Talk Like An Egyptian
Learning Arabic in Cairo after the Arab Spring.
Learning Arabic in Cairo after the Arab Spring.
Peter Hessler New Yorker Apr 2017 30min Permalink
Ahmed Naji’s novel was not overtly political, but the “protagonist performs cunnilingus, rolls hash joints and gulps from bottles of vodka” which led a lawyer to press charges against him for causing a fluctuation in his blood pressure when the novel was excerpted in a Cairo newspaper, even though it had been approved by censors.
Jonathan Guyer Rolling Stone Feb 2017 20min Permalink
How a Madrid workshop is perfecting the art of copying imperiled art, from Egyptian tombs to Renaissance paintings.
Daniel Zalewski New Yorker Nov 2016 40min Permalink
When the battered body of a Cambridge Ph.D. student was found outside Cairo, Egyptian police claimed he had been hit by a car. Then they said he was the victim of a robbery. Then they blamed a conspiracy against Egypt. But in a digital age, it’s harder than ever to get away with murder.
Alexander Stille The Guardian Oct 2016 20min Permalink
On a small section of land wedged between Egypt and Sudan called Bir Tawil and the American who tried to claim it for himself.
Jack Shenker The Guardian Mar 2016 25min Permalink
A father’s search for meaning and justice five years after his son was killed during the Tahrir Square uprising.
Jared Maslin Time Jan 2016 15min Permalink
Who was Ashraf Marwan working for when he fell to his death from the balcony of a London flat?
Simon Parkin The Guardian Sep 2015 25min Permalink
A Chinese underwear merchant rises in Egypt.
Peter Hessler New Yorker Aug 2015 30min Permalink
An inside account of the Egyptian leader’s last day in power.
Yasmine Saleh, Paul Taylor Reuters Jul 2013 10min Permalink
On the lives of street kids.
Ben Faccini Aeon May 2013 15min Permalink
A profile of Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian doctor who became Bin Laden’s #2 and has now taken over Al-Qaeda.
Lawrence Wright New Yorker Sep 2002 Permalink
On the structural underpinnings of the revolts currently shaking the Arab world.
Max Rodenbeck New York Review of Books Mar 2011 15min Permalink
What Egypt learned from the students who overthrew Milosevic. “The Serbs are not the usual highly paid consultants in suits from wealthy countries; they look more like, well, cocky students. They bring a cowboy swagger. They radiate success. Everyone they teach wants to do what the Serbs did.”
Tina Rosenberg Foreign Policy Feb 2011 Permalink
An opinion piece on the structural causes of unrest in Egypt; the business fraternity, globalization, and the fate of Egyptian women.
Paul Amar Al-Jazeera English Feb 2011 Permalink
On the Cairo knifing of 82-year-old Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz and its aftermath.
Mary Anne Weaver New Yorker Jan 1995 55min Permalink
February 1st, 2011. Tahrir Square, Cairo.
Yasmine El Rashidi New York Review of Books Feb 2011 15min Permalink
A primer on Egypt’s political landscape.
Adam Shatz London Review of Books May 2010 30min Permalink
Arts Business World Media Music Religion
A new Egyptian TV channel called 4Shbab—“for youth” in Arabic—aims to get young people interested in Islam through music videos and reality shows.
Negar Azimi New York Times Magazine Aug 2010 Permalink