November 30, 2007
Conveying the tourist—نقل السياح
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A conventional industry, whether based in manufacturing or agriculture, involves organzing people to produce. Mass production relies upon all the well-known methods of recruiting and disciplining a workforce, organizing their use of time, their movement, and their arrangement in physical space, and developing systems of instruction, supervision, and management. Mass tourism, by contrast, involves organizing people to consume. It relies upon similar methods of managing flows and timetables, arranging physical space, and instructing and supervising, to maximize the process of consumption. (Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts, p.199) (more…)
November 29, 2007
Pictures from Aswan and Abu Simble—صوّر من أسوان و أبو سمبل
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Ths is the last batch of pictures (at the jump). This includes the pre-dawn bus-ride from Aswan to Abu Simble, the temple at Abu Simble, Lake Nasser, the High (Diggety) Dam, Philae Temple and Elephantine Island. Once again, some commentary is included in the photo captions, but more will follow within the week. Enjoy! (more…)
November 28, 2007
Edfu to Aswan—إدفو إلى أسوان
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Here we go with yet more pictures (after the jump) from the AUC-organized Nile Cruise. Featured here are the Temple of Horus at Edfu, some more Nile River shots, the Temple of Kom Ombo and a few more shots on-board the cruise ship. In case the reader is browsing here out of order, I just want to clarify that I intend to turn a much more deliberately critical eye to the material here in subsequent posts about Egypt’s tourism industry. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures, with commentary in the captions. (more…)
Nile Cruise—رحلة النيل
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Here are some more pictures (gallery after the jump), this time from the second day of the ALI trip along the Nile, starting with a tour of the Karnak Temple in Luxor and ending at the docks at Esna. Some commentary can be found in the photo captions, but be assured that I won’t let a lot of the sickness and madness evident in this sort of tourism slide by without challenge. More to follow within the week. (more…)
Some Pics from Luxor—بعض صوّر من الأُقصر
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The pictures (after the jump) were taken at various places on the first day of a Nile cruise organized by ALI in the area of Luxor. Ancient Egyptian sites included Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple, The Valley of the Kings, and the temple at Luxor. There are also pictures of lots and lots of tourists. More pictures from the rest of the tour will follow shortly and commentary on the tourism industry in Egypt (above and beyond the photo captions) will follow within the week. (more…)
November 10, 2007
Suggested reading/viewing
Here are a few things I’ve been following:
- An article from the Financial Times on the expansion of informal housing in Cairo (thanks to the Arabist)
- A somewhat roughly-made, but substantively very informative documentary on eWaste processing in Guiyu, China (thanks to Andrew Leonard)
- Taking “self-hating jew” to a whole new level (thanks Sabbah)
- On the wonkish side, a 40-page paper entitled “Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab World“; uninspired policy prognoses not withstanding (ignore the latter 7 pages), it’s a pretty interesting analysis (hat tip to Abu Aardvark)
- As’ad AbuKhalil (the Angry Arab), always a great source of humorous repudiations of Western hypocrisies and Orientalism, this time sets his sights on New York Times reporting on gays in the Muslim world.
And, on the sillier side:
- Punxsutawney Phil shills for the health care industry of Pennsylvania (thanks Paul)
- LOLCats (apparently I’m a few years behind the curve on this one) and a translation of the Holy Bible into LOLCat. My favorite is I Samuel 15 (thanks, again, to Paul)
November 9, 2007
Gridlock on Qasr Al-Aini—زحمة موصلات في شارع قصر العيني
A couple days ago I had a horrible time getting to school on Qasr Al-Aini St., my usual route to school. The road was completely gridlocked for many blocks, and I had rather a hard time getting through the tightly packed cars. I had originally thought that it had something to do with overall traffic chaos as a result of football fans rushing to buy up tickets to the final match of the African Champions League (taking place today), but I learned later that it was because of the inaugural session of Egypt’s Parliament, located off of Qasr Al-Aini. Al-Masry Al-Youm had an article about the impact of such sessions on the local traffic, traffic which I’ve discussed here extensively. It turns out they halt traffic to allow representatives to cross the street, but for long stretches of time. I don’t generally pay much mind to the traffic cops since, unlike drivers, they have no particular leverage over me, but the article mentions the impact on pedestrians as well. I generally take my cues from other cyclists, most of whom, like pedestrians, will cross roads where there is space to do so, no matter what the traffic police are telling the cars to do. I wonder if perhaps I’m not being a bit too cavalier when it comes to government representatives.
Long-Range Resistance at UCSC
I was heartened to hear about this action at my alma mater, the University of California at Santa Cruz. It was a long time in coming. The Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), proposed by the Regents of the university, has long been the subject of considerable ire on the part of many in the campus community and that of Santa Cruz in general. The issue has become urgent enough, and the options for constructively engaging with the administration so completely exhausted, that the movement opposed to the LRDP was able to gain enough traction in the public to pull off what appears, at least from all the way out here in Cairo, to have been a very successful direct action, and, perhaps more importantly, one which does not simply stand on its own, but signals the beginning of a new and more radical phase of struggle. (more…)
November 4, 2007
Biking in Cairo, Take 2—ركوب الدراجة في القاهرة، الڤيديو الثاني
Here’s another attempt at filming my daily commute, to and from school (down Qasr Al-Eini—قصر العيني and back on the Corniche—الكورنيش). This one is not as crooked as the last, but rather more shaky. The traffic is a bit more exciting, though. More pedestrians, more wheelchairs, more crazy drivers, more horns, more cabbies absentmindedly sticking their arms out the window (another reason to plug those bar ends!), more greetings with the bawab (doorman), more close-up shots of my nostrils. Good times!
Collecting places—مجموعة الأمكنة
There’s something insidious about this website (click on the map to go to it) that will generate such a map for you based on the states you click, designed for you to be able to show off the states you’ve visited (there is another version for the world traveler). And, no, it’s not because all of the states are red. It’s because it is one of the most crass illustrations of that crass urge of so many tourists and travelers (I engage in it myself) to collect places—their cultures, their terrains, their vistas—as so many notches on the belt, as so many state-shaped vinyl stickers on the back of the recreational vehicle. (more…)
November 1, 2007
A Video of Biking in Cairo—ڤيديو ركوب دراجة في القاهرة
This was a bit of an experiment. I decided to see what would happen if I strapped my little digital camera to the shoulder of my messenger bag. Below is evidence of what happened. The video came out alright, and you can get a sense of what it’s like biking downtown, but it is tilted at a 45º angle to the left. I hope you don’t get a crick in your neck trying to watch this. Luckily, as you will see, it documents only my ride from home (you’ll hear me say good morning to the security guard downstairs) to the AUC campus, which, as it turns out, is only 4 1/2 minutes. Unfortunately, you can also generally only see to my left, which leaves something to be desired. My shirt sleeve also covered up part of the lens in the wind. A much better video is available here. (more…)
