Faculty Books

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  Alif 2: Criticism and the Avant-Garde

  Ferial J. Ghazoul Professor

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  Ghagar of Sett Guiranha: A study of a Gypsy community in Egypt

  Nabil Sobhi Hanna

  This monograph is the result of a field study of one of the gypsy groups in Egypt known as the "Ghagar of Sett Guiran'ha'i" which lives within the boundaries of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in a rural area, close to main centers. Apart from giving a detailed description of this group, the study attempts to reveal the dynamics of integration of this group with the society around it through the examination of forms of social contact and avoidance; the expioration of similarities and contrasts between the gypsy group and the local community; and the investigation of some aspects of the social structure and prevailing culture cif both the"Ghagar and their host community" Following Anne Sutherland's approach in her study of American Gypsies {1975}, every effort has been made in the present work to preserve the anonymity of this group and to protect them from curiosity seekers whose presence might jeopardize social relations with the host community. Accordingly, the precise locale of the Ghagar of Sett Guiran'ha is not given here and the names of specific individuals are withheld. This particular group was selected for study because it forms a typi­cal gypsy society: The Ghagar use their own language, in addition to the local Arabic; they have preserved and practice traditional gypsy occupa­tions; they practice endogamous marriage, though they share basic charac­teristics with the surrounding society; their numbers are reasonably small.

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  Distributing disposable income and the impact of eliminating food Subsidies in Egypt

  Karima Korayem

  While both papers in this issue were written on different occasions, both discuss factors relating to the standard of living of the Egyptian pop­ulation, namely, income and consumption. They, therefore are sufficiently related to comprise a single monograph. The income distribution paper shows that a large proportion of the pop­ulation falls in the relatively low income brackets. The second paper, a subject of intensive public debate at present, shows how important food sub­sidy is in keeping down the cost of living of the low-income urban popula­tion. For example, it has been found that almost one-third of the urban population devote at least one-quarter of their total consumption expendi­ture to the main subsidized food items. The main objective of the income distribution paper is to provide de­pendable estimates of income distribution in the urban and rural sectors in Egypt. The consumption expenditure data of the Households Budget Survey 1974/75 have been used as the basis of these estimates. The objective of the second paper is twofold. First, it tries to find out how significantly the cost of living of the urban population will be affected if food subsidies are eliminated. This is done by examining both the direct and the indirect effects of the removal ot food subsidies on the urban cost of living. Second, same alternative measures are examined which might provide a better substi­tute for the prevailing subsidy system.

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  Income Distribution and Basic Needs in Urban Egypt

  Amr Mohie El Din

  This work attempts to estimate and evaluate income distribution in the urban areas of Egypt. It traces the development of the urban economy and the change of its structure over time. Moreover, it attempts to examine the factors responsible for making that structure different from the rest of the economy. The investigation goes on to look in detail at the factors which influence the pattern of income distribution in urban areas. It is particularly concentrated on the provision of basic needs, especially basic services, i.e. education, health, water, electricity, etc. An attempt has been made to evaluate nearly all previous attempts to estimate income dis­tributions in the urban areas of Egypt. Finally, it was attempted to esti­mate the income distribution of urban areas by using a new method, which relies on the pattern of electricity consumption per household as the best indicator which reflects the patterns of income distribution. However, this is not meant to be conclusive in so far as income distribution in urban Egypt is concerned. With this work I intend to provide a basis for further research on income distribution in Egypt.

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  Cairo's Nubian families

  Peter Geiser

  This study examines the social and economic framework of the Nubian com­munity in an atterrpt to discover whether, in fact, the Nubian community cur­rently maintains its sense of social solidarity within a societary context of social change and, if so, how and to what degree this is accomplished. One aspect of this study to be presented in this monograph is the adjustments of Nubian families to the urban condition of Cairo.

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  The Arabian nights, a structural analysis

  Ferial J. Ghazoul Professor

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  Population and Urbanization in Morocco

  Saad Eddin Ibrahim

  This study examines the interplay between two sets of variables in Mo­rocco: population dynamics and urbanization. Its ultimate aim is to prov­ide a solid empirical and conceptual basis for the fonnulation of sound pol­icies for the implementation of a balanced, synchronized development progran. The chief task of the present work is to address the situation in Morocco following the colonial experience. Population and migratory patterns are analyzed within this context to detennine their role in the creation of the present situation of disequilibrium.

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  Living without water

  Asaad Nadim, Nawal El-Messiri Nadim, Sohair Mehanna, and John H. Nixon

  The socio-economic study reported here was conducted in July and August of 1979 as part of the Egyptian Government's Metered Water Service Connection Program for improving and ex­panding water and wastewater utilities in Greater Cairo. Ap­proximately one quarter of the population of Greater Cairo pre­sently lacks direct access to the city's water supply_system and must obtain its water from public fountains. Households lacking water connections are chiefly in the poorest areas of the city. The current program is thus ·geared to serving resi­dential areas whose inhabitants are on the lower half of the city's income scale. These, however, are the very areas which present the greatest technical and administrative problems in terms of providing city services in general. Many questions regarding community receptiveness to this program, the cultural impact of instituting service, and effec­tive means of assigning installation and on-going costs of the service required investigation if 'the project were to be effec­tively implemented. The nine kisms, or administrative sub-divisions, of the city selected as candidate areas for the project were as follows: Cairo Governorate (Sayeda Zeinab, Matareya , Zeitoun, Masr El Kadima, Maadi, Helwan-Tebin), Giza Governorate (Embaba, Giza), and Kalyubia Governorate (Shubra El Khema). Such areas are of enormous interest and importance to planners, as they are growing very rapidly and currently lack a wide range of urban services in addition to water connections. Until this study, however, no sociological or anthropolog­ical research had ever been carried out in these areas. Abu­Lughod's urban study of Greater Cairo (1970) provided invalu­able comparative data, but some of the areas studied here were not even in existence at the time of her work, and all of them have changed dramatically since that time. This research thus has potential utility for future urban planning, as it not only gathered basic statistical data on the physical attributes of the communities and basic demographic data on their inhabitants, but also included basic ethnographic study of life in these areas. It is the ethnographic component of the research which is reported in this issue of Cairo Papers. Although space limita­tions have led to the omission of many of the detailed statis­tical tables and maps prepared for the original report, resear­chers interested in utilizing these data or the questionnaire prepared for the study for purposes of restudy of the areas or for comparative purposes are welcome to contact the authors. The research for this project was funded by USAID loan 263-K-04201 to the General Organization for Greater Cairo Water Supply (GOGCWS). The research itself was carried out by the authors as part of a contract between the GOGCWS and ES-Parsons. The recommendations ensuing from the research appear in the ori­ginal ES-Parsons report entitled Socio-Economic Report on Pro­posed Service Areas (Reference Job Number 5938-2/3191), March 1980.

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  The modernization of labor and labor law in the Arab Gulf states

  Enid Hill

  The paper examins the topic of the modernization of labor and of labor law in the Arabian Gulf states .

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  Party and peasant in Syria

  Raymond A. Hinnebusch

  This study represents a first and very preliminary attempt to describe the development of rural policies and structures and their consequences in Syria under the Ba'th regime. The analysis pretends to no conceptual or methodological sophistication. Its basic limitation derives from the research method employed, entailing heavy dependence on a program of official interviews and village "field trips" undertaken by the writer with the cooperation of the Ba'th party authorities within a limited period of time (one year)

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  Coping with poverty in a Cairo community

  Andrea B. Rugh

  The monograph, a sociological study by a Western social scientist working in Egypt, on a popular quarter of Cairo. The study of the traditional quarters of the great cities of the Middle East has been a very much neglected area of research; in this monograph, bringing painstaking reseach and impressive sociological insight to bear, is our contribution towards folling the gap.

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  Attitudinal and social structural aspects of the brain drain: The Egyptian case

  Saneya Abdel Wahab Saleh

  The monograph is based on M.A. thesis and contains an in-depth sociological analysis of the brain drain phenomenon in Egypt.

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  The role of mass communications in inter-state conflict: The Arab-Israeli War of October 1973

  Olfat Hassan Agha

  The monograph is based upon my MA thesis, which was submitted to the Department of Sociology-Anthropology-Psychology at the American University in Cairo. The problem of inter-state conflict in the Middle East is ripe for a concerted research effort combining the methods of several of the social science disciplines and its aim would be to accomplish three objectives: 1) to identify generally those conflict situations or states which are likely to lead to war 2) to evaluate particular conflict situations and probable lines along which they are likely to develop if left to themselves 3) To suggest further possible techniques for controlling or containing sich conflict situations so as to prevent them from breaking out into war. The purpose of this study is not to suggest that the mass media are casual factors in war and peace. Rather, it is based on an assumption that an examination of general principles of conflict from a communication prespective will shed light upon the dynamics of inter-state conflicts and that, hopefully, it will lead to insights that will be useful in easing inter-state as well as international tensions.

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  Saudi Arabian Bedouin : an assessment of their needs

  Saad E. Ibrahim and Donald P. Cole

  The research reported on in this monograph was carried out by the authors in May, June, and July 1977 in Saudi Arabia. Four groups of Bedouin tribesmen were visited in different parts of Saudi Arabia and questionnaires were administered to 208 individuals. The groups and areas visited include the following: 1.The Dawasir tribesmen in the vicinity of Aflaj in southern Najd. 2. The Al-Murrah tribesmen at Jabrin in the Eastern (al-Hasa) Province. 3. The Beni Zayed tribesmen in the vicinity of Qunfudah in the Tihamah region of southwestern Arabia. 4. The Harb and Beni Umar tribesmen in the vicinity of Hanakiyyah in the Hejaz near Madinah. The Dawasir were visited by both authors , the Al-Murrah and Beni Zayed by Cole, and the Harb and Beni Umar by Ibrahim. Both authors would like to express their deepest gratitude and appreciation to the Bedouin they visited for their hospitality and cooperation. The authors would also like to express their appreciation to the officials of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education and the workers in the Summer Campaigns for Nomads for their cooperation. The data and interpretations expressed herein are the responsibility of the authors.

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  Rural resettlement in Egypt's reclaimed lands: An evaluation of a case study in the northwestern Nile Delta

  Helmi R. Tadros

  This monograph is an extract from ·a larger research project on The Study and Evaluation of the Rehabi I itation Process in the Newly Settled C.Omm- · unities in Land Reclamation Areas of the Northwestern Nile Delta. The project was carried out by the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, in close collaboration with the Egyptian General Organization for Land Cultivation and Development (EOOLCO) of the Ministry of Land Reclamation in Egypt, and was partly financed by a grant from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare CHEW) in Washington D.C. The study was initiated in June 1971, and research activities continued until Spring 1975, with the author acting as principal investigator.