Egyptian Youth in Urban and Virtual Spaces Mark Allen Peterson Miami University
Fieldwork in Egypt , 2005, 2010
What I have to say today is based on anthropology at a distance But informed by Prior fieldwork Discussions with friends in Egypt Social media
US EDITION MIDDLE EAST EDITION
Youth
Youth is… A life stage A cultural construction
Cosmopolitans The cosmopolitan class (Peterson 2011) The young, educated, underemployed young brothers in cyberspace (Lynch 2007)
New Youth Movements 1. New and independent 2. Flexible, decentralized structured and fluid leadership. 3. The movements are trans- ideological. 4. Drew in large numbers of participants who had never before engaged in public political acts. 5. Depend to a great extent on social media for communication. From Shehata 2011.
Virtual Spaces
Overcoming isolation Bringing people together Trying out identities
Urban Spaces
player_embedded Creativity
Liminality
Antistructure
Communitas