Making and Shaping Tradition among Globalized Egypt

Making and Shaping Tradition among Globalized Egypt

Jacob Jansen

Anthropology of Globalization: 488

June 6th, 2015

Jansen

Resting along the Nile River in Northern Egypt is the city

of Cairo, which has been a major center for trade among the

country for thousands of years. As the world has developed, so

too has its methods of commodity exchange. Cairo is one of the

many contributors to globalized trade and with this, has been an

active recipient of other cultures and their commodities.

Specifically, Western products have weaved themselves in to the

daily consumption of objects and places. This process has changed

the ways in which lives are lived and defined among Cairo and

beyond.

Anthropologist Mark A. Peterson demonstrates in his

ethnography, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle

East, that the presence of Western products in Egypt has created a

sense of perceived modernity for Egyptians while creating new

meanings for places and objects and their social associations.

His ethnography identifies socioeconomic class stratifications in

Cairo and its relationship to the pursuit of modern, cosmopolitan

1

Jansen

lifestyle. Peterson claims that “those with wealth can more

easily afford the commodities through which they express their

cosmopolitanism.”1 Peterson thoroughly exemplifies the presence

of modern lifestyle and its exclusive affordability, while paying

attention to those who are considered traditional and often

poorer. However, he fails to articulate how perceived modernity

among Egypt is ultimately defining an imagined tradition in the

process of an “us” and “them” clearly being constructed in Cairo

and beyond. In this essay, I will use some of Peterson’s

ethnographic encounters to demonstrate how such things as coffee

shops and playing cards act as insights to the imagination of

tradition while simultaneously projecting the perception of

modernity. After providing these ethnographic samples, I will

investigate how tradition is constructed and shaped by new

meanings over time. We must consider how globalization has acted

as a catalyst in redefining our imagined environments and their

belongings while effecting the identities among them. I intend to

identify the significance of this redefining and the presence it

has among our connecting world. Through the analysis of Egyptian 1 Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle

East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 13.

2

Jansen

consumer culture, we can see how globalization creates an

imagined traditional presence, ultimately shaping Egyptian

identities.

In Peterson’s ethnography, he records observations regarding

coffee shops around Cairo and how these places differentiate.

Coffee shops provide an excellent example for demonstrating how

public space reflects the identities among a community and how

those identities are complex, shown through the social and visual

aesthetic cafés have to offer in response to the surrounding

social environments. In Cairo, the immergence of a globalized

trade network, and with it, the perception of a blooming modern,

has redefined many social spaces and their marketing places.

Coffee shops among Cairo have been subjected to the immergence of

globalization, reflected by cosmopolitan lifestyle integration,

and have gained new meanings in the process. To expand on these

meanings, Peterson presents us with two contrasting models which

coffee shops become defined by in respects to the presence of a

perceived and practiced modernity.

3

Jansen

The first model which is shown in Connected in Cairo is that of

the ’ahawi baladi (plural for ’ahawi). Peterson paints us an image of

this particular type of shop by explaining that “The openness of

the ’ahawi extends beyond the shops onto the sidewalks, with

tables and chairs sometimes extending even in to the streets.”2

He goes on to explain that these shops sell primarily coffee and

tea, as well as smoking tobacco. During Peterson’s study of

coffee shops, he honed in on the detail of appropriated sexual

identity and class status, observable in differentiation among

respective and contrasting café environments. For the purpose of

this essay, sexual identity and class will be recognized among

the contrasting models of cafés which reside in Cairo, but will

vaguely be expanded upon to ensure the argument of this paper is

not detoured from. The ’ahawi coffee shops attract predominantly

male identities, which has been the case for quite some time

among Egypt. These types of shops also have a history of

attracting lower-class establishments and their identities3.

Lastly, it’s important to include that Peterson identifies the

fact that “’Ahawi are examples of institutions comprising the 2 Peterson, 145. 3 Ibid, 150.

4

Jansen

public sphere, places “where private individuals come together”

in the public.”4 The ’ahawi baladi are privatized places,

exclusively for men and their closely associated family members.

With this environment in mind, let us now transition to an image

of coffee shops which are perceived as being modern.

In opposition to the ’ahawi baladi are those cafés which are

depicted as modern and a sign of cosmopolitan presence. Peterson

explains in his ethnography that the atmosphere of “modern”

coffee shops are much quieter and of the most dramatic

differences is the fact that these shops are “cut off from the

street by walls and sheets of glass. The heat and dust are

further kept at bay by air conditioning.”5 He also notes the

importance of how these shops tend to be located in quitter

neighborhoods and invite mixed gender groups, including business

relationships, as well as casual couples.6 These type of shops

are typically given English names in a Western manner, such as

4 Jürgen Herbmas, The Transformation of the Public Sphere (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989), 27, quoted in Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011), 145.

5 Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 159.

6 Ibid, 160.

5

Jansen

“Beano’s” or “Cilantro”, indicating the presence of transnational

associations and identities tied with this café model. With these

contrasting market spaces stated, we can now consider an

ethnographic view regarding the presence of Pokémon in Egypt and

how both coffee shops and playing cards can be analyzed and

synthesized to begin the discussion of an imagined tradition,

defined by a perceived modern presence. These particular

ethnographic samples were picked from Peterson’s work to account

for evidence of tradition being defined by modernity among both

adult and youth Egyptians.

Pokémon was first consumed by upper class international

schools and their students in 1998. Eventually, the commodity

became widespread across Egypt in the year of 2000, enhanced by a

television program and consumables beyond the cards themselves.7

The object of the game is to compete with opponents using a deck

of monster cards. Each card describes a particular creature’s

ability and the points that card yields in both attacking

capabilities and health capacity. This game has become gender

7 Mark A. Peterson, “Imsukuhum Kulhum! Modernity and Morality in Egyptian Children’s Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Culture Volume 10, no. 2 (2010): 237, accessed on June 2, 2015, doi:10.1177/1469540510364914

6

Jansen

inclusive and is a global product, defined not only by the card

game itself, but the television series and other Pokémon themed

commodities which have awarded this product’s success

transnationally. Cards are produced in multiple languages,

however with English connecting various parts of the globe, it

has been noted as a language associated with the game in Egypt

and elsewhere to enhance multinational relationships and the

authenticity of cards, which we can reveal as a perceived modern

quality.8 With Pokémon first appearing in high class

circumstances and thus, as Peterson would agree, reaching the

perceived modern community before those of lesser, and perhaps

more traditional social classes, we can interpret that

stratification occurred among consumption patterns, and this must

have been reflected in a child’s ability to purchase cards and

engage with other commodities of a Pokémon theme.9 The reality is

that the imagined communities associated with this product are

connected both globally and locally through the attraction and

manipulation of a desire to consume Pokémon merchandise.


9 Ibid, 65.

7

Jansen

Considering the provided ethnographic examples, including a view

on coffee shops and Pokémon in Egypt, let us now investigate

spaces and objects and their significance in identifying how

globalization is defining an imagined traditional presence while

highlighting a perceived modern.

To start, I would like to analyze the ethnographic view on

coffee shops that has been presented. My interpretations will

draw on the work of Peterson, as well as anthropologists Akhil

Gupta and James Ferguson from their article “Beyond “Culture”:

Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference.” The tradtional

’ahawi baladi and seemingly modern, contrasting cafés, provide an

excellent example of how space is reflective of culture and with

it, the entirety of its applied and practiced imaginations. As

described by Gupta and Ferguson, “space itself becomes a kind of

neutral grid on which cultural difference, historical memory, and

societal organization are inscribed.10 Of these particular

features mentioned in their article, all of which are seemingly

10 Ferguson, James and Gupta, Akhil “Beyond “Culture”: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,” Cultural Anthropology 7, no. 1, (1992): 7, accessed June 6, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/656518

8

Jansen

imagined and defined by human meaning, which are then put in to

application.

Some important questions arise when identifying imagined

features and their details. “How are spatial meanings

established?” and “who has the power to make places of spaces?”11

In the case of Cairo, the spatial meanings we’re investigating

pertain to that of tradition and a perceived modern. It’s these

contrasting, imagined definitions which become materialized in to

the differentiating coffee shops mentioned in this essay, and

thus are created by the people of Egypt. This is reinforced by

Peterson in his statement “there is an understanding that

specific sites inscribe places in ways that give them meaning.”12

The traditional ‘ahawi and modern café are associated to their

respective identities and spatial meanings. Ultimately, these

spaces are defined and made possible by the power and presence of

globalization. Among Cairo, like many other places in the world,

globalization presents and encourages the consumption of

transnational products. This has influenced the way space is

11 Ferguson, 11. 12 Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle

East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 155.

9

Jansen

defined and made in Cairo, effecting lifestyles in the process.

In a country that associates cosmopolitanism with modernity, a

trait that extends beyond Egypt, we can interpret that

globalization is creating the spatial meaning of modernity, which

is then constructed in to physical places. Considering this, it’s

the making of modern places which has defined the traditional

ones. In other words, tradition becomes defined by the allowance of

social structures and their imaginations, whom invite or are

exposed to globalization, opening the possibility for a perceived

modern to be created. By establishing a new, the old is thus

defined and these meanings and their significances are then

created and project throughout societal constructions; either as

imagined or materialized ones. Let us now analyze the consumption

of Pokémon to interpret how objects are participating in the

immergence of a perceived modern and ultimately a defined

tradition.

Arjun Appadurai is a social-cultural anthropologist who

specializes in globalization theories. Among his work, he has

contributed to the idea that the things we possess gain

10

Jansen

particular social meanings, which are subject to change as a

society experiences differences in social order and imagination.

In his book The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective he

mentions that “in situations of culture contact, they can show…

what is significant about the adoption of alien objects – as of

alien ideas – is not the fact that they are adopted, but the way

they are culturally redefined and put to use.”13 Pokémon is

generally understood at a basis in terms of its rules on how to

play and the commodities associated with the product. However,

this object develops meanings, constituting cultural

redefinition, which become significant to a particular area and

its cultural appropriations. In the case of Egypt, we identified

class stratifications potentially having an effect on the way

certain children may be viewed by their peers among the

participation of consuming and practicing Pokémon. This could be

a situation, among the global scale of Pokémon consumption,

specific to Egypt; a country adopting modernity through the

process of engaging in globalization. When opportunities arise to

13 Arjun Appadurai, Ethnohistory Workshop, & Symposium on the Relationship between Commodities Culture. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

11

Jansen

highlight the emergence of modern lifestyle, perhaps these

moments are taken advantage of and thus tradition is defined.

Peterson confirms this in a passage that states “Knowledge about

Pokémon and access to Pokémon commodities were partially

structured by existing social distinctions, and they, in turn,

partially reconstructed those social distinctions in face-to-face

situations of cooperative and competitive play.”14 Social

stratification has existed long before globalization, for it is a

seemingly inevitable trait of any society at one point or

another. However, the pursuit of modernity among Egypt was

present before the installation of Pokémon. Therefore, these

objects have been used to perpetuate the pursuit of a perceived

modern, while defining tradition in the process.

Now that both ethnographic examples have been related to the

pursuit of modernity, and thus the making of tradition, we can

establish that it is with the presence of a desired modern that a

traditional other must be formulated. However, what happens as

societies move forward, delving deeper in to new imaginations and


12

Jansen

social constructions, complicating the presence of modernity and

a made tradition? Perhaps tradition is shaped throughout time,

remaining inconsistent, yet appropriate among the specific

periods it exists.

Understanding how tradition is made and then shaped

accordingly is important for understanding conditions in which

perceived modernity occurs, regardless of whether we’re

discussing Egypt or somewhere else. Folklorist, Simon J. Bronner,

explores in his book Defining Tradtion: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture, the

construction and deconstruction of tradition in times of modern

presence. Bronner uses quotes from author Jay Toles work, A Return

to Tradition, which captivate how meanings of tradition “can be new

and old at the same time, for [Tolson] treats tradition as a

vestige of the remote past” and comments that “even while drawing

deep on traditional resources, many [people] are creating

something new” among tradition.15 This idea requires us to

realize that with the coming of new generations and a

continuously globalizing world, traditions will continue to be

15 Bronner, Simon J. Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture. Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 2011.

13

Jansen

created and shaped in the presence of a contemporarily perceived

modernity. This suggests that places like ’ahawi baladi were once

beyond the gaze of an imagined tradition. As new generations and

their social constructions appear, along with a rapidly

globalizing world, a new is perceived and thus an old must be

created. As time continues to move forward, definitions of what

is traditional may remain the same, but will present themselves

in new ways, and perhaps so much so that the element of tradition

itself is eventually redefined. We can see an example of a

traditional feature gaining new meanings and ultimately shaping

the forms of a particular practice by focusing on Eid al-Adh, a

religious celebratory day associated with the Hajj and the return

of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia. 16

A newspaper segment, titled “Tradition Meets Modernity in

Egypt Eid al-Adha Celebrations”, records evidence of an emerging

modern presence effecting and ultimately shaping the ways in

which a traditional Muslim holiday is being practiced. Rida

Ahmed, a specialist in Egyptian customs at Ain Shams University,

16 “Tradition Meets Modernity in Egypt Eid al-Adha Celebrations,” Al-Shorfa, October 9, 2013, accessed May 26, 2015

14

Jansen

was quoted and states “The meaning [of the holiday] is the same

and so is the goal, but the means have changed.” 17 Such “means”

include the fact that before long distance communication devices

and other technologies, which have increased exponentially in the

presence of globalization, this holiday resembled a time for

family communication and gathering. Now, people can recognize

their family members with the sending of a text message. In this

action, an aspect of the tradition is still being recognized but

such is being done in a way that wouldn’t be possible at any

other time than now. Considering this example, we can see how

tradition is made and shaped, ultimately showing that tradition

is not a solidified cultural appropriation. It’s an element

that’s subject to change just as much as the society whom created

its imagined reality.

I would now like to attribute full attention to a short

discussion on how globalization is taking a particular form and

acting as a catalyst in redefining our imagined environments and

their belongings while effecting the identities among them.

Throughout this paper, globalization has been thought of as a way

17 Ibid.

15

Jansen

in which an immerging modern is introduced, thus requiring the

necessity for tradition to be defined. However, globalization

itself has yet to be discussed in the form of which can be seen

in both ethnographic examples provided in this essay and beyond.

The developing of globalization has required the necessity of

particular languages. Of the most commonly used in transnational

situations, English takes precedence among globalized places and

goods. In the case of modern coffee shops among Cairo, most menus

and signs are represented in an English format. Among Pokémon

playing cards, those which are in English are thought to be more

authentic. In both examples of a seemingly modern presence,

English acts as a medium between two worlds; that of the

globalized and globalizing. A study in 2002 revealed that

Egyptians were dominantly using English as a means of

communication among a particular group18. This study further

explored how such a fact is the result of Egypt’s increasing

exposure and dependency on transnational companies and globalized

forces. Thus, we can see how globalization is contributing to the

18 Warschauer, Mark, Ghada R. El Said, and Ayman G. Zohry. "Language Choice Online: Globalization and Identity in Egypt." Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 7, no. 4 (2002): 0.

16

Jansen

creation of a perceived modern resembling that of the West and

effecting identities and their social environments in the

process. With this, tradition is made and socially defined, yet

not solidified, for tradition is shaped accordingly to the

immergences of new eras.

The purpose for writing this essay was the acknowledgement

that tradition is ultimately being defined by globalization and

its consumers in Egypt and likely elsewhere. Therefore, this

exemplifies how social embodiments, such as tradition, are

imagined, created, defined and shaped by particular eras and

their views. As these eras and their social complexes become

redefined, so too do their meanings of space and objects. Along

with this, new identities are formed and ever changing throughout

the course of time. We’re living in a moment where globalization

is the driving force which could potentially change a society’s

perspectives, for the better or worse, while embracing

transnational relations. Perhaps this brings about a wider

synthesis of human cultures, creating new definitions of social

complexes in the process.

17

Jansen

This paper acknowledged tradition being defined by a

perceived modern, but does not intend to view one social

imagination over the other. Rather, it’s important that people

think about tradition and modernity as a relationship between

imaginations from the same or similar social spawning. Both

tradition and modernity are important in the presence of

discussion when defining and exemplifying the definitions by

which these socially imagined categories are being debated. This

essay was focused on Egypt out of personal interest and does not

imply definitions for all globalized or globalizing areas in the

world. However, perhaps this piece can be seen as a contribution

towards the conversation of how to think about tradition and

modernity among our globalizing world.

18

Jansen

Notes

1. Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 13.

2. Peterson, 145.

3. Ibid, 150.

4. Jürgen Herbmas, The Transformation of the Public Sphere (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989), 27, quoted in Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011), 145.


6. Ibid, 160.

7. Mark A. Peterson, “Imsukuhum Kulhum! Modernity and Morality in Egyptian Children’s Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Culture Volume 10, no. 2 (2010): 237, accessed on June 2, 2015, doi:10.1177/1469540510364914

19

Jansen


9. Ibid, 65.

10. Ferguson, James and Gupta, Akhil “Beyond “Culture”: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,” Cultural Anthropology 7, no. 1, (1992): 7, accessed June 6, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/656518

11. Ferguson, 11.


13. Arjun Appadurai, Ethnohistory Workshop, & Symposium on the Relationship between Commodities Culture. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1986.


15. Bronner, Simon J. Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture. Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 2011.

16.“Tradition Meets Modernity in Egypt Eid al-Adha Celebrations,” Al-Shorfa, October 9, 2013, accessed May 26, 2015.

17.Ibid.

20

Jansen

18.Warschauer, Mark, Ghada R. El Said, and Ayman G. Zohry. "Language Choice Online: Globalization and Identity in Egypt." Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 7, no. 4 (2002):0.

Bibliography

1. Appadurai, Arjun, Ethnohistory Workshop, and Symposium on the Relationship between Commodities Culture. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

21

Jansen

2. Bronner, Simon J. Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture.Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 2011.

3. Gupta, A., and J. Ferguson. "Beyond Culture - Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference." Cultural Anthropology 7, no. 1 (1992): 6-23.

4. Peterson, Mark Allen. "Imsukuhum Kulhum! Modernity and Morality in Egyptian Children's Consumption." Journal of Consumer Culture 10, no. 2 (2010): 233-53.

5. Peterson, Mark Allen. Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Public Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011.

6. "Tradition Meets Modernity in Egypt Eid Al-Adha Celebrations." Al - Shorfa (Tampa), October 09, 2013.

7. Warschauer, Mark, Ghada R. El Said, and Ayman G. Zohry. "Language Choice Online: Globalization and Identity in Egypt." Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 7, no. 4 (2002):0.

22

Making and Shaping Tradition among Globalized Egypt

Documents

Transcript of Making and Shaping Tradition among Globalized Egypt