Jury
Established in 1998, the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture rewards, each year, two laureates – individuals, groups or institutions – who, through their work and outstanding achievements, endeavour to disseminate greater knowledge of Arab art and culture.
The international jury of the UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture met in Osaka, Japan, at the National Institute of Ethnology, from 8 to 10 May 2024, for the selection of laureates for the 20th edition of the Prize which will be awarded this year.
From left to right: Issam Kourbaj (United Kingdom), Salima Naji (Morocco), Tetsuo Nishio (Japan), Aché Ahmet Moustapha (Chad) and Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos (Brazil).
Aché Ahmet Moustapha - Chad
Aché Ahmet Moustapha is a sociologist in communication, director, and author. After studying in Algeria, she has worked in the National Office of Chadian Radio and Television, in the Normandie cinema and performance hall in N'Djamena, and as director for communication at UNICEF (2013 – 2016), where she was in charge of youth engagement and multimedia production relations with the press. Being passionate about the 7th art, she has produced two short films that deal with issues related to the protection and emancipation of young Chadian girls. She’s also the director of her own short film festival in Chad called FETCOUM, and a JRI (Journalist Image Reporter). She won the “Africa for women” prize from Canal+ in Côte d’Ivoire.
Ms Ahmet Moustapha has also produced several documentaries and reports on education, politics, elections and security, and has evaluated projects for Netflix in partnership with UNESCO. In March 2022, Aché published in France her second book, Kalam Sutra, which promotes women's rights and the fight against terrorism in Lake Chad.
Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos – Brazil
Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos is a Professor of the Department of International Relations at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), in Brazil, where he is the Director of the International Center for Arab and Islamic Studies (CEAI). Geraldo is also the Scientific Coordinator of the “Arab Latinos!” project at UNESCO. With a PHD in Philosophy and a Master’s in social sciences, he currently researches art and cinema in the Arab countries (with a thesis on the temporal dimension of Palestinian cinema) and Afrodiasporic diplomacy in Brazil. At the Federal University of São Paulo, he participated in the foundation of the 'Edward Said Chair on Contemporary Studies', where he also developed research on time, archives and displacement. He was the Cultural Director of the Institute of Arab Culture in Brazil (ICArabe) (2012-2015) and the Director and Curator of the Arab Film Festival of Brazil (Mostra Mundo Árabe de Cinema) (2012-2017).
He is curator and juror of festivals, exhibitions and artistic residencies, focused on the relations between Latin America and the Arab countries. In the public sector, Geraldo has experience with projects related to participatory democracy and was the Coordinator of International Relations of the Participatory Budget of the City Government of São Paulo (2002-2004). He is a percussionist in the Samba group “Batuqueiros e sua Gente”, with two albums released, and with the group he has performed with historical sambistas of Brazil, such as Zeca Pagodinho, Wilson Moreira and Nelson Sargento.
Issam Kourbaj - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Issam Kourbaj comes from a background of fine art, architecture and theatre design. He was born in Syria and trained at the Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus, the Repin Institute of Fine Arts & Architecture in St Petersburg and at the Wimbledon School of Art. He has lived in Cambridge, UK, since 1990, where he has been artist-in-residence, bye-fellow, and lector in art, at Christ’s College.
His works have been featured at museums around the world, including Fitzwilliam Museum, Museum of Classical Archaeology, and Kettle’s Yard House and Gallery; Penn Museum; British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum; Brooklyn Museum; Tropenmuseum; and the Venice Biennale. For the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ Neil MacGregor (the former -Director of the British Museum) chose Issam’s artwork Dark Water, Burning World as the 101st object.
Salima Naji - Morocco
Dr. Salima Naji is a registered architect (Paris-La-Villette School of Architecture) and she holds a PhD in social anthropology (École des hautes études en Sciences Sociales, Paris). She has been working on projects aiming at protecting the oasis heritage of southern Morocco for the past 20 years. Ms Naji has built over 30 bioclimatic buildings in unfired clay and stone (maternity hospitals, boarding schools, women's centres, museums, eco-lodges or hostels etc.) She founded in Morocco in 2004, a studio specializing in the innovative use of sustainable raw materials and biosourced technologies (earth and stone, palm tree fibre). In addition to her architectural practice she also runs international environmental research-action programmes/sustainable in collaboration with local communities.
Ms Naji chairs the “Association of Guardians of Memory” that supports the oasis communities through participatory or heritage projects and workshops about link eco-design and local development. She is also a member of the scientific committee of the Berber Museum Majorelle Garden since its inception in 2011 and develops an important reflection on cultural mediation and inheritance. She has published extensively both in academia and for a larger audience. Twice shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2013 & 2022), she is Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (France). She is also a member of the scientific committee of the Berber Museum Majorelle Garden since its inception in 2011 and develops an important reflection on cultural mediation and inheritance.
Tetsuo Nishio - Japan
Professor Tetsuo Nishio is a linguist (Ph.D. at Kyoto University), working at the National Museum of Ethnology, where he is the former Deputy Director-General, and currently Museum’s System Coordinator, and also at the Graduate University of Advanced Studies. He has conducted extensive research on the endangered dialects of Arab nomadic tribes, as well as research on the Arabian Nights. Now, he is also the director of the Center for Global Mediterranean (Global Area Studies Program funded by National Institutes for the Humanities).
He is working on introducing Arab culture and the Middle Eastern world to Japanese society. As part of these activities, Professor Nishio is producing exhibitions of Arab culture and television programmes on the Middle East, and is providing editorial supervision to Japanese theatre groups for performances related to the Arab culture.
