A trade like any other : female singers and dancers in Egypt / Karin van Nieuwkerk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nieuwkerk, Karin van, 1960- author.

Series:

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women entertainers--Egypt--Social conditions.

Women entertainers.

Belly dance.

Belly dance music--Egypt.

Belly dance music.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 226 p. ) ill. ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Egypt, singing and dancing are considered essential on happy occasions. Professional entertainers often perform at weddings and other celebrations, and a host family's prestige rises with the number, expense, and fame of the entertainers they hire. Paradoxically, however, the entertainers themselves are often viewed as disreputable people and are accorded little prestige in Egyptian society. This paradox forms the starting point of Karin van Nieuwkerk's look at the Egyptian entertainment trade. She explores the lives of female performers and the reasons why work they regard as "a trade like any other" is considered disreputable in Egyptian society. In particular, she demonstrates that while male entertainers are often viewed as simply "making a living," female performers are almost always considered bad, seductive women engaged in dishonorable conduct. She traces this perception to the social definition of the female body as always and only sexual and enticing—a perception that stigmatizes women entertainers even as it simultaneously offers them a means of livelihood.

Contents:

ONE: INTRODUCTION

TWO: FEMALE ENTERTAINMENT IN NINETEENTH‐CENTURY EGYPT

THREE: FEMALE ENTERTAINMENT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

FOUR: LIFE STORIES OF FEMALE ENTERTAINERS

FIVE: MARGINALITY

SIX: HONOR AND SHAME

SEVEN: GENDER

EIGHT: FEMALE ENTERTAINERS: FEMININE AND MASCULINE

NINE: CONCLUSIONS

APPENDIX: METHODOLOGICAL NOTES

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780292757103

0292757107

OCLC:

1280945173

Publisher Number:

2027/heb04735 hdl