Description
The popular culture of pre-revolution Egypt did more than entertain--it created a nation. Songs, jokes, and satire, comedic sketches, plays, and poetry, all provided an opportunity for discussion and debate about national identity and an outlet for resistance to British and elite authority. This book examines how, from the 1870s until the eve of the 1919 revolution, popular media and culture provided ordinary Egyptians with a framework to construct and negotiate a modern national identity.
Ordinary Egyptians shifts the typical focus of study away from the intellectual elite to understand the rapid politicization of the growing literate middle classes and brings the semi-literate and illiterate urban masses more fully into the historical narrative. It introduces the concept of media-capitalism, which expands the analysis of nationalism beyond print alone to incorporate audiovisual and performance media. It was through these various media that a collective camaraderie crossing class lines was formed and, as this book uncovers, an Egyptian national identity emerged.
Author: Ziad Fahmy
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 05/31/2011
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.92lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780804772129
ISBN10: 0804772126
BISAC Categories:
- History | Middle East | Egypt (see also Ancient | Egypt)
- Social Science | Popular Culture
- Political Science | Political Ideologies | Nationalism & Patriotism
About the Author
Ziad Fahmy is Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East History at Cornell University.
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