International Sociology 2015, Vol. 30(4) 418–441 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0268580915580157 iss.sagepub.com Who frames the debate on the Arab uprisings? Analysis of Arabic, English, and French academic scholarship Nada AlMaghlouth American University of Beirut, Lebanon Rigas Arvanitis Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France Jean-Philippe Cointet National Agronomic Research Institute, France Sari Hanafi American University of Beirut, Lebanon Abstract Since 2010, there has been a proliferation of literature (newspaper articles and scholarly publications) on the recent uprisings in some Arab countries. This article focuses on the way the academic articles have perceived the Arab uprisings and the ways in which we portray them in scientific discourse, taking into account the social forces that come into play in the production of knowledge. In line with Bruno Latour, this study analyzes (1) what knowledge on the Arab uprisings is made of; (2) who produces and who frames the debate (network of authors); (3) semiotic analysis; and (4) quantitative measures of ‘sociological markers,’ such as discipline, language, and institutional affiliation. The study is based on a database of around 519 articles (from Web of Science, Scopus, E-Marefa, Cairn) dealing with the Arab uprisings from January 2011 up to now. Corresponding author: Sari Hanafi, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Media Studies, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut, 1107 2020, Lebanon. Email: sh41@aub.edu.lb 580157ISS 0 0 10.1177/0268580915580157International SociologyAlMaghlouth et al. research-article 2015 Article by guest on July 2, 2015 iss.sagepub.com Downloaded from