Reading into it, travel and studies in cairo

2006-11-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

Well it is almost the end of the semester and as always it seems like the time has disappeared and I find myself wishing I had done so much more. I have a lot of work ahead of me to finish up my final two weeks but it is all very interesting stuff and not as much of a hardship as it used to be back at NU. Most of my courses are centered around the period of time between the 1850's and 1920's in this general area. So it only makes sense that the Zionist national project becomes an important part of my studies. I never expected to come here and study as much as I do about Jewish issues, not that I mind but I am quite frankly not that interested. Anyway I bring that up because a professor asked me to TA a course with him on the Zionisnt national movement to which I replied that if he pays me I will wash his car and babysit his kids. Anyway it looks like I'll be co-teaching a class on Zionism in cairo next semester, what a turn of events....
anyway, I have begun to give much thought to my thesis project and to my areas of interest in Middle East studies and it looks like I will be doing my work on the post reform era in lebanon 1850-1870. To those of you in the know that means the beginings of nationalism and the road to british and french involvement in a multi-ethnic society. Sounds boring I know...
Also i had attended a great thanksgiving bash at my friend Olivia's where I met with some good people who teach english at a Sudanede refugee camp in Downtown cairo. It looks like I will be joining them and will be teaching part time in their center. Since I have been feeling like there is little connection between my schoolwork and my actual life this will be a great change and a welcome cahnce to practice my arabic.
Thats it for now
Yossi

Back to school

2006-11-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a long time since I posted on my Blogg and there are a few good reasons for that. I had to travel to Spain for a while for some emergency girlfriend time. While it was a great experience it took me away from the day to day realities here in Cairo. Most everything here is the same though, it was a bit difficult to get back into the swing of things but I am back and getting through my classes quite well. I have decided to try and focus more on the 20th century next semester after going over the period of 1750 to 1880 ottoman periods. While I do feel that it is crucial that an informed MEST student have a good grasp of this time I feel more inclined to use that time period as a base for understanding what happened around here in the 20th century. In particular the Christian experience in Lebanon is becoming a personal interest of mine since it mirrors so much of what is happening to minority groups today and in the early 1940's when nationalism was oh so popular here.
I have had to stay away from the social scene lately since it seems to take up much of my study time, I am slowly finding a balance between the social scene and my studies.
Just a note on the article I wrote for the newsletter last month. While I did enjoy writing it, I didn't think it much more than an interesting thought that was banging around in my head. Some professors here though saw it as a very serious part of the MEST stance on the war in Lebanon. I found that to be somewhat funny since I wrote it as not much more than an afterthought, still they saw it fit to write a criticism of it I now have hanging on my wall. Funny times...
So Emily will be here next month and we are going up to Sinai together to get away from the city for a while, that should be a good time and I am looking forward to having a bit of a break.
Well thats it for now, I'll have a bit more next week, including some book reviews and an entry about some Muslim Brotherhood lectures we have coming up.
Thats it for now,
I just want to leave you with a comment I heard about the controversial issue of female circumcision which is a topic many westerners tend to dwell on here.
In a lecture I attended last week about the gender agenda in the Muslim Brotherhood a speaker mentioned the difficult statistic that 96% of married women in Egypt have undergone FGM (female genital mutilation)which is completely accurate. A student raises his hand and yelled out that some forms of female circumcision actually are meant to enhance the female experience thus are female genital enhancement. I couldn't help but laugh...
I leave you with that for now

pictures

2006-10-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

weekend in alexandria

2006-10-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

so this post is really all about the pictures. I was in alexandria for the weekend and took a few pictures I would like to share. A few of us from the university went up to alex to get away from the smog and got quite a bit more than we bargained for. Since it is Ramadan and the 6th was sinai liberation day it was a huge festival both nights we were there and we got to see a side of egypt I did not know was there. a small warning, there is a picture of a goats head in a meat market and a hilarious book cover I highly recomend you look at carefuly.
Thats it ,
Enjoy

Grad school for real...

2006-09-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Well, time seems to go by here quite quickly. It seems like I only arrived in cairo a few days ago but its been a month and my semester is a third of the way done. While Arabic is getting progressively harder and I find myself challenged by most of my classes I think I may have turned into somewhat of a serious student. I enjoy all my classes almost without exceptions. In particular I am very much enjoying a book assigned in an Anthropology class, Ted Sweedenburg's Memories of Revolt about the 1936-39 Arab revolt in Israel-Palestine. His book is a clear example of the holes so very clearly being revealed in my education. The book talks extensively about revolutionary figures in Palestinian history I knew nothing about even though they lived and acted very close to northern Israel I thought I knew so well. In particular I find it fascinating to read his comparison between Tel Chai hero Trumpeldor and Kassam who was killed at the same time and became a pivotal figure in the revolt. I find this book to be a very important document even though I find much of his methods to be somewhat suspicious. He seems to me to be a bit like a doctor looking for a disease rather than a researcher in search of material. But hey thats legitimate enough, every anthropologist has his baggage, him included. I think his background is in the American University in Beirut and some liberal movements in the states. He does have a cool blog though, it's actually quite good, check it out http://mepop.blogspot.com/
There is so much to do around here I find my weekends filled by social activities, though I am becoming less social as my reading increases, I do love the Cairo Jazz club. If anyone of you gets into Cairo soon I highly recommend it. I met some great people there, musicians, artists and all kinds of people for whom Ramadan seems more like a suggestion than a rule. realy nice people and realy good music. So other than my wisdom tooth giving me some major problems all is well, my article has been published in the ME Newsletter which is kind of a big deal, I'll have a link for it when it comes out.
Thats it for now,
I need to get back to my arabic.

travel and a piece in the Newsletter

2006-09-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last week was a trip in more ways than one. Literally I traveled to Israel by van and more trippy was the cancellation of my ride back and subsequent return to Cairo by air with a new bike bought in TA. It was quite the adventure let me tell you. So I just want to let anyone who may have wanted to travel by Mezada tours to Cairo know that it is more an adventure than it is transportation. I learned more about coexistence on this ride than I did in all my years of interest in the concept. I made some friends with really good people from South Africa, East Jerusalem, Cairo and the security establishment in Egypt. It was a rocky ride but fun all around. My ride back was canceled so I flew back which was much more comfortable and much less interesting. So Today I'd like to share a small piece I wrote for our Middle East Studies Newsletter. It's a bout the changing shape if Israeli policy after the war, I particularly enjoyed writing this after learning a heck of a lot about empirial decline in the ottoman empire and the military tendencies in Arab frameworks.

Military Tendencies Shift in Israeli Policy.

As the nature of war-making in the middle east evolves, so do the specific roles of armies engaging in warfare. The challenge facing the waring factions today in southern Lebanon and northern Israel echoes this role change. Historically the primary duty of the Israeli Army has been to follow governing direction, put simply it had been controlled and directed by the government through accepted political processes, in much the same way most western armies function. The latest situation in southern Lebanon though, has uncovered a process within Israel whereby the fighting forces have become less a tool of governance, as they once were, and more as a sort of determent, or test for the present governments' competency.
Throughout the history of a changing Israeli culture there has been a constant correlation between effective governance and military control, this correlation has historically been embedded in Israeli society through education or media and punctuated by a slew of military leaders in the prime minister seat. This historic correlation combined with the present conflict allows a situation whereby an Israeli government can fail by simply failing the military apparatus (not necessary by loosing the war). One could argue that the IDF tested Olmerts' style of governance and subsequently failed him, to the approval of a cultured population.
For Olmerts government which was elected for its political moderation, the control of the IDF has become a measure of the effectiveness of non-military centered ideologies as exemplified by Kadima. The fact that this present government did not wage an effective campaign nor did it succeed in its declared goal of smashing Hizbulla has put the Israeli Army in a role similar to a domestic governmental body ,not a military body but a parallel policy making apparatus. The latest Israeli soldier protests, military fervor, and statements made by Israeli generals led by Ayalon (former chief of the armed forces) show a clear provocation aimed at the present Israeli government with a clear intent to sideline or eliminate present policies including the evacuation of settlements and the greater peace process. One needs to distinguish between the Israeli public reaction to the war today and the Israeli reaction to the previous Lebanese affair in the early 80's. Though similar, the reaction in the 80's sparked an anti-war movement akin U.S movements in the 70's, lead by students and opposed by institutions; while the reaction today is lead by the military, supported by the people and aimed at policy makers not war per say.
The implications of an army that transcends its role as such are spread through history as markers of decline or extreme change, Much like the Ottoman Janissaries, the American confederacy or the early Israeli Haganna , the IDF is now inching anxiously closer to the creation of a sort of modern Israeli warrior class to rival legitimate political navigation. By this I suggest a possible shift away from the civilian based government of today's Olmert party to a more extreme security minded apparatus led by former military generals turned politicians. This would obviously send social and cultural ripples throughout the country and create a less predictable government with regard to international policy specifically in relation to U.S interests in the region. This shift would be similar to a process which saw the rise of the Sabra class in the 30's and 40's in reaction to a national need for militancy.
This shift would be hastened by the continuation of certain processes already in play such as the continuing privatization of Israeli institutions including the IDF, the consequent growing gap between rich and poor, a continuing occupation and legitimization of violence, a deterioration of education within segregated frameworks and the decline of moral standards within the IDF as exemplified by recent sexual assault charges against numerous generals. Israel is facing the real danger of having the experiment of this non-military, centrist government fail due to the rise of military politics. While it would not be the first time the political pendulum would swing in Israel, it would mark the end of a singular attempt to build a civilian government that might have tamed militarism.
Israel has a much reputed history of seeming paradoxical processes, whereby conservative governments negotiate over land and liberal ones wage unpopular wars, the case of this latest war is an evolution of this history which puts Olmert in the sticky situation of having to explain or redefine to his country what moderation actually means within the Kadima framework. As he does so through his new plan for the restructuring the government, the new position of the Israeli army as a measure of governance is now rooting itself in the Israeli political process and threatens to set the tone for the conflict to come.

A show and a lot to tell

2006-09-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

So I have to run to class but I just had to add these pictures of a small show I went to the other day. more to come about a van ride to Israel and a bike bought in jerusalem and some bike riding in cairo- oh yes...

a piece from the MEST newsletter

2006-09-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

The portrayal of Israel in the media does not interest me in general, unless it is indicative of a general trend that transcends the daily media tit for tat between old boring mustached men worldwide. I ran across a piece in our own Middle East Studies newsletter that refereed to the IDF (Israel Defense Force) as the IOF, that is O for occupation, it reads:

It is understandable for people who see the IDF as an occupying force to call it that and I respect that thinking and agree with it to a certain degree, like any other force, like the US army and many historic armies the IDF is made up of a positive sum of people dealing in deadly affairs beyond their control.
What interests me in this case is the way in which the IDF has become more influential and accountable than actual Israeli policy these days. In this article like many others, the IDF is referenced but not actual Israeli decision makers. The war in Lebanon and the recent situation has brought the IDF into the forefront of Israeli politics, its strength and more recently its weakness in the latest war has replaced Israeli political navigation with military stumbling. In this piece the IDF is portrayed as being distinctly separate from policy and with that I can agree. I personally believe there is a similarity between the Janissaries (elite infantry units in service of the ottoman empire) and the IDF in the way they posses the ability to replace rulers and navigate public opinion. The decline of the Ottoman empire was a long process punctuated by a show of power by the elite Janissaries. The similarity is more striking today when the Israeli government is built on the instability necessary to uphold the parliamentary system without a constitution. Is it possible that the slow decline of the Ottoman empire as triggered by the rise of the janissaries is mirrored by the prominence of the IDF over political decision making? Well Israel is not an empire, and does not have such aspirations but in a world where physical size matters much less then technological and ideological dominance, could there be a similarity?
Just to clarify I am not suggesting that Israel might decline the way the ottoman empire did, that would require some 250 years, I am wondering as I am sure many of you do what the repercussions are of military bodies within a national framework like Israel.

new content and some reviews

2006-09-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

I started my semester yesterday and got off to my usual rocky start. Yes yes I missed my first two classes and literally set my clock one hour back and didn't notice it until I missed my class by one hour, nothing new here. I e-mailed my professors and let them know who they were dealing with, I now have to make coffee for one professor (no kidding) and take care of putting books on reserve for another Russian mid-east studies teacher. Oh yes the good times are here...
So all that aside I have given quite a bit of thought to my specific position as a person with considerable Jewish background who is living long tern in a Muslim country. While usually I have considerable trouble taking myself seriously, I thought it worthwhile to open up my experience to allow some of you, my friends, to enter into a conversation about the intricacies of a life lived temporarily in Egypt. I will be posting what I consider to be meaningful links about culture and political nuance I may find along the way and urge you all to take the time to see what you may not be able to access through some news media. Knowing many of you, I know that alternatives to the usual media narrative is both hard to come by and personally interesting,so here we go. I will attempt to post both links within my personal stories and as links in the permanent link column, depending on the importance I personally feel they might have. I invite you all to post comments or begin a conversation on a topic you find to be personally interesting.
There are so many things around here i find personally so interesting that it is hard to make a selection of the bits of life worth posting so I will try to always choose at least one cultural and one academic find. And so for today I decided to post a recommendation of a book and a somewhat humorous review of a band.
The first is of a book I am reading, Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora. By Dr. Joel Beinin who just happens to be the dept. chair here. I figured I would get to know the man before I take his classes and indeed this stuff is both very interesting and for the time being over my head. The topic of Jewish dispersion has been a personal interest of mine and a point of “conversation” between Emily and myself, so I hope you find it interesting. The point at which Jews decide to leave Arab countries and their life under ottoman, Muslim and British rule is a fascinating joint that still forces leverage in todays identity building processes. Look at me mom, those be some long werds... But really it is an essential read for those of us who reference Jewish persecution as a greater phenomenon without the benefit of appropriate context. Click the picture to see an online version of the book.
My cultural bit for this time will include the one the only: WAMA, they are the only boy band presently active in Egypt and for good reason, they are awful. We got to see them my last trip here and I got reacquainted with them through a show at the culture wheel ( a great cultural center here in Zamalek, press on WAMA to get info on the wheel). I am enclosing a link to the culture wheel and a picture of them. Enjoy, and download the music if you dare.
I look forward to creating a greater conversation.

one last thing, a few months ago I visited the oasis town of Siwa, the place is amazing and very much worth a visit so heres a picture from the oasis

Post comments, spread the word and keep it real,
Hyde Park pride, go Huskies, buy Beit Haemek olive oil, profile 21, 3 seat forever, Brogan for president.
Yossi

a week before leaving again

2006-08-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

So the teen program is over and it seems that things have quieted down quite a bit in the middle east so I feel much more comfortable about my future plans in Egypt. I have found a roommate for an apartment in Cairo but have yet to find a place. I will have a week to scout out a place before classes start on the 5th. That does not give me too much time but my roommate jesse is there now and should be checking out some apartments, heres hoping that works out. I have to say that the past 6 weeks running this youth program in Israel and in Boston has been exhausting, I would have liked to have more time to rest before going back to the academic grind but I guess I'll have some of that in the spring. The plan is to meet up with Emily in Israel in January and also to meet up with her parents there for a short vacation and a chance to bring the families together. That should be interesting but for now all I can think about is the logistics of getting through the next few months. Its exciting and I cant wait to get underway.

Thats it for now

next posting will be from Cairo

Israel and the program

2006-08-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

The past two months have been action packed to say the least. Emily and I have been busy running a program for teenagers in Israel and now here in Boston. After all the violence began in the North it became clear that we would have to leave a few days earlier to finish the program in Boston. I have heard from many of you guys and many people called and e-mailed to express their concern so to all of you, thank you and we are all safe and sound. I am now at a friends house in Boston, we have a few more days left in the program then I am of to Egypt again to get back to my studies. the past month has been quite the adventure, not realy because of the security situation but because we were so busy the whole time with kids and family isues and all together did not get to sleep too much. Anyway I promise to update my blog more often now that I have some more time to myself.
later,
Yossi

the end of summer 1

2006-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well the first session of classes are over. The past 5 weeks were an intensive arabic program that I have to admit were quite the challenge. I now have to transfer the credits to the American University in Cairo as these credits are throguh Northeastern- more paperwork- yay... I'm off to Israel in a few days for some r&r and to lead a trip for teens in Haifa. I'm really looking forward to seeing Emily again as she will be leading the trip with me. Emily if you read this get ready for some funny times at the airport. I'm not really looking forward to the security at the Cairo airport though , thats gonna be intaresting... Anyway after the program is over I'm heading back here to get on this degree of mine. The Middle East MA program here seems to be a great mixture of theory and practical teachings with some really impressive staff, I'm pretty psyched. well thats it for now, I'll end with a picture of me at the Arab leage with the group, its a big group so you might have to scan for me, for those of you that have never seen me with a tie this may be a shocker...
later