Famed for its charitable non-profit work in war-torn and poverty-stricken parts of the world, the Aga Khan Development Network funds, amongst others, a plethora of cultural initiatives coordinated under the umbrella of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Albeit guided by Islamic ethics and a focus on redeveloping cultural heritage in areas with Muslim populations, the organization brings together financial and technical resources to revitalize local communities regardless of their faith, and build cultural bridges between the Islamic and non-Islamic world.

After years of turmoil following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the collapse in the numbers of tourists visiting the country, Egypt’s cultural tourism is back on a fast track for growth.  In an effort to rebuild the country’s reputation as a safe destination and win back international tourists, the government has introduced measures to restore security infrastructure, upgrade visitor experience and develop new attractions, such as the Grand Egyptian Museum. Although numbers still remain well behind 2010, this recent rebound makes a strong case for the potential that tourism can offer towards the revival of affected destinations.

Since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, the country’s cultural heritage has been subjected to different kinds of annihilation. With the conflict nearing some kind of end but external forces still destabilizing the region, ongoing plans for the reconstruction of Syria’s archaeological casualties generate a multifaceted debate over when they should be taking place, the motivating factors behind these projects, their purpose and who are the stakeholders coordinating their implementation. Τhe reconstruction of post-conflict archaeology in Syria could be providing a valuable opportunity for sustaining communities through participatory initiatives that appropriate the traces of war.

During the historical trajectory of the Middle East, music has been associated with an unexpected spiritual power that can transform the performers and the audience in a numinous way. This power has its locus at the concept of tarab. Tarab underpins the connection that the performer and the audience develop through songs or oriental dance, by sharing the same sentimental conditions. This condition is created through the emotional connection and aesthetic reactions that performance causes. Having this spiritual power, tarab has the ability to break the constructed cultural boundaries among mind and body, cognition and emotion, providing an empirical given reality that mediates in society.

The most well-known spirit possession in Islam is performed through Ζār. The term denotes a form of spirit possession that causes illness, when the spirits descend into a person, and at the same time a healing ritual that incorporates one of the most therapeutic practices. For Ζār, the human body becomes the locus, the mediator and the carrier that embodies the spirit and its culture in daily life. For that reason, Ζār practices break the boundaries of strict medical and psychological interpretations, making their foundation inextricably linked with the way existence is comprehended. Therefore, Ζār constitutes, first and foremost, a cultural practice determined by philosophical and traditional frameworks.