Home>"The power of culture and the strength of imagination" by Rima Abdul Malak
15.09.2022
"The power of culture and the strength of imagination" by Rima Abdul Malak
Article originally published on www.sciencespo.fr by the Sciences Po editorial team.
After a presentation by the President of Sciences Po and the Dean of the School on the fundamentals of the program, its ambitions and its evolution, the Minister of Culture shared with the students her career path and the way it has nourished her aspirations.
DEPTH AND TRANSVERSALITY
If there is one term that was echoed at the start of the new academic year for students at the School of Public Affairs (EAP), it is transversality. Referring to the complexity of our society, Mathias Vicherat, President of Sciences Po, explained the interest of "mixing all the human and social sciences in an international perspective". Philippe Martin, dean of the school and university professor of Economics, presented the new features of the curriculum, such as the reinforcement of courses on the environmental transition, European issues and the generalization of public policy evaluation. He also recalled his expectations: "Go deep, be technical, we expect reflection, action and that you put in resonance the different dimensions of public policy: political, social, legal, economic etc."
With 50% international students, an international openness rare in universities, Sciences Po encourages a comparative approach. Mathias Vicherat also listed the other pillars on which the School of Public Affairs is based: the alliance of academic knowledge and practice, renewed learning methods, all of this to train "enlightened and committed professionals in the service of a more sustainable and just society".
Placing culture as "a backbone in a world plagued by division", the President of Sciences Po, insisted that "the humanities and social sciences need to be nourished by the arts; the experience of the sensitive illuminates the construction of thought, action and commitment". He recalled that five years ago, Bruno Latour created a program of experimentation in arts and politics (SPEAP) at Sciences Po. He then announced the upcoming launch of the Maison des arts et de la création and shared his hope to create a status of confirmed artist for those wishing to combine studies and high-level artistic practice.
MAKE WAY FOR AUDACITY!
Presenting her background, the Minister expressed her deep conviction in the transformative power of culture. After having experienced war in Lebanon, her country of origin from which she will be exiled, she explains "it is my encounter with the theater that saved my life, that unraveled my blockages, that freed me from my identity assignments". And to add, "my freedom was forged by culture". More than a politician, it is an ambassador "inhabited" who faces the attentive audience. She declares, "Culture gives breadth to our lives, connects us to our past without locking us in. Imagination, on the other hand, is a weapon that makes us invincible!"
A graduate of the IEP in Lyon, Rima Abdul Malak has worked for cultural NGOs wishing to "change the world". She has organized unprecedented performances in occupied countries, in refugee camps and discovered through these experiences that "nothing is impossible". She evokes "this universal thread of culture, which creates a common history, which leaves traces beyond tragedies". "The works allow us to project ourselves into the future," she explains.
Referring to the latest study conducted by Luc Rouban, a researcher at the Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po (CEVIPOF), which highlights the characteristic mistrust (La défiance) of the French population, she shares her feeling that once again culture could be a response to this situation. Faced with the tug of war over identity, the Minister of Culture explains that she sends artists to the diasporas to create the conditions for dialogue. After enumerating all the causes for which her ministry is invested: the fight against inequalities, artistic education, the diversity of profiles within culture and even the ecological emergency... She finally closed her speech by calling on students to be audacious, to listen and to follow their aspirations.
Picture © Thomas Arrivé/Sciences Po.
