The American University in Cairo attracts many of Cairo's elite -- especially westernized elite. It's actually quite comical to see how attempts at appearing Western are manifested around campus. I've seen not a few guys wearing t-shirts from places like bustedtees.com, and they inevitably have some sort of sexually-oriented joke that is obviously lost on the Egyptian wearing the shirt. When walking around Downtown I also see plenty of t-shirts that have nonsensical phrases in English written on them. Among many of the young, wealthy, and educated, appearing Western is a big deal. While working in the study lounge I once even overheard a girl sarcastically making fun of one of her friendsts: "Ooh my name is Mustafa and I don't listen to any Arabic music and I only speak English."
On a related note, AUC has an area known as the Gucci Corner. This literally refers to an area on campus, currently located between the engineering and social sciences buildings, where masses of people congregate between classes, but it mostly refers to a sort of stylish, westernized clique of students. I've noticed the proliferation of D&G jackets and huge Ray-Ban sunglasses before, but never thought of those wearing these luxury brands as belonging to a divisive clique of students until an article appeared in the student newspaper The Caravan.
Many look at the Gucci Corner and think that it has to do with wearing name-brand clothes to class, but what it is really about is the ability to express cultural Westerness. For example, when in the Gucci Corner, students feel freer to hug members of the opposite sex. Wearing European clothes is not only a way of expressing one's wealth, but also a way of expressing one's westerness. The phenomenon began on the Old Campus, and has apparently been around for a while. In an article about it in the newspaper, an anthropology professor even mentioned that some students had written papers about the group in the past.
It's hard to make a sweeping statement about any group, but this phenomenon seems to demonstrate the difficulty that many young people, especially those that are wealthy and educated, have in trying to express their acceptance of western ideas, styles of dress, and styles of behavior, while trying to remain Egyptian.
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3 comments:
What about their behavior suggests that they have difficulty accepting westerness? How do they respond to actual westerners on campus? Do they try to leave an impression that they are one of you? Do they shun those who don't act western?
Hi Paul,
I enjoyed your insight regarding your wannabe-Western classmates. Very thought-provoking, and enhanced by your mom's questions, which sound like they came from "the end of the chapter".
Your cultural analytical skills are keen. Keep educating yourself in the 360.
from my experience I havn't seen anyone go out of their way to make friends our impress their westerness upon the international students there. I mean everyone is at AUC because they know English and because they want to contintue to study English and to improve their English, so everyone's end goal most likely has to do with either working in the English speaking world or working with English speaking people.
Arab and middle eastern culture has a multi-century history of being dominated by western imperialist powers, with Algeria only gaining independance from France in 1962 or 4 and the UAE states only gaining independance from Britain in 1971 or 2. Western society offers better jobs, more money, more opportunities, but it also has a highly negative influence on the historical consciousness of the people in the region.
You see this struggle with Egypt in particular. They rely on tourism, and mainly tourism from America and European countries. So despite any negative feelings towards these countries regarding the colonial past or current foreign policy decisions, it is in the government and the people's best interests to ensure the continued flow of tourist dollars.
The United States is also paying for the continued peace between Israel and Egypt by paying Egypt in defensive arms in exchange for the peace treaty. The US makes sure in its supply of arms to both countries that neither feels enough of an advantage to make going to war a desirably prospect.
Among the youth, at the least the wealthy educate youth I have encountered at AUC, American culture, in terms of music and television and movies, is very popular, and I feel this is the trend throughout the world. America plays a strange role because on the one hand much of the world embraces its popular cultural icons while deriding its intenational policies.
In the Middle East this is a problem because you still have a fair amount of people willing to speak out against the immorality of some of these icons, and this comes into confrontation with the embrace of the culture by other parts of society.
I'm rambling and not really trying to be coherrent and I'm not a sociologist, antrhopologist, or a psycharatrist. You could barely call me a historian. These are just my impressions though.
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