- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press (Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 9774249283
- ISBN-13: 978-9774249280
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.5 x 3.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,613,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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A social and political geography of contemporary Cairo, this volume examines vernacular world-making through a 'grounded cosmopolitan' approach that builds new interdisciplinary methods for Middle East studies. Global stereotypes and certain social science agendas have tended to portray Cairo as a city of misery, a menacing population bomb, a morbid pharaonic tomb, or as the violent crossroads of the 'Arab street.' Today's Arab world is often perceived to be overwhelmed by war, poverty, violence, and religious radicalism. However, this image ignores a vast array of new phenomena and contests that are remaking the Middle East. Cairo's twenty-first century landscape is marked by surprising juxtapositions, where luxury malls compete with open-air markets, where gated communities grow on the ruins of socialist settlements, and where an Egyptian nationalistic renaissance meets new assertions of Nubian and transnational identity.To challenge pervasive myths about Cairo, each chapter introduces the reader to a specific neighborhood and its contemporary concerns and then situates this local analysis within questions such as globalization, economic restructuring, cross-border migration, or state planning. Designed to cultivate a more pluralistic and dynamic appreciation of the region, "Cairo Cosmopolitan" offers an alternative starting point for learning about social change in the new Middle East.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
the nexus of the Arab world
3 Nov 2006
Format:Hardcover
Most of the book's chapters are written by Egyptians; specifically by Cairenes. They give the reader a feel for the immense size of Cairo and its vital significance as a metropolis of the Middle East. We see the myriad groups and ideas that populate Cairo. From Islamist fundamentalists to the westernised, secular elite. Two extremes that uneasily co-exist.
The book also describes the economy of Cairo. Especially its dependencies on international trade. But tensions are present. The biggest might not be religious, but economic. Cairo is seen as having a vast urban underclass, that struggles daily to merely survive. While there is also a small group of locals who enjoy First World lifestyles. The latter often move in semipublic spaces, like gated communities and fancy shopping malls. To which the majority can only dream about. Does not bode well for the future.
The book also describes the economy of Cairo. Especially its dependencies on international trade. But tensions are present. The biggest might not be religious, but economic. Cairo is seen as having a vast urban underclass, that struggles daily to merely survive. While there is also a small group of locals who enjoy First World lifestyles. The latter often move in semipublic spaces, like gated communities and fancy shopping malls. To which the majority can only dream about. Does not bode well for the future.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
expansive, multifaceted view of contemporary Cairo
31 Aug 2006
Format:Hardcover
CAIRO COSMOPOLITAN - Politics, Culture, and Urban Space in the New Gobalized Middle East edited by Diane Singerman and Paul Amar. American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt and New York, NY; www.aucpress.com; distributed by International Publishers Marketing, Herndon, VA; 800-758-3756. 2006. 542+xviii pp. $34.50 hardcover, ISBN 977-424-928-3. photographs, tables, chapter notes, chapter bibliographies.
For Cairo at this time, "cosmopolitan" does not suggest a certain definition or image as it generally does with reference to say, New York, Paris, or Dubai. With Cairo, the term/concept relates to potentials and aspirations which have come to the surface with limited, yet unprecedented political turns in recent years. "Cosmopolitan" thus encompasses a diversified range of voices, ideas, and activism within this somewhat changed social space. "In Cairo, 2005, a new urban-based, cosmopolitan, radical democracy agenda began to emerge, as the product of a three-year convergence trend within and between leftist, liberal, and Islamic groups, and a myriad of city and transnational advocates." Individuals and groups organizing around communities and universities and human rights, religious, and feminist groups brought "attention to a set of dynamics and protagonists bustling at the urban crossroads of an assertive, outward-looking Middle East." Nineteen essays by authors associated with universities and research organizations from countries around the world report on many facets of this cosmopolitanism which has emerged in Cairo. Coffee bars, media, popular culture, economics, tourism, class, and ethnic groups are among these. Though the recent outbreak of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah is sure to have some effect on the Cairo cosmopolitanism as it is a central development of Egyptian society and experiment for other Middle Eastern countries, the essays make for not only a timely, but an incomparable view of phenomena in the Arab world which go largely unknown.
For Cairo at this time, "cosmopolitan" does not suggest a certain definition or image as it generally does with reference to say, New York, Paris, or Dubai. With Cairo, the term/concept relates to potentials and aspirations which have come to the surface with limited, yet unprecedented political turns in recent years. "Cosmopolitan" thus encompasses a diversified range of voices, ideas, and activism within this somewhat changed social space. "In Cairo, 2005, a new urban-based, cosmopolitan, radical democracy agenda began to emerge, as the product of a three-year convergence trend within and between leftist, liberal, and Islamic groups, and a myriad of city and transnational advocates." Individuals and groups organizing around communities and universities and human rights, religious, and feminist groups brought "attention to a set of dynamics and protagonists bustling at the urban crossroads of an assertive, outward-looking Middle East." Nineteen essays by authors associated with universities and research organizations from countries around the world report on many facets of this cosmopolitanism which has emerged in Cairo. Coffee bars, media, popular culture, economics, tourism, class, and ethnic groups are among these. Though the recent outbreak of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah is sure to have some effect on the Cairo cosmopolitanism as it is a central development of Egyptian society and experiment for other Middle Eastern countries, the essays make for not only a timely, but an incomparable view of phenomena in the Arab world which go largely unknown.
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