Interview with Christa Salamandra

Here Christa Salamandra introduces Syrian drama and musalsal, discussing many of the distinctive aspects of Syrian series, including filming styles, writing, story and subject matter, and audience viewing.

Christa Salamandra is professor of anthropology at Lehman College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her work explores visual, mediated and urban culture in the Arab world. She is the author of A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria (2004) and co-editor of Syria from Reform to Revolt (2015). Her manuscript-in-progress, Waiting for Light: Syrian Television Drama Production in the Satellite Era, explores the cultural politics of contemporary fictional television creation, drawing on fieldwork in Syria, Lebanon and the UAE.

Christa also contributed the introduction chapter, ‘The Musalsal—Drama, Arab Style’, to the Voices and Conversations publication accompanying The World is Watching Musalsalat, available at the university Bookstore and online retailers.