Challenges in teaching arabic as a foreign language

An essential collection of empirical studies on the TAFL (teaching Arabic as a foreign language) classroom experience, by leading professionals in the fieldAlthough teaching Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL) has grown inexorably in recent decades, there is a dearth of empirical research on the...

Monarchs of the nile

This book presents a concise account of the lives and times of some of the more significant occupants of the Egyptian throne, from the unification of the country around 3000 BC down to the extinction of native rule just under three millennia later. Some, such as Thutmose III, had a major impact o...

State, peasants, and land in mid-nineteenth-century egypt

An alternative reading of the relationship between the state and smallholder peasants in mid-nineteenth-century EgyptThis book examines the rural history of Egypt during the middle years of the nineteenth century, a period that is often glossed over, or altogether forgotten. Drawing on a wide arr...

Copts at the crossroads

In the light of the escalation of sectarian tensions during and after Mubarak’s reign, the predicament of the Arab world’s largest religious minority, the Copts, has come to the forefront. This book poses such questions as why there has been a mass exodus of Copts from Egypt, and how this relates...

The literary atlas of cairo

Through its thematic organization, The Literary Atlas of Cairo traces the developments that have taken place over a century in modes of literary production, and presents a unique historical cross-section of the actors within the Cairene literary field, to provide an unprecedented, original, and i...

Scanning the pharaohs

The royal mummies in the Cairo Museum are an important source of information about the lives of the ancient Egyptians. The remains of these pharaohs and queens can inform us about their age at death and medical conditions from which they may have suffered, as well as the mummification process and...

Coptic culture and community

A wide-ranging exploration of the daily lives of ordinary Coptic Christians, from late Antiquity until todayThis volume brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to examine aspects of the daily lived experiences of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority from late Antiquity to the pre...

Whatever happened to the egyptian revolution?

In his latest exploration of the Egyptian malaise, Galal Amin first looks at the events of the months preceding the Revolution of 25 January 2011, pointing out the most important factors behind popular discontent. He then follows the ups and downs (mainly the downs) of the Revolution: the causes ...

The magic of turquoise

Was Nirvana’s near-fatal accident at sea simply a case of bad timing, or was it attempted suicide? And what was so important about an unread email that made her jump recklessly into the Mediterranean? As Leila tries to make sense of her aunt’s fate, Nirvana embarks on a journey through memories a...

‘arabi liblib

While most courses in Egyptian Arabic teach the essentials of syntax, morphology, and vocabulary, this first in a series of three books takes the student a step beyond and focuses on colorful expressions used by native speakers. The learner will advance from knowing how to form a good sentence to...

Dates on my fingers

Saleem, fed up with all the violence, religiosity, and strict family hierarchies of his Iraqi village, flees to Spain to establish a new life for himself. But his lonely exile is turned upside down when he encounters his father, Noah, in a Madrid nightclub after not seeing him in more than a deca...

Egyptian flavors

The delights of Egypt’s flavor-filled cuisine come to life in this beautifully illustrated gift book, bringing quintessential Middle Eastern recipes within the reach of cooks everywhereEgyptian cuisine is one of the world's oldest and yet least known food traditions. This charming, pocket-sized c...

A certain woman

In this prize-winning novel, Nahid is a woman determined to go on a journey of self discovery and understanding. As we accompany her in her sometimes delirious, sometimes lucid journey, we are given rare glimpses of the inner thoughts and feelings of a woman confronting questions of love and inti...

Alif: journal of comparative poetics, no. 29

This issue of Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics explores how universities have always borne the task of questioning, and how the role and status of the university itself has been put into question: the very idea of a university has been open to contestation, revision, and crisis. In today’s wo...

The nile portfolio

Between 1842 and 1849, on the basis of sketches made on the spot in Egypt and aided by his excellent memory, the Scottish painter David Roberts produced the drawings that Louis Haghe turned into prints that were then published in London.Ten of Roberts’s beautiful views of the Nile are reproduced ...

Media arabic for beginners

An introductory media Arabic book for the elementary and low intermediate levelsWith the proliferation of satellite television news and social media channels, students of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) have access to an increasingly vast range of print and broadcast news from the Arab world. Media ...

Temple of the world

Despite the prominence of ancient temples in the landscape of Egypt, books about them are surprisingly rare; this new publication from a prominent Czech scholar answers the need for a study that goes beyond temple architecture to examine the spiritual, economic and political aspects of these spec...

Hassan fathy

This fully illustrated volume represents the most comprehensive examination yet of the life and work of the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (1900–89), and the regional and international significance of his contribution to the lived environment. Eleven Egyptian and international scholars rev...

Ramesses, loved by ptah

The dramatic story behind the 3,200-year-old colossal Grand Egyptian Museum Ramesses statueKing Ramesses II ruled Egypt for an extraordinary sixty-six years (1279–1213 BC) during the Nineteenth Dynasty. A great warrior and lavish builder, he fathered dozens of children and is widely regarded as t...

Labib habachi

Labib Habachi, Egypt’s most perceptive and productive Egyptologist, was marginalized for most of his career, only belatedly receiving international recognition for his major contributions to the field. In Labib Habachi: The Life and Legacy of an Egyptologist, Jill Kamil presents not only a long-o...

Islamic art in cairo

Emile Prisse d’Avennes (1807–79) spent a total of nineteen years in Egypt, traveling throughout the country to collect the stunning images that he later published in Paris in two collections, Atlas de l’histoire de l’art egyptien and L’ Art arabe. It is the illustrations from the latter that make...

Memories in translation

Nobody has done more for modern Arabic literature in translation than Denys Johnson-Davies, described by the late Edward Said as “the leading Arabic–English translator of our time.” With more than twenty-five volumes of translated Arabic novels, short stories, plays, and poetry to his name, and a...

Iron from tutankhamun's tomb

A comprehensive study of the iron objects found in Tutankhamun’s tomb that include daggers, quivers, arrows, and an elaborately decorated bow caseA century after Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon’s sensational discovery in 1922 of the virtually intact tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings...

A dictionary of idiomatic expressions in written arabic

How would you ever know that “to lose a baby ostrich” means to rush into something without thinking? Or that “what can the wind take from the pavement?” is said when someone has nothing left to lose?This comprehensive guide to idiomatic expressions in literary Arabic, the first of its kind, will ...

Annales du service des antiquités de l’egypte

For centuries, Egyptian civilization and its antiquities have inspired passionate interest. Archaeologists, engineers, astronomers, poets, painters, people of different cultures, and travelers have been riveted by Egypt’s ancient monuments. How much do we really know about these awe-inspiring won...

Alif: journal of comparative poetics, no. 32

This issue of Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics is devoted to the intersection of the imaginary and the documentary, the fictional and the cultural in the three genres of literature (poetry, fiction, and drama), in history, in film (feature and documentary), in photography, in plastic arts, an...

The house of the coptic woman

A Notable African Book of 2023 (Brittle Paper)Tightly plotted and taboo-breaking, this explosive story takes readers to the roots of religious strife where the smallest of sparks can start a bonfire Nader, an idealistic public prosecutor at the outset of his career, leaves Cairo to start a new p...

Honey hunger

"An evocative, unpredictable novel."—Words Without BordersA breathtaking novel of longing, uncertainty, and ultimately of hope, written by an International Prize for Arabic Fiction-winning author and an International Booker-prize winning translatorAzzan is a beekeeper in a rural community in Oman...

Ancient egyptian art

In this unique new visual reference work, the finest examples of Egyptian art from museum collections around the world are illustrated to advantage in more than 360 beautiful full-color photographs. Not only a feast for the eyes, this book is informative too, with introductions to each historical...

On friendship between the no longer and the not yet: an ethnographic account

An ethnographic study of the contemporary meanings, forms, and purposes of friendship among young EgyptiansThere is a great deal to be said about ideas and imaginations of the “future” when one does not have the luxury of maintaining a slot in the present. In the midst of acute conditions of prec...

Understanding cairo

This book moves beyond superficial generalizations about Cairo as a chaotic metropolis in the developing world into an analysis of the ways the city’s eighteen million inhabitants have, in the face of a largely neglectful government, built and shaped their own city. A new post-revolution Afterwor...

Palestinian music in exile

A historical and contemporary study of Palestinian musicianship in exile in the Middle East, spanning half a century in disparate locationsPalestinian Music in Exile is a historical and contemporary study of Palestinian musicianship in exile in the Middle East, spanning half a century in disparat...

Christians in egypt

Drawing on more than four decades of experience studying Christian communities in Egypt, Otto Meinardus offers here a sweeping overview of the principal Christian churches and organizations in Egypt today. For the first time, this wealth of information has been gathered into one volume, making it...

Quseir

This volume presents the results of recent archaeological and historical studies of the Ottoman fort of Quseir, which was Upper Egypt’s only direct outlet to the Red Sea at that time. Illustrated with over 100 maps, drawings, and photographs, this groundbreaking study examines a key example of Ot...

The cotton plantation remembered

Cotton made the fortune of the Fuuda family, Egyptian landed gentry with peasant origins, during the second part of the nineteenth century. This story, narrated and photographed by a family member who has researched and documented various aspects of her own history, goes well beyond the family ph...

The jinn daughter

FINALIST FOR THE NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARD BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY: AN AMAZON EDITORS' PICK A stunning debut novel and an impressive feat of storytelling that pulls together mythology, magic, and ancient legend in the gripping story of a mother's struggle to save her only daugh...

Amarna sunrise

Renown Egyptologist, Aidan Dodson, the author of Amarna Sunset, looks at how Akhenaten's experiment with monotheism beganThe latter part of the fifteenth century BC saw Egypt’s political power reach its zenith, with an empire that stretched from beyond the Euphrates in the north to much of what i...

Palmyra (arabic edition)

In this important and timely publication, top international scholars present current research and developments about the art, archaeology, and history of the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Syria. Palmyra became tragic headline news in 2015, when it was overtaken ...

Abusir

At the center of the world-famous pyramid field of the Memphite necropolis lies a group of pyramids, temples, and tombs named after the nearby village of Abusir. Long overshadowed by the more familiar pyramids at Giza and Saqqara, this area has nonetheless been the site, for the last fifty years,...

Cairo modern

The novelist’s camera pans from the dome of King Fuad University (now Cairo University) to students streaming out of the campus, focusing on four students in their twenties, each representing a different trend in Egypt in the 1930s. Finally the camera comes to rest on Mahgub Abd al-Da’im. A scamp...

Embrace on brooklyn bridge

On the eve of Salma’s twenty-first birthday, scattered friends and family converge on New York for a celebration organized by Darwish, her obstinate grandfather. Each guest’s journey to this fated gathering takes on an unexpected significance, as they find themselves revisiting the choices they h...

Alif: journal of comparative poetics, no. 26

This issue of Alif is devoted to travel and travel-writing in the broadest cross-cultural sense and focuses on what Mahmoud Manzalauoui has termed indigenes, visitants, sojourners, and habitants or metics, particularly in Egypt and the Middle East. It is a tribute to Middle East scholar and accla...

Egypt unexpected

This book of extraordinary photographs of the ‘other side’ of Egypt is the result of the more than three years that Italian photojournalist Silvia Dogliani spent in the country, traveling, meeting people, and looking out for the unexpected. Through her pictures she presents a remarkable—and diffe...

Kallimni ‘arabi aktar

The complete series of innovative new coursebooks in Egyptian colloquial ArabicAimed at the growing number of students studying Arabic worldwide, Kallimni ‘Arabi Aktar takes an innovative, functional approach to the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied an...

Femininity and dance in egypt: embodiment and meaning in al-raqs al-baladi

Considering the paradoxical position of al-raqs al-baladi or “belly dance” in Egyptian social life, as both a vibrant and a contested cultural form, this issue of Cairo Papers in Social Science considers the impact of wider socio-cultural and political forces on the marginalization of professiona...

Alif: journal of comparative poetics, no. 24

In the time of love

Love—who can count its varieties, measure its force, uncover the masks it wears, or predict how it binds and divides? In this spare novel, master storyteller Naguib Mahfouz gives us some of his most memorable characters, widely familiar to Egyptians from the film version of the book: Sitt Ain, wi...