Upper Egypt Identity and Change

by Hopkins, Nicholas S.; Saad, Reem

• ISBN13: 9789774248641
• ISBN10: 9774248643
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press

Summary

Upper Egypt (the Sa'id) is often portrayed as a source of disruption and unpredictability in the broader Egyptian system. Upper Egypt: Identity and Change corrects that image by laying out the order in the meaningful life of Upper Egyptians. That order is based on a strong sense of regional identity including also religious and family identity, and on the political, economic, religious, and family structures that provide the context for action by the people of this region. This timely collection of 14 contributions by anthropologists, historians, and others deals with such issues as the implications of a Sa'idi identity, the relationship between religion and society, the expanding universe from family to community to region and beyond to the world, and the place of villages, regions, and tribes in the regional structure. All of this is put within a context of change due to the effect of capitalism, the pressure from a national bureaucracy and elite, and the evolving notions of religious and regional identity. The book is aimed at scholars of social dynamics in the Middle East, including specialists in development, and at all those who are looking for a fresh approach to this marginalized area.

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
Preface	xi
1 The Region of Upper Egypt: Identity and Change	1	(24)
Nicholas Hopkins and Reem Saad
Issues of Regional Idenity
2 Between Myth and Reality:The Construction of a Sa'idi Identity in Cairo	25	(30)
Catherine Miller
3 Viewing the World through Upper Egyptian Eyes: From Regional Crisis to Global Blessing	55	(24)
El-Sayed el-Aswad
4 Upper Egypt in Modern History: A 'Southern Question'?	79	(18)
Peter Gran
5 Upper Egypt's Regional Identity: The Role and Impact of Sufi Links	97	(22)
Mark Sedgwick
The Practice of Islam and Social Change
6 Conforming at a Distance: The Diffusion of Islamic Bureaucracy in Upper Egypt	119	(22)
Patrick Gaffney
7 Sufi Organization in Rural Asyut: The Rifa'iyya in Musha	141	(16)
Nicholas Hopkins
8 The Khalwatiyya Brotherhood in Rural Upper Egypt and in Cairo	157	(12)
Rachida Chih
Social Organization
9 Changing Family and Marriage Patterns in an Aswan Village	169	(22)
Kirsten Bach
10 Constructing the Feminine...and the Masculine: Child Rearing and Identity	191	(22)
Hania Sholkamy
11 Tribal Identity and Politics in Aswan Governorate	213	(20)
Hans Christian Korsholm Nielsen
Development and Change
12 Social Reproduction and Social Transformation: Trade and Exchange Relations in the Rural South	233	(18)
Reem Saad
13 Tenants, Owners, and Sugar Cane: Law 96/1992 in Qena and Aswan	251	(16)
Mohamed Abdel Aal
14 Luxor: A Tale of Two Cities	267	(18)
Sandrine Gamblin
Index	285