From Chahineâs al-Iskandariyya ⦠leh to Salata baladi and Ê¿An Yahud Misr
Rethinking Egyptian Jewsâ Cosmopolitanism, Belonging and Nostalgia in Cinema
In: Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSearch for other papers by Yaron Shemer in
Current site
Google Scholar
This study examines the discursive trajectories of the cosmopolitan Egyptian Jew in the documentaries Salata baladi (Nadia Kamel, 2007) and âAn Yahud Misr (Amir Ramses, 2012) in light of Youssef Chahineâs classic al-Iskandariyya ⦠leh (1978). Undoubtedly, each of these films provides a complex story of Jewish life in Egypt and, taken together, these creative works offer an alternative to formulaic representations of Jews in Egyptian cinema and television. Yet, a close analysis of the three films reveals an underlying problematic rendering of cosmopolitanism in the context of the Egyptian Jewish community. Arguably, the filmmakersâ main interest in attending to the Jewish question relates more to nostalgic views of Egyptianness (of the pre-1952 Revolution era) as a cosmopolitan, multiethnic and multi-religious identity, than to a genuine interest in Jewish life, history and religion. In other words, the limited and skewed view of the Jewish community, with its near exclusion of the poor, uneducated, monolingual and religiously traditional Jewish residents of Egypt, is driven primarily by anxieties about Egyptian identity in which cosmopolitan Jews are assigned a supporting role in the play of an idealized Egypt of the past and in challenging xenophobic sentiments in the present.
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Interview, 10 August 2013.
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From Chahineâs al-Iskandariyya ⦠leh to Salata baladi and Ê¿An Yahud Misr
Rethinking Egyptian Jewsâ Cosmopolitanism, Belonging and Nostalgia in Cinema
In: Middle East Journal of Culture and CommunicationSearch for other papers by Yaron Shemer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This study examines the discursive trajectories of the cosmopolitan Egyptian Jew in the documentaries Salata baladi (Nadia Kamel, 2007) and âAn Yahud Misr (Amir Ramses, 2012) in light of Youssef Chahineâs classic al-Iskandariyya ⦠leh (1978). Undoubtedly, each of these films provides a complex story of Jewish life in Egypt and, taken together, these creative works offer an alternative to formulaic representations of Jews in Egyptian cinema and television. Yet, a close analysis of the three films reveals an underlying problematic rendering of cosmopolitanism in the context of the Egyptian Jewish community. Arguably, the filmmakersâ main interest in attending to the Jewish question relates more to nostalgic views of Egyptianness (of the pre-1952 Revolution era) as a cosmopolitan, multiethnic and multi-religious identity, than to a genuine interest in Jewish life, history and religion. In other words, the limited and skewed view of the Jewish community, with its near exclusion of the poor, uneducated, monolingual and religiously traditional Jewish residents of Egypt, is driven primarily by anxieties about Egyptian identity in which cosmopolitan Jews are assigned a supporting role in the play of an idealized Egypt of the past and in challenging xenophobic sentiments in the present.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 799 | 53 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 280 | 8 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 102 | 15 | 0 |
