Category Archives: eBooks

ebooks, digitized / online monographs, non-database e-resources

Street Sounds: Listening to Everyday Life in Modern Egypt / by Ziad Fahmy

Street Sounds: Listening to Everyday Life in Modern Egypt / Ziad Fahmy [Ziad A. Fahmy . Faculty : CAS – Near Eastern Studies CORNELL * Winner of the 2021 Best Book in Non-North American Urban History Award, sponsored by the Urban History Association.]

As the twentieth century roared on, transformative technologies—from trains, trams, and automobiles to radios and loudspeakers—fundamentally changed the sounds of the Egyptian streets. The cacophony of everyday life grew louder, and the Egyptian press featured editorials calling for the regulation of not only mechanized and amplified sounds, but also the voices of street vendors, the music of wedding processions, and even the traditional funerary wails. Ziad Fahmy offers the first historical examination of the changing soundscapes of urban Egypt, highlighting the mundane sounds of street life, while “listening” to the voices of ordinary people as they struggle with state authorities for ownership of the streets.

Interweaving infrastructural, cultural, and social history, Fahmy analyzes the sounds of modernity, using sounded sources as an analytical tool for examining the past. Street Sounds also reveals a political dimension of noise by demonstrating how the growing middle classes used sound to distinguish themselves from the Egyptian masses. This book contextualizes sound, layering historical analysis with a sensory dimension, bringing us closer to the Egyptian streets as lived and embodied by everyday people.

About the author

Ziad Fahmy is Associate Professor of Modern Middle East History at Cornell University. He is the author of Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern National through Popular Culture (Stanford, 2011).

Recent Noteworthy Acquisition

sezginSezgin Online : A bio-bibliography for the Arabic literary tradition – Sezgin Online consists of volumes 1-9 of Fuat Sezgin’s renowned Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), the largest and most modern bio-bibliography for the Arabic literary tradition in general and the history of science and technology in the Islamic world in particular.

Sezgin Online offers bio-bibliographical information about renowned figures (writers, poets, philosophers, physicians, scientists, linguists etc.) from the Islamic world. Complementing Brockelmann Online and Brockelmann in English, it is an indispensable research tool for Middle East and Islamic studies.  Features and Benefits
• Standard reference in the field.
• Largest and most modern bio-bibliography for the Arabic literary tradition and the history of science and technology in the Islamic world.
• The first and only online version of this standard reference.
• Includes content from 9 of the original volumes (4,959 pages total in print).
• Full-text searchable. Continue reading Recent Noteworthy Acquisition

World Book and Copyright Day Celebrations in Arab Countries

23 April is a symbolic date for world literature, since 23 April 1616 was the date of death of Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. 23 April is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.This year, Tunis lit the candle for UNESCO’s World Book Day.

The theme of this year’s book day is translation. Since 1979, UNESCO member states have logged more than 2 million translations in their translation index, which is available online.

Five days before the annual UNESCO-sponsored World Book and Copyright Day, hundreds of Tunisian readers took over iconic Habib Bourguiba Avenue with an event called “L’avenue taqra” or “The avenue reads.” Children and adults sat in cafes, on steps, and on the sidewalks to read a variety of books. As the day wore on, many held candles in order to continue reading into the night.

The invitation to the April 18th event in Tunis explained that everyone would bring their own books or magazines to cafés or other public places where they would sit and read silently together for an hour.”  Nas Décaméron, an artistic and literary group based at Ibn Khaldoun Cultural Centre in Tunis called for the initiative. It also organises a salon every week to discuss a world novel. The group’s Kamel Riyahi headed the “Read” initiative.  According to a 2010 Tunisian reading survey, more than 20% of respondents hadn’t read a book in their entire life and of those who did read, 60% read fewer than five books per year.

In Cairo, Shorouk Bookstores is offering the best WB & CD discount, at 20%, but other stores (BookSpot), chains (Alef), and government entities (GEBO) are also offering money-off deals. The Cervantes Institute in Dokki (Cairo) today offers readings of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” in its original Spanish and in Arabic translation. The novel will be read continuously from noon until 7:45 pm.

In Sharjah or Dubai, the children’s reading festival opened today. Moroccans are going to read books before the parliament. The theme is: “Culture in the face of absurdity.” If you’re in Lebanon, Antoine Bookstore is having an exhibition of Spanish books and books about Spain in collaboration with Cervantes Institute in Downtown Beirut.

“Three Cups of Tea” Spilled?! Swallowed?!

3cupsT

“Three cups of tea :  one man’s mission to fight terrorism and build nations– one school at a time”

by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Greg Mortenson was accused of fabricating important parts of Three Cups of Tea, his bestselling 2006 memoir about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book describes Greg Mortenson’s transition from an “American mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” In 1993 Greg Mortenson “was  mountain-climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of a Pakistani village, he promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time–Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban. In a region where Americans are often feared and hated, he has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself–at last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools.” (From publisher Viking Press description).

“It’s a beautiful story, and it’s a lie,” Jon Krakauer told CBS’ Steve Kroft.

Krakauer, an author and adventurer, originally backed the nonprofit Central Asia Institute with $75,000 of his own money before withdrawing his support.

From Viking Press
In regards to the 60 Minutes episode that aired April 17, 2011: “Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education. 60 Minutes is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author.”

*************

Mortenson has admitted to “some omissions and compressions” while largely defending his work. Up until the program had aired, and for the last 15 years, no one in the USA questioned him and no one listened closely to what Pakistanis themselves had to say: the unraveling of the Mortenson story has come as no surprise there.

A few facts about Gilgit-Baltistan: گلگت – بلتستان, formerly known as the Northern Areas (شمالی علاقہ جات, Shumālī Ilāqe Jāt):

  • Gilgit Baltistan is a self governed region in the north of Pakistan. It is governed through a representative Government and an independent judiciary. Gilgit Baltistan is home to one of the most diverse socio-cultural geography in the world. It has been called the Roof of the World, the Wonderland of Asia and the Jewel of Pakistan.
  • The region of Gilgit-Baltistan which Mortenson describes as a wild area of extremist and violent terrorism actually is a peaceful, predominantly Ismaili region whose inhabitants see the Paris-based Aga Khan as their spiritual leader. There is a strong Tibetan Buddhist influence. The Aga Khan Development Network has been building schools in the region.  Pakistani journalist Rina Saeed Khan points out Gilgit-Baltistan has one of the highest literacy rates in Pakistan.


The Arab democratic wave: how the EU can seize the moment

Report – n°9, March 2011 [PDF]

The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS)

Following the extraordinary events that have been unfolding across the Arab world, the EUISS has opened an online debate to discuss the implications of the Arab democratic wave for EU foreign policy. The EUISS has invited academics, policymakers, think tankers and other influential voices from a variety of backgrounds including from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe to contribute to this pluralistic online debate.