Making and Shaping Tradition among Globalized Egypt
Jacob Jansen
Anthropology of Globalization: 488
June 6th, 2015
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“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
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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.
8 Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 65.
9 Ibid, 65.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
14 Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 66.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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
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8. Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 65.
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.
12. Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 155.
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.
14. Mark A. Peterson, Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 66.
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.
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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.
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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.
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