Darkness written in the 10th century, the last century has seen a distinctly different fascination with both Russia and Post-Soviet republics. Margaret Litvin’s Red Mecca: The Life and Afterlives of the Arab-Soviet Romance tells the story of a generation of Arab students, travelers, authors, scientists and others who made the Soviet Union and later post-Soviet republics home from the 1950s until the present-day. With a particular focus on Arabic writings, it captures the conflicts and tensions between the migrants and wider society. Many of […]