Kirjahaku

This book examines language and identity in modern Egypt using theories from discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. How is language used in Egyptian public discourse to express the collective identity of Egyptians? How does this identity relate to language form and content? Reem Bassiouney explores these questions by drawing on newspaper articles, caricatures, blogs, patriotic songs, films, school textbooks, TV talk-shows, poetry and novels to show the relationship between language, public discourse and national identity in Egypt. Readers will discover the intricate ways in which media and public discourse help shape and outline identity through linguistic processes. It is an in-depth study of identity in modern Egyptian public discourse. It focuses on nationalist discourse before, during and after the Egyptian revolution of 2011. It helps us to decode the messages put forward by the competing factions in Egyptian politics. It looks at the Egyptian national identity and the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 - one of the most important political events of the last few years.

This book examines language and identity in modern Egypt using theories from discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. How is language used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminate the collective identity of Egyptians? How does this identity relate to language form and content? These questions are explored in this book, using a broad selection of data, including newspaper articles, caricatures, blogs, patriotic songs, films, school textbooks, TV talk shows, poetry and novels. As well as furthering our understanding of the relationship between identity and language in general, Language and Identity in Modern Egypt also yields insights about the intricate ways in which media and public discourse help shape and outline identity through linguistic processes. Offers an in depth study of identity in modern Egyptian public discourse; focuses on nationalist discourse before, during and after the Egyptian revolution of 2011; based on a broad and representative selection of data and helps us to decode and understand the messages put forward by the competing factions in Egyptian politics.

It was Saturday. I remember. And while he was standing on a step ladder in the hall, changing a light bulb in the faint light coming through the window, I decided to love him."" So begins this wonderfully exuberant novel of quixotic adolescent longing and the enduring search for self. Set in middle-class urban Egypt, the story chronicles young Wafaa’s struggle to come to terms with her own sexuality and her romantic infatuation with her cousin Ashraf, a spoiled and confident young Egyptian who was educated in England. Ashraf’s worldliness and carefree attitudes stand in sharp contrast to Wafaa’s provincial Islamic piousness. As both mature they find outside events encroaching upon their sheltered lives, forcing each to confront challenges to their youthful ideologies. Ashraf is chastened by an economic turnaround that takes him to the United States as an impoverished immigrant, and Wafaa begins to question her rigid fundamentalist beliefs that seem increasingly inadequate to make sense of the complex world around her. Reem Bassiouney effortlessly captures the voices of her characters, bringing them to life and allowing the reader to be fully immersed in their lives as they unfold in moving, often funny, and eventually triumphant ways. The Pistachio Seller introduces Bassiouney’s work to an English audience for the first time.

Nominated for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award This monumental family saga offers a vivid portrait of Egypt’s Mamluk period, one that is at both sweeping in scope and intimate in detail. Set in medieval Cairo, the novel centers on three generations of Egyptians, foreign-born Mamluks, and their descendants as their trials and victories mirror those of their turbulent country. The first volume, "Sons of the People", introduces us to Zaynab, the daughter of a middle-class merchant in Cairo who catches the eye of the powerful Mamluk amir Muhammad. After they marry, Zaynab is transported to the foreign world of Mamluk politics and wealth where she must navigate the complicated machinations of various rulers and raise their four children. Their oldest son becomes an architect and embarks upon the monumental task of building a grand mosque with Sultan Hasan as a symbol of the Mamluks rise to power. In the second volume "The Judge of Qus", Bassiouney tells the story of Amr ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Karim, a wise and compassionate judge of Islamic law whose refusal to bend to the demands of the Mamluk rulers ultimately leads to Amr’s downfall. The final volume, "Events of Nights," weaves together testimonies from three characters, each with narrow and differing perspectives on the novel’s events, subtly calling the readers’ attention to the unstable nature of historical fiction. Filled with compelling drama, ruthless ambition, and tragic love, Bassiouney’s masterful trilogy brings the Mamluk’s rich cultural and architectural heritage to life through the eyes of one family.

The second edition of Arabic Sociolinguistics offers an extended commentary on the important findings of new critical approaches to language and society in Arab-speaking countries. Following a recent wave of political upheavals in the Middle East, the book engages with latest academic works that relate language to power and conflict in the Arab world. In addition to thoroughly updated accounts of diglossia, code-switching, gender, language policy and language variation in the region, Reem Bassiouney discusses the most important recent development in the field – critical sociolinguistics – in a new dedicated chapter that challenges the tendency of applying Western linguistic methods and terms to superdiverse communities. By covering the key developments of linguistic theories and contexts with up-to-date examples to help explain the phenomena under discussion, this is the most comprehensive book on Arabic sociolinguistics today.

The second edition of Arabic Sociolinguistics offers an extended commentary on the important findings of new critical approaches to language and society in Arab-speaking countries. Following a recent wave of political upheavals in the Middle East, the book engages with latest academic works that relate language to power and conflict in the Arab world. In addition to thoroughly updated accounts of diglossia, code-switching, gender, language policy and language variation in the region, Reem Bassiouney discusses the most important recent development in the field - critical sociolinguistics - in a new dedicated chapter that challenges the tendency of applying Western linguistic methods and terms to superdiverse communities. By covering the key developments of linguistic theories and contexts with up-to-date examples to help explain the phenomena under discussion, this is the most comprehensive book on Arabic sociolinguistics today.

This introduction to major topics in the field of Arabic sociolinguistics examines key issues in diglossia, code-switching, gendered discourse, language variation and change, and language policies. It introduces and evaluates various theoretical approaches and models, and it illustrates the usefulness and limitations of these approaches to Arabic with empirical data. Reem Bassiouney explores how current sociolinguistic theories can be applied to Arabic and, conversely, what the study of Arabic can contribute to our understanding of the function of language in society. Graduate students of Arabic language and linguistics as well as students of sociolinguistics with no knowledge of Arabic will find this volume to be an indispensable resource.

In this second edition of Arabic Sociolinguistics, Reem Bassiouney expands the discussion of major theoretical approaches since the publication of the book's first edition to account for new sociolinguistic theories in Arabic contexts with up-to-date examples, data, and approaches. The second edition features revised sections on diglossia, code-switching, gender discourse, language variation, and language policy in the region while adding a chapter on critical sociolinguistics-a new framework for critiquing the scholarly practices of sociolinguistics. Bassiouney also examines the impact of politics and new media on Arabic language. Arabic Sociolinguistics continues to be a uniquely valuable resource for understanding the theoretical framework of the language.

An award-winning novelist’s vibrant portrayal of the struggle to create a more unified society in medieval Egypt and how this has shaped Egypt today.Brimming with intrigue, adventure, and romance, Al-Qata’i: Ibn Tulun’s City Without Walls tells the epic story of visionary Egyptian leader Ahmad Ibn Tulun who built Al-Qata’i (now Cairo) into a thriving multicultural empire.The novel begins with the rediscovery of the Ibn Tulun Mosque in 1918 and recounts Ibn Tulun’s life and legacy in the ninth and tenth centuries. Bassiouney presents Ibn Tulun’s benevolent vision to unify all Egyptians in a new city, Al-Qata’i. He becomes so focused on his vision, however, that he cannot see the impact it has on his family or the fate of Egypt. When a betrayal leads to his demise, the rival Abbasid caliph threatens to regain control of Al-Qata’i. In the aftermath of Ibn Tulun’s death, his daughter Aisha emerges as a pivotal figure, bravely taking a stand against the Abbasids to preserve her life, the city, and the iconic mosque.This contemporary Egyptian writer forces us to consider universal themes, such as diversity and equality, through both a historical and intercultural lens that enriches our understanding of these issues in our world today.

A visionary novel of spiritual friendship across centuries. In Mario and Abu L-Abbas, acclaimed Egyptian author Reem Bassiouney reimagines the extraordinary connection between a 20th-century Italian architect and a 13th-century Andalusian Sufi saint. As stories unfold from war-torn Alexandria to medieval Tunisia, the novel explores exile, memory, and the mysteries of divine love. Translated by Roger Allen, this sweeping tale bridges East and West, past and present—where a sacred mosque becomes the meeting point of history, architecture, and the human soul.