We shed light on the book "Anthropology in Egypt 1900-1967 Culture, Function, Reform" written by Nicholas S. Hopkins and translated by Ferial Ghazoul, issued by the National Center for Translation.
The history of anthropology in Egypt takes a stumbling and fragile approach. Egypt has always attracted anthropologists and contributed excellent studies in this field. However, this scientific field did not gain solid roots, spread at the level of institutions, and did not develop the ability to produce a rising generation of anthropologists in Egypt. Anthropology in Egypt did not It produces an accumulation, and we try, by observing anthropology from its beginnings in the twentieth century to the 1967 war, to clarify its foundations and circumstances. The sixties of the twentieth century were a moment of revolution in anthropology, not only in Egypt but in the whole world, as the focus shifted from the functional perspective to the Marxist perspective, and then to the postmodern perspective.
It is right to ask: what is anthropology? What distinguishes it from sociology, geography, or folklore? Anthropology specializes in the comparative study of human beings from a social, cultural, and sometimes biological point of view. It focuses on the group rather than the individual, or rather it focuses on the individual integrated into the group. And between the individual and the group, we find institutions that reconcile individuals with a set of cultural criteria that permeate the institution, for example: the family or the university. Anthropology deals with considering the multiple institutions that reflect the social system or cultural norms correspond with each other so that each institution contributes to the understanding and awareness of the other institutions. However, groups are made up of individuals, and the actions of individuals take into account the framework and at the same time modify this framework sometimes, so no one is a prisoner of the framework.
Many scientific branches related to anthropology were founded in Egypt, but outside the university context. There is no doubt that Egyptology was important in Egypt from an early date, at least since the occupation of Napoleon Bonaparte and the description of his scientific mission to Egypt, and geography and economics benefited from early royal patronage.
This book presents the pioneers of anthropology in Egypt in the twentieth century, specifically during the years (1900-1967), who contributed with their field studies and academic work in writing a distinguished chapter in the history of social sciences, focusing on Egypt and the Nile Valley, employing the cultural, functional and reformist perspectives in those studies.
With their different nationalities, references, and approaches, they participated in illuminating the Egyptian culture as people live it in villages and cities in the desert and in oases with their complex relationships; Where traditional values are intertwined with modern education, kinship relations overlap with economic structure, and ethical dimensions intersect with social status.
This study deals with the beginnings of anthropology in Egypt and its development at the hands of anthropologists such as Winifred Blackman, Hans Winkler, Edward Evans - Pritchard, Arthur Hockart, Ali Issa, Muhammad Jalal, Henry Ariot and Abbas Ammar, then the completion of the process at the hands of Hamid Ammar, Ahmed Abu Zaid, Jack Burke, Laila Al Hamamsi and Sayed Owais and others.
The book concludes by exploring the intellectual future of anthropology in Egypt and the experience of other Arab countries in the field of social anthropology.
Tue, Apr. 18, 2023
