Andrew Simon

Media of the Masses investigates the social life of an everyday technology – the cassette tape – to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores, and presented countless individuals with an opening to counter state-controlled Egyptian media. Drawing on a wide array of sources that were part of everyday life but rarely surface in state collections, this book provides a new entry point into understanding the past and popular culture. Cassettes and cassette players, it demonstrates, did not simply join other twentieth century mass media like records and radio; they were the media of the masses. Comprised of little more than magnetic reels in plastic cases, cassettes empowered an unprecedented number of people to create culture, circulate information, and challenge ruling regimes long before the internet entered our daily lives. Positioned at the productive crossroads of social history, cultural anthropology, and media and sound studies, Media of the Masses ultimately shows how the most ordinary things may yield the most surprising insights.

Since its debut, Media of the Masses has generated widespread media coverage in and outside of the Middle East, from The Los Angeles Review of Books, Lapham's Quarterly, PopMatters, Mada Masr, Jadaliyya, and Raseef22 to WFMU's Bodega Pop, Al-Araby Al-Jadid, Al-Dostour, Drafting the Past, Passion of the Weiss, and Bawaba News. A Kerning Cultures podcast, drawing on one of the book's chapters, recently received the "Listener's Choice" prize for best single episode on music from Signal Awards, while On the Media named "Media of the Masses" one of the top 10 books of 2022 and al-Daheeh, one of the leading online shows in the Middle East, featured the book in an episode on the history of popular music in Egypt. Most recently, "Media of the Masses" was designated the co-winner of the 2024 MLA Prize for Contingent Faculty and Independent Scholars.

This academic year, Andrew will be offering a series of interdisciplinary courses that rely on a wide array of primary sources to inspire lively discussions, including: "The Middle East in Film: Picturing the Past and Present" (Fall 2024 + Winter 2025), "Steamships to Social Media: Technology in Middle East History" (Spring 2025), "Soundscapes of the Middle East" (Winter 2025), and "Introduction to the Modern Middle East and North Africa" (Spring 2025). In all of these classes, students will reconsider what they know about the Middle East, contemplate why the region's history matters, and explore what contributions they might make to Middle East historiography.

To date, Andrew has led multiple independent studies (MES 85), including "China and the Middle East," "Islam, Education, Renaissance," "Disability in the Middle East," and "French Identity, Arab Artists, and Cultural Politics." Additionally, he has advised several senior honors theses, covering everything from the politics of tourism in Palestine to Atatürk's enduring legacy in Izmir to cultural heritage and collective memory in Egypt. Going forward, he welcomes the opportunity to work closely with undergraduates on topics that pique their intellectual curiosity. Students interested in pursuing an independent study or senior honors thesis are encouraged to reach out. Andrew is a firm believer in student scholarship reaching a wider audience and has assisted students in publishing their original research on public platforms and in academic forums. Recently, one of his students won the Plotnick Prize for best research paper in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth. To learn more about one of Andrew's courses, "Soundscapes of the Middle East," check out this article in Dartmouth News.