In Gypsies in Contemporary Egypt sociologist Alexandra Parrs draws on two years of fieldwork to explore how Dom identities are constructed, negotiated, and contested in the specifically Egyptian national context. With an eye to the pitfalls and evolution of scholarly work on the vastly more studied European Roma, she traces the scattered representations of Egyptian Dom, from accounts of them by nineteenth-century European Orientalists to their portrayal in Egyptian cinema as belly dancers in the 1950s and beggars and thieves more recently.

Little is known about Egypt's Gypsies, called Dom by scholars, but variously referred to by Egyptians as Ghagar, Nawar, Halebi or Hanagra, depending on their location. Moreover, most Egyptians are oblivious to the fact that there are today large numbers of Gypsies dispersed from the outskirts of villages in Upper Egypt to impoverished neighborhoods in Cairo and Alexandria. In Gypsies in Contemporary Egypt sociologist Alexandra Parrs draws on two years of fieldwork to explore how Dom identities are constructed, negotiated, and contested in the specifically Egyptian national context. With an eye to the pitfalls and evolution of scholarly work on the vastly more studied European Roma, she traces the scattered representations of Egyptian Dom, from accounts of them by nineteenth-century European Orientalists to their portrayal in Egyptian cinema as belly dancers in the 1950s and beggars and thieves more recently. She explores the boundaries-religious, cultural, racial, linguistic-between Dom and non-Dom Egyptians and examines the ways in which the Dom position themselves within the limitations of media discourses about them and in turn differentiate themselves from the dominant population. This interplay of attitudes, argues Parrs, sheds light on the values and markers of belonging of the majority population and the paradigms of nation-state formation at the governmental level. Based on extensive interviews with government workers and ordinary individuals in routine contact with the Dom, as well with Dom engaged in a variety of trades in Cairo and Alexandria, Gypsies in Contemporary Egypt is about the search for the fragments of identity of the Egyptian Dom.

"This volume introduces one of Egypt's leading exponents of the short story. His stories revolve around village life and are often seen through the eyes of a child. Into the everyday fabric of life, described with a keen eye to detail, the writer weaves an extra dimension, an element of the mystical and the surreal. As in ancient legends and myths, these stories give significance to the age-old process of birth, death, and rebirth that makes up the life of the land and those who live by it. The stories are also concerned with such fundamental values as honor, integrity, and self-esteem."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book of interdisciplinary readings on Gypsies is sensitive to the Romani point of view and avoids exoticizing or patronizing the Gypsies and their culture. Recurrent themes in the readings include: the historical oppression of the Gypsies including contemporary xenophobia and violence; the nonstatic, heterogeneous nature of Gypsy cultures; the persistence of racist stereotypes; and personal and institutional Gypsy/non-Gypsy relationships. Nearly all of the classic essays updated for this volume tell stories of the persistance of the Roma in the face of savage atrocities and appalling living conditions.

In this book the author analyzes different groups of hunters and gatherers which live around the coast of Indian Ocean – from the hill jungles of North Thailand to the sandy shores of South Madagascar, from the foothills of Himalaya to the savannahs of central India and deep forests of Sri Lanka.The research is based on the big fieldwork expedition experience and huge bibliography references.

In the city of Cairo, certain spaces bear strong historical associations with belly dance, belly dancers, and professional entertainment in general. Azbakiyah, Imad al-Din Street, and Muhammad Ali Street were all staging grounds for innovations in Egyptian belly dance, as well as in Egyptian music, song, and theater, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in the Egyptian popular imagination, these places continue to be linked to entertainment and entertainers. However, research reveals that the ties binding these spaces to entertainment extend much deeper: in some cases, this relationship can be traced back to the Fatimid era. The longstanding associations between belly dance and certain Cairene spaces demand a more in-depth investigation into the nature of this historical interconnection. In this work, the author examines the relationship between belly dance space and belly dancer in the Cairo landscape over the course of the city's history, relying on a theoretical framework informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia, and Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque. This analysis reveals the mutually constituting relationship between dance, dancers, and the Cairene landscape and explains why and how certain Cairo spaces have retained their centuries-long historical associations with belly dance and its professional practitioners.

Shows the intimate relationship between Egypt and Hispania archaeologically, historically, culturally, ethnologically, linguistically, etc. This book reveals the Ancient Egyptian roots of the Romany (Gypsies) and how they brought about the civilization and orientalization of Hispania, over the past 6,000 years. The book also shows the intimate relationship between Egypt and Hispania archaeologically, historically, culturally, ethnologically, linguistically, etc., as a result of the immigration of the Egyptian Romany (Gypsies) to Iberia. This Expanded Version of the book consists of 14 chapters: Chapter one, The Romany (Gypsy) Essence of Hispania, sorts through the subject of the Gypsies and differentiates the Egyptian Romany from non-Egyptian nomadic groups. It highlights their Egyptian characteristics and their different related groups. Chapter two, Our Heavenly Mother, shows how Ancient Egypt and Iberia share the intense love for the Virgin Mother (known in Ancient Egypt as Isis and in Christianity as Mary/Maria). A shortened version of the story of Isis and Osiris is presented, so as to draw parallels between the Ancient Egyptian Isis and the Virgin Mary. The role of Mary/Auset formed the basis for the matrilineal/matriarchal societal framework. This chapter also shows the role of the bull in Ancient Egypt and Iberia, and that the practices of bullfights and running of the bulls in Iberia can only be found in Ancient Egypt, since at least 5,000 years ago. Chapter three, Out of Egypt, gives an overview of the major pitfalls in the common theories about the history of Iberia. It highlights the false chronology and dating in most references. It also highlights the incredible silence in most references about the role of the most populous, wealthiest, and prominent civilization in the ancient world—namely Egypt. It provides the accounts of early Egyptian immigration to other countries, and accounts of some of their early settlements in Asia and Europe. It also provides the general consensus on the population characteristics in Iberia and how the Ancient Egyptians (of all nations in the world) match these characteristics exactly. Chapter four, The Egyptian-Hispanic Alloys, describes the Ancient Egyptian knowledge of metallurgy, and their ability to make numerous metallic alloys. It will show how Ancient Egypt lacked certain minerals to make specific alloys (such as electrum, copper, and bronze), the high demand for metals in Egypt, and how the fluctuation in the production of such goods in Ancient Egypt correlated to the rise and fall of mining activities in Iberia. It also shows the Ancient Egyptian history of organization and management of large mining sites, settlement fortifications, etc. Chapter five, In the Beginning—Almeria, highlights the archaeological findings at the early settlements in several Iberian regions—beginning at Almeria, and correlates these activities in Iberia with Ancient Egypt—to show unique similarities and affinities between Ancient Egypt (in pre- and early dynastic times) and Iberia, in all aspects of religion, architecture, farming, metalworking, etc. Chapter six, Masters of the Seas, shows the supremacy of the Ancient Egypt ships, their sizes, types, and functions. It provides an overview of the Egyptian goods that were sought worldwide. It identifies the patrons (deities) of travel and how they were adopted 100% by others, such as the Phoenicians. Chapter seven, Merchants of the Seas, evaluates the common theory about the role of the Phoenicians/Punics in the history of Iberia, by describing the archaeological and historical evidence in the Phoenicians’ homeland. The evidence is overwhelming that Phoenicia was a vassal of Ancient Egypt and that the Phoenicians copied all aspects of the Ancient Egyptian culture. It shows that Phoenicians were experienced seafarers and traders and nothing else. The Phoenicians did not have the number of people (or the talent) for the farming, art, industry, and building skills necessary to establish new settlements in Iberia or elsewhere. Chapter eight, Canopus and Cádiz: A Tale of Two Harbors, provides a clear history of Cádiz and its role as the western gateway to western Iberia, northern Europe, and the African continent. It shows that the reported fishing and salting techniques as well as its famed dancers were duplicates of the same in Ancient Egypt. It highlights the significance of the Canopus harbors (Alexandria before Alexander), as the center of commerce in the whole world, for thousands of years. It describes the role of the (Egyptian) Hercules/Herakles at Egyptian harbors and how other countries imitated Egypt in this regard. It shows the similarities between the Cádiz harbor with its temples and the harbor at Canopus with its temples. Chapter nine, The Assyrian Devastation and Aftershocks, correlates the rise of power of the Assyrians (and later the Persians), to the waves of mass migration from Ancient Egypt, which coincided with the increase in population and the number of settlements in Iberia. Chapter ten, Romanticizing the Romans, addresses the lack of merit of Romans’ influence in Iberia—in all aspects of Iberian life, such as culture, government, religion, language, society, buildings, etc. Chapter eleven, The Moors and the Egyptians, addresses the falsehoods of credits given to the Moors/Moslems/Arabs. It identifies the true origin of these invaders and how they were removed from the civilized aspects in Iberia, such as farming, housing, gardens, arts, crafts, etc., and how all these aspects and activities were only found in Egypt, before they appeared in Iberia. It also shows the huge number of Egyptian settlers in the areas that are the best farmed in Iberia, such as Algarve and Murcia. Chapter twelve, The Origin of the Hispanic Languages/Dialects, defines the role of the Ancient Egypt language as the mother of all Semitic languages, as well as all other languages/dialects in the Mediterranean Basin and beyond. Chapter thirteen, The Animated Religious Traditions, shows how the people of both Egypt and the Iberian Peninsula share the same concept of Animism, the power of saints, religious pilgrimages, festivals, etc. It also describes the role of Ancient Egypt in Priscillianism, which was (and continues to be) widespread. It also relates the fate of Priscillian to the pilgrimage and traditions at Santiago de Compostela. It shows that the history and practices of confraternities in Catholic-ruled Iberia (and southern Italy) coincide exactly with “Sufi” Orders in Islamized countries, and that the fundamentals and practices of these mystical groups under Islamic and Christian rules are of Ancient Egyptian origin. Chapter fourteen, The Egyptian-Hispanic Musical Heritage, shows the intimacy between the Egyptians and Iberian heritage as it relates to music, poetry, song, and dance. It shows that the Ancient Egyptians—not the Moors—are the source of music, singing, dancing, and poetry in the Iberian Peninsula. It highlights the role of the (Egyptian) Romany as the performers of these activities in the Iberian Peninsula. It describes the major celebratory musical activities in both Egypt and the Iberian Peninsula.