Egypt: Continuity and Change in Cultural Norms II

Whatever Else Happened to the Egyptians?, Chapters 6-8

What changes have occurred in Egyptian dress, romance, and birthdays since the mid-20th century?

Is objective or subjective culture changing?

What distinctive Egyptian cultural continuities exist?

What roles did economic development and adoption of new ideas and technologies play in causing cultural changes?

Do you agree with Amin that this represents Americanization? Or do you see signs of glocalization (hybridization) or Clash of Civilizations (cultural resistance or rejection)?

Continuity and Change in Cultural Norms

Egyptian Clothing, early to mid-20th cent.

Males in white gallabiyas & married women in black gallabiyas, Cairo, 1934

Tarboush (Fez)

City attire Cairo ca. 1950s: Coke vendors wearing gallabiya and tarboush; Man smoking in western suit and tarboush

Village attire

Village attire in 1950s: barefoot boys wearing the gallabiya and woman in traditional black dress and head kerchief

Warwara, 2011 with old people wearing gallabiyas in foreground and young men in western dress in background

Trends in Objective Cultural Norms of Egyptian Middle-class Women: Cairo University: 1959 vs. 2007

Home-made vs. ready-made clothing

Head kerchief & *Gallabiya (pre-1952)

Uncovered head, short-sleeve blouse & skirts (late 1950s-1980s)

Americanization?

*Hijab (higab), long-sleeve shirts & pants or long skirt (Open-door era, 1980s-present)

“Purist” attire (Amin, 188, n. 12)

Cairo University class photos, 1959-2004

*Hijab (higab)

Piety

Fashion

Cultural identity

Mobility in public (Amin, pp. 87-89)

Female independence represents changing values

Modesty represents continuity in values

Open-door era since 1980

Americanization, glocalization or Clash of Civilizations?

Glocalization=Americanization (Shirts & pants)+Resistance (Gallabiya & Hijab)

A Muslim-American woman's viewpoint on wearing hijab in U.S.

Continuity and Change in Cultural Norms

Female Gender

Education common since late1950s

Work common since 1970s

Romance

Arranged marriage vs. love match

New types of unmarried male-female relations

Continued emphasis on modesty (Amin, p. 89)

Birthdays: Subjective and objective cultural norms

Objective culture

Cake, balloons, etc.

Subjective culture

Changing conceptions of childhood and parenting

Contributor to family work vs. Individual to be nurtured

Continuity in emphasis on spending to display high status (Amin, p. 95)

"the glocal" website in Cairo