Egypt Study Abroad

December 11-22, 2010

City-As-Text Assignment

City-As-Text is based on the concept of ‘experiential learning’ or ‘active learning’. For

this assignment you will “read” Cairo and other cites as you would read a literary text,
trying to discern its organizational patterns, its styles, its characters, its themes, and its
underlying meanings. I want you to discover Egypt as if you were an anthropologist
visiting a foreign land (that is, not just a tourist, but a scholar who desires to learn about
this land). The explorations of Egypt will give you a chance to discover various aspects
of the city’s culture and to do your own hands-on research into the behaviors, values, and
commerce of the people who populate it.

Exploration

The group will be assigned to explore Egypt and in particular Cairo. The group will
work as a unit – mapping, observing, listening and taking notes (see below for
details). You are encouraged to share notes and insights as you go along.

The strategies you will use in your explorations include: mapping, observing, and
listening.

1. Mapping: Take note of the primary kinds of buildings, points of interest, centers
of activities, and transportation routes (by foot or vehicle). You will want to look
for patterns of housing, “traffic” flow, and social activity that might not be
apparent on any traditional “map”. Where do people go, how do they get there,
and what do they do when they get there?

2. Observation: Look carefully for the unexpected as well as the expected, for the
familiar as well as the new. You will want to notice details of architecture,
landscaping, social gathering, clothing, possessions, decoration, signage, and
advertising.

3. Listening: Talk to as many people as you can find and find out from them what is
important in their daily lives, what they need, what they enjoy, what bothers them,
what they appreciate. Strike up conversations everywhere you go. Ask about
such matters as: how expensive it is to live there (dropping by a real estate agency
could be enlightening), where to find a cheap meal (or a good one or an expensive
one), what the local politics are (try to find a local newspaper), what the history of
the place is, what the population is like (age, race, class, profession, etc.), what
people do to have a good time. In other words, imagine that you are moving to
that location and try to find out everything you would need to learn to survive
there.
General directions: During your explorations, keep in mind that the people you meet, the
buildings in which they live and work, the forms of their recreation, their modes of

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transportation – everything that they are and do – are important components of the
environment. They are part of the ecological niche. You want to discover their particular
roles in this ecology: how they use it, contribute to it, damage it, and change it. You want
to discover not only how but why they do what they do. Don’t settle for easy answers.
Don’t assume you know the answers without doing serious research. Like all good
researchers, make sure you are conscious of your own biases and that you investigate
them as thoroughly as you investigate the culture you are studying.

Grading

Grades will be based the individual report.

Individual Report

PART A – 55%
Each student will write a paper (8-10 pages) . The paper should:

1. Describe your preconceptions about Egyptian culture

2. Report findings from your exploration.
a. What areas did you observe?
b. When and how did you do so?
c. With whom did you speak?
d. What did you learn about the people who live/work/study/were visiting in
the areas visited?
e. What did you learn on the cultural visits?
f. What did you learn from the company visits?
g. What did you learn from the university visits?
h. Did your findings support or contradict your preconceptions? How so?

IMPORTANT: You need to be able to relate findings to the contents of the assigned
text.

PART B - 15%

You will write a 2-page paper on how you will be able to use what you have learnt on
your visit to advance your career.

Report is due on January 29 , 2010.

NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GRANTED