Launch of "The Different Faces of Politics"

The books “The Different Faces of Politics in Literature and Music” and “The Different Faces of Politics in the Visual and Performative Arts”, edited by Mario Thomas Vassallo and André P. DeBattista and published by Routledge, were launched on Friday 12 April 2024 at the Sir Robert Samut Hall, Floriana. The books attempt to bring together different contributions from the fields of the visual arts, literature, cinematography, dance, and music to demonstrate the other side to politics which is often overlooked in the field of political science.

The audience was addressed by the two co-editors; Mario Thomas Vassallo spoke about the nine-year process which led to these publication and André P. DeBattista spoke about the different themes discussed in the book. These speeches were followed by Professor Joe Friggieri's erudite exposition on politics and the arts. The evening ended with a panel discussion on "The beauty of transdisciplinarity in the study of politics and the arts" The panel was moderated by Dr Marie Louise Mangion and consisted of Prof Emanuel Said, Prof Mark Harwood, Dr Charles Xuereb, and Dr Myrna Azzopardi

The evening also included different musical interludes by vocalist Louise Varming Rothe and pianist Steve Buttigieg, students from the School of Performing Arts at the University of Malta, who presented "Songs from Strait Street".