Cultural Dynamics in Contemporary Egypt

Book excerpt: From the politics of food to images in the media, this double issue of Cairo Papers in Social Science focuses on a wide array of emerging cultural patterns in modern-day Egypt and their social, political, and economic ramifications. All the contributions are based on papers delivered at the Cairo Papers Thirteenth Annual Symposium in May 2004, and cover four broad areas: media and language, Islamic marketing, taste and public space, and food and markets. Contributors include Ray Bush ('Staying Hungry: Food Politics in Egypt and the Near East'), Sami Zubaida ('Food: Egypt and the Middle East'), Lilia Labidi ('Truth Claims in the Cartoon World of Nagui Kamel'), Madiha Doss ('Cultural Dynamics and Linguistic Practice in Contemporary Egypt'), Huda Lutfi ('Mulid Culture in Cairo: The Case of al-Sayyida A'isha'), Maha Abdelrahman ('Divine Consumption: Islamic Goods in Egypt'), Iman A. Hamdy ('Watch for the Devil: Israel in Egyptian Movies and Soap Operas'), Malak S. Rouchdy ('Food Recipes and the Kitchen Space: The Construction of Social Identities and New Frontiers'), and Reem Saad ('Transforming the Meaning and Value of Traditional Crafts in Egypt'). Cairo Papers Vol. 27, nos. 1 & 2.