Nostalgia is often described as a feeling frozen in time, or even a curse. At a time when many questions emerge around the definition of Arab identities, this feeling appears more and more as a socio-cultural trait present and claimed in the cultures of the countries of the Arab world. Migration as well as recent political conflicts have helped to spread the idea that “it was better before”. How to define this “Arab nostalgia”? Through the concept of “future of nostalgia applied to Arab regions, Sofiane Si Merabet discussed how history and culture can be, and already are, drivers of development for certain countries.
Sofiane Si Merabet is an artist and cultural entrepreneur living and working in Dubai. A polyglot traveler, he has participated for many years in projects linked to plural identities. Through his Instagram account @theconfusedarab, he explores the concept of “future of nostalgia”, as well as the question of identities and memories in the Arab world and its diaspora. He recently published in 2024, an essay The Confused Arab (Belfond edition) addressing contemporary Arab identities in both a personal and documented manner.
