Occidentalism in Egypt

<p><b>A nuanced study of the struggle for modern identity in Egypt through art</b><br><br>Ther is no shortage of depictions of Arabs from the Western world. But what about Europeans? How are they perceived and understood in the Arab world? Focusing on visual culture, <i>Occidentalism in Egypt</i> sets out to establish a typology of Europeans and Europe as they are perceived and represented by Egyptians, through an interdisciplinary study that takes into account painting, cinema, literature, popular culture, and the satirical press.<br><br>Eschewing the binary of alienating Westernization and authentic Egyptianness, Brenda Segone shows how the quest for identity in modern Egyptian artistic expression unfolded during a period of profound upheaval, decolonization, and the assertion of national independence. She argues that the Egyptian gaze deconstructed the “European center” both politically and aesthetically. Thus, what became <i>authentically Egyptian</i> was an effective weapon of decolonization that was built collectively by Egyptians <i>and</i> foreigners. Unlike the Orientalists, who made their act of appropriation invisible, Egyptian Westernist artists gave their gesture visible form, and, even where the West appears as a negative authority or as a threat to local culture, the artists transcend stereotypes to achieve a form of universality in questioning both themselves and the myth of modern Egypt.</p>