Live and Die Like a Man: Gender Dynamics in Urban Egypt

Description

Watching the revolution of January 2011, the world saw Egyptians, men and women, come together to fight for freedom and social justice. These events gave renewed urgency to the fraught topic of gender in the Middle East. The role of women in public life, the meaning of manhood, and the future of gender inequalities are hotly debated by religious figures, government officials, activists, scholars, and ordinary citizens throughout Egypt. Live and Die Like a Man presents a unique twist on traditional understandings of gender and gender roles, shifting the attention to men and exploring how they are collectively "produced" as gendered subjects. It traces how masculinity is continuously maintained and reaffirmed by both men and women under changing socio-economic and political conditions. Over a period of nearly twenty years, Farha Ghannam lived and conducted research in al-Zawiya, a low-income neighborhood not far from Tahrir Square in northern Cairo. Detailing her daily encounters and ongoing interviews, she develops life stories that reveal the everyday practices and struggles of the neighborhood over the years. We meet Hiba and her husband as they celebrate the birth of their first son and begin to teach him how to become a man; Samer, a forty-year-old man trying to find a suitable wife; Abu Hosni, who struggled with different illnesses; and other local men and women who share their reactions to the uprising and the changing situation in Egypt. Against this backdrop of individual experiences, Ghannam develops the concept of masculine trajectories to account for the various paths men can take to embody social norms. In showing how men work to realize a "male ideal," she counters the prevalent dehumanizing stereotypes of Middle Eastern men all too frequently reproduced in media reports, and opens new spaces for rethinking patriarchal structures and their constraining effects on both men and women. Review: Interesting - I think about this book constantly and I have lent it to several friends and professors. Ghannam's work is very impressive in my opinion, and she approaches the topic of masculinity in a way that is unusually interesting and entertaining (at least in terms of gender studies). She works with several case studies over the course of many years, showing the "masculine trajectories" of a somewhat diverse group of Egyptian men. She accomplishes a fascinating study. Review: Offers invaluable insight into gender identity in the Middle East - Live and Die Like a Man offers a well-researched, insightful, and timely perspective on the ways in which men and women navigate the search for identity and security amid economic and political strife in contemporary Egypt. Building upon nearly 20 years of fieldwork, Ghannam documents moving life stories that dramatize how collective notions of masculinity affect individuals' life choices. A fascinating aspect of Ghannam's approach is her attention to the ways in which women as well as men appeal to communal notions of manhood in order to achieve their aims, be they organizing political protests against the Mubarak regime in 2011, arguing for short-term personal goals, or reflexively reinforcing social norms. Her exploration of gender-related violence raises many questions worthy of inter-disciplinary study. She points out the way communal notions of manhood prompt a violent response in some circumstances, whereas in other situations, the varied ideals of manhood demand self-restraint. What happens when social imperatives regarding both judicious action and self-restraint come into conflict with a totalitarian regime which sanctions violence that violates social norms? Another fascinating topic Ghannam addresses is the collective celebration of a "good ending"," a death that happens in the service of good deeds, the protection of others, or efforts to provide for one's family. It is particularly interesting to consider the ways in which, as the author points out, socially structured notions of manhood encourage activism rather than fatalistic passivity. Her arguments are too complex and nuanced to summarize here, but thoughtful readers will find much to reflect on, particularly the ways in which gender norms become variously reinforced or transformed in relation to national and class crises. Given the importance of so many of these issues and the continuing unrest in the Middle East, this work provides invaluable information and insight for readers from all backgrounds.