1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789409103321

Autore

Fahmy Ziad (Ziad Adel)

Titolo

Ordinary Egyptians [[electronic resource] ] : creating the modern nation through popular culture / / Ziad Fahmy

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, Calif., : Stanford University Press, 2011

ISBN

0-8047-7774-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (265 pages)

Disciplina

962/.04

Soggetti

Nationalism - Egypt - History - 19th century

Nationalism - Egypt - History - 20th century

National characteristics, Egyptian - History - 19th century

National characteristics, Egyptian - History - 20th century

Popular culture - Egypt - History - 19th century

Popular culture - Egypt - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; List of Illustrations; Preface; Note on Transliteration; 1. Colloquial Egyptian, Media Capitalism, and Nationalism; 2. Political Centralization to Cultural Centralization; 3. Print Capitalism and the Beginnings of Colloquial Mass Culture, 1870-1882; 4. New Media: Laughter, Satire, and Song, 1882-1908; 5. Media Capitalism: From Mass Culture to Mass Practice, 1907-1919; 6. The Egyptian Street: Carnival, Popular Culture, and the 1919 Revolution; Conclusion; Appendix A: Urbanization and Infrastructure; Appendix B: Plays and Songs Composed by Sayyid Darwish from 1918 to 1919; Notes; References; Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.