Made In Egypt by Leila Zaki Chakravarti

Author:Leila Zaki Chakravarti [Chakravarti, Leila Zaki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Business & Economics, Workplace Culture
ISBN: 9781785330780
Google: Q24yCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2016-07-01T04:22:43+00:00

Celebrating dreams – a picture says a thousand words

A similar spirit of taraabut underpins and infuses workers’ nuptial ceremonies. These are staged as events bringing the workers together in a consumer vision, crafting a distinctive Port Saidian image of the ideal glamorous bride and good-looking groom, which is widely shared across the shop floor. The shared vision is constructed through the circulation of commemorative albums of photographs of the most recent khutuba (engagement) or dukhla (wedding consummation) celebrations to have taken place. These large, ornate albums provide brightly coloured illustrations of the latest consumerist trends, which are expected to be on extravagant display during the nights of celebration. These include having the most fashionable DJ to preside; colourful discotheque lighting; billows of dry ice illuminated by yellow, red and blue beams of lights across a darkened dance floor; and a hired car to transport the bride and groom to the venue. Much attention is given to the cosmetician making up the bride, and the special effects he is able to conjure up in transforming her into an unrecognisable person, with a new look (the same words are used in Arabic). The distinctively Port Saidian character of this vision is provided through the greater and more modern range the local market is able to offer by way of new ideas in fashion and accessories – a range not found in neighbouring and less cosmopolitan provinces.

These nuptial celebrations were widely attended by almost everybody in entag, who saw their participation as vital in livening up the party atmosphere, and not leaving the bride and groom simply reliant on family members and neighbours to create the appropriate mood. They spoke of the importance of ensuring that the party provided a boisterous event, something that in their view distinguished the emotional life of their class from that of the nas il-metnashena (‘stiff people’ implying management and higher classes). The most memorable event, which was the talk of the shop floor for weeks before and after it took place, was Azima Mohamed’s dukhla. It entailed hiring two buses to transport the workers to Gamaliyya (a traditional district of Cairo) for what was described as a street wedding out of Alf leila wi leila (The Thousand and One Nights). As her husband had a second job acting as a kumbars (tough-guy) in Arabic films, the celebration was organised to emulate the details of a farah baladi (street wedding) in a film in which he had recently had a part. No expense had been spared in the provision of all sorts of drugs (bango, pills and the like – handed out straight from the groom’s pockets), a plentiful supply of beer and the hire of a belly dancer in a clinging leotard, with the workforce thoroughly enjoying themselves until the dawn call to prayer and a journey that would take them straight back to the shop floor.

The ‘affirmation through performance’ of taraabut lies at the heart of an additional, distinctively local Port Saidian nuptial ceremony. Known as

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.