This is the novel that the classic film “Kit Kat” (a must-see) is based on. For an excellent in-depth discussion of Aslan’s work, see this post by Baheyya.
Month: July 2008
Sacred Objects
Final credits for Youssef Chahine
Book banning update
Book banning watch
AUC’s new campus: a mirage in the desert?
I meant to link to a story I did before I took off on AUC’s new campus. In September, the American University in Cairo is leaving its location on central Tahrir Square and moving to a brand new campus in the desert suburb of New Cairo. The AUC is quite an institution in Egyptian cultural and intellectual life, and in the life of Downtown Cairo. The move is a dramatic change for the university, which is basically suddenly going from being an urban to a suburban university. What I find particularly interesting about the move is how it fits into a broader pattern of (not to sound alarmist) the abandonment of Downtown in favour of sprawling desert suburbs. Living in Cairo, it’s impossible not to understand the desire to move to less congested, less polluted areas. But personally I fear that this move (of the elites) to the edges of the city is yet another sign of the total lack of foresight and vision that is so endemic to the administration and planning of Cairo. And the role of real estate speculation–the fact that the construction of new suburbs is much more profitable than the upkeep of central neighborhoods–can’t be underestimated. Anyway, here’s what I wrote:
Last month, students and faculty at the American University in Cairo bade farewell not only to each other but to their campus. Over the summer, the university is abandoning its historical downtown location and moving to a new campus on the outskirts of the city.
The offices of professors and administrators are cluttered with packed boxes. The library shelves are empty. And workers are toiling day and night in the desert outside Cairo to have the new campus – which will be 29 times bigger than the old one – ready by the time classes start in September.
“It’s a very rare opportunity for a university to rebuild itself and upgrade to extraordinary levels all at one time,” says Phil Donoghue, vice president for planning and administration, of the move to the new state-of-the-art campus. But others are concerned that by leaving Cairo’s downtown and moving to the suburbs, the university will lose an important connection to the city and a cornerstone of its identity.
You can read the rest of the piece here.
No more posts till August
Links July 16th to July 17th
Links from my del.icio.us account for July 16th through July 17th:
- The New Arab Diplomacy: Not With the U.S. and Not Against the U.S. – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – Carnegie paper says Arab states are breaking from US diplomatic priorities, Gulf stronger, Egypt weak
- Hezbollah gives coffins to Israel in prisoner swap – Yahoo! News – So that 2006 war was avoidable after all
- La politique égyptienne sous influence affairiste – Les blogs du Diplo – Gamal Mubarak's Ahmez Ezz problem
- Iran and The Economist | Silent no more | Economist.com
– Iranian student who graced cover of Economist escapes to US - Égypte/Monde arabe – Full text of archives of French academic review now online
More Al Aswany
I’ve actually been planning a lengthy “Yacoubian Effect” post, about the impact the book’s success has had on the literary and cultural scene here, and the way Al Aswany and his work has been covered and used in the West, but I’m going on vacation in 2 days and won’t be back till August 5th, so it’ll have to wait till then.
Links July 9th to July 13th
Links from my del.icio.us account for July 9th through July 13th:
- IkhwanWeb: Brotherhood MP Calls on Gov’t to Fight Sexual Harassment of Tourists – Good idea, but how about fighting sexual harassment period?
- Ex-Diplomat Sentenced for Anti-Arab Threats – US diplomat has sent "only good Arab is a dead Arab" theat to James Zogby
- Khalil Ibrahim, le Darfouri qui a porté la guerre à Khartoum – Afrique – Le Monde.fr – Profile of Darfuri JEM leader, mentions he escaped attempted coup by sneaking into Egypt
- Annals of National Security: Preparing the Battlefield: The New Yorker – Seymour Hersh on US sectarian/ethnic incitement in Iran
- Prison riots in Syria | 3arabawy – Hossam has updates on a big prison riot in Syria