Mass culture and modernism in Egypt
By: Walter Armbrust.
Series: Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology ;; 102
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 275
Subjects: Popular culture -- Egypt.; Mass media -- Egypt -- History -- 20th century.; Egypt -- Civilization -- 1798-
Description: This path-breaking study of Egyptian popular culture provides fresh and vital insights into the long struggle of modern Egypt to define its identity. Dr. Armbrust examines Egyptian television, recorded music, the press, and the cinema. These popular media have broken radically with cultural icons of Egypt's past, while offering ordinary people a way of coming to terms with the clashing values of nationalism, modernity, and Arab classicism.

However, since the 1970s, popular culture has also become a site of contestation. The delicate balance between conservative nationalist imagery and a modernist ethic has been increasingly put in question by producers and consumers of the media, reflecting a sense that the representations of modernity do not reflect the experience of Egyptians.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-266) and index.