Between two worlds? Young middle class Egyptians, western expatriates, and downtown Cairo

Abstract

Tato praca sa zaobera problematickymi vzt'ahmi medzi Arabskym "Vychodom" a "Zapadom" a hl'ada mozne sposoby ich zlepsenia. Jednym z moznych riesenf je sprostredkovanie vzajomneho dlohodobeho a intenzfvneho kontaktu, ktory by podporil ich hlboky a zmysluplny vzt'ah. Moznost' platnosti tejto myslienky bola otestovana tymto vYskumom, ktory sa blizsie sustredil na na skumanie dennej interakcie medzi specificky definovanou skupinou mladych Kahircanov, ktorl vedome vyhl'adavali zmysluplne vzt'ahy s lokalnou komunitou Zapadnych expatriotov. Vzhl'adom na danu problematiku bol zvoleny interdisciplinarny Prlstup, ktory je ukotveny v antropo16gii ale zaroveii cerpa z poznatkov kognitfvnej vedy, vyvojovej psyho16gie a medzikultlirnych studif. Dve hypotezy su v popredf tejto studie vzhl'adom na zvolenu skupinu daneho vyskumu: 1, V stup do zmysluplneho vzt'ahu s Druhym znacne pozmenf vzajomne stereotypy, a 2, Druhy ma znacny vplyv na konstrukciu osobnej identity (v ramci daneho zmysluplneho vzt'ahu). Tato studia je zalozena na pat'rocnom vyskume priameho pozorovania, ktory bol uskutocneny predovsetkym v centre Kahiry, a to medzi Januarom 2005 a Decembrom 2009. Opiera sa tak 0 hlbkovU analyzu specifickeho momentu v Kahirskej a Egyptskej socialnej hist6rii, navzajom prepajajuc domenu konstrukcie identity zo stereotypmi v...

This study looks at the troubled relationship of the Arab "East" with the "West" and examines possible avenues for improvement. One of the proposed solutions is to foster sustained and intensive contact that favours deep and meaningful connection. In order to test the validity of this idea, this study focuses on the daily interactions between a specific group of young Cairenes who were seeking meaningful connection with the local community of Western expatriates. Due to the nature of the problematic, an interdisciplinary approach was chosen that is grounded in anthropology yet borrows significantly from the fields of cognitive science, developmental psychology and intercultural studies. The research set out to investigate the following two hypotheses as regards to the target group: 1, Entering into a meaningful relationship with the Other will alter common stereotypes, and 2, The Other has an influence on the construction of personal identity (given this meaningful relationship). This study is based on five years of participatory research that was conducted predominantly in Cairo's downtown area between January 2005 and December 2009. It is thus based on an in-depth examination of a particular moment in Cairo's and Egypt's social history, interconnecting domains of identity construction and stereotypes...