Pyramids and Nightclubs : A Travel Ethnography of Arab and Western Imaginations of Egypt, from King Tut and a Colony of Atlantis to Rumors of Sex Orgies, Urban Legends about a Marauding Prince, and Blonde Belly Dancers.

Cover image for Pyramids and Nightclubs : A Travel Ethnography of Arab and Western Imaginations of Egypt, from King Tut and a Colony of Atlantis to Rumors of Sex Orgies, Urban Legends about a Marauding Prince, and Blonde Belly Dancers.

ISBN:

9780292795129

Title:

Author:

Wynn, L. L.

Personal Author:

Wynn, L. L.

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 pages)

Contents:

Intro -- Contents -- A Note about Transliteration and Names -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: From the Pyramids to the Nightclubs of Pyramids Road -- Chapter 1: Ethics and Methodology of a Transnational Anthropology -- Chapter 2 Buried Treasure -- Chapter 3: Atlantis and Red Mercury -- Chapter 4: Sex Orgies, a Marauding Prince, and Other Rumors about Gulf Tourism -- Chapter 5: Transnational Dating -- Chapter 6: Palimpsest, Excavation, Graffiti, Simulacra: An Ethnography of the Idea of Egypt -- Notes -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Bibliography -- Index.

Local Note:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2023. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

Subject Term:

Urban anthropology-Egypt-Cairo.

Culture and tourism-Egypt-Cairo.

Cairo (Egypt)-Public opinion.

Cairo (Egypt)-History.

Cairo (Egypt)-Social life and customs.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2007

Publication Information:

Austin :

University of Texas Press,

2007.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
306.4819096216	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

2008 -- Leeds Honor Book in Urban Anthropology - Society for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology

Living in Egypt at the turn of the millennium, cultural anthropologist L. L. Wynn was struck by the juxtapositions of Western, Gulf Arab, and Egyptian viewpoints she encountered. For some, Egypt is the land of mummies and pharaohs. For others, it is a vortex of decadence, where nightlife promises a chance to salivate over belly dancers and maybe even glimpse a movie star. Offering a new approach to ethnography, Pyramids and Nightclubs examines cross-cultural encounters to bring to light the counterintuitive ways in which Egypt is defined.

Guiding readers on an armchair journey that introduces us to Russian and Australian belly dancers on Nile cruise ships, Egyptian rumors about an Arab prince and his royal entourage, Saudi girls looking for a less restrictive dating scene, and other visitors to this "antique" land, Wynn uses the lens of travel and tourism to depict a fascinating and often surprising version of Egypt, while exploring the concept of stereotype itself. Tracing the history of Western and Arab fascination with Egypt through spurious hunts for lost civilizations and the new economic disparities brought about by the oil industry, Pyramids and Nightclubs ultimately describes the ways in which moments of cultural contact, driven by tourism and labor migration, become eye-opening opportunities for defining self and other.

Author Notes

L. L. Wynn received her Ph. D. from Princeton University and is Associate Lecturer in the Anthropology Department of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She has taught in a Saudi girls' school and spent three and a half years in Cairo, Egypt, where she undertook the research for this book.