Eventful Transformations: Al-Futuwwa between History and the Everyday

Abstract

A special correspondent for the leading Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram wrote from Alexandria on 28 May 1936: “One of the effects of the Al-Bosfur nightclub murder in Cairo is that its circumstances have led to an interest in the problem of ‘al-futuwwat’ [sing., al-futuwwa] and how much power and influence (al-sat˙wa) they have in the capital and in other Egyptian cities.” The murder referred to was that of a popular singer and dancer, Imtithal Fawzi, by a band of assassins led by failed businessman and weight-trainer Fuad al-Shami. I argue here that this murder can be read as an instance of a larger event, which might be inscribed in the following way: a moment that irrevocably branded the public figure of futuwwa with the additional meanings of thug, mobster, and nefarious villain—bal ˙tagi. This is not the conventional way of registering this moment; indeed, the modern transformation of al-futuwwa is rarely considered as a historical event. It is not my aim here to affirm or deny the outcome of this transformation, nor am I suggesting that the normative conception of al-futuwwa as an Islamic ideal of masculinity had never before had any negative connotations. Rather, I posit—and want to interrogate—a changed historical relationship in the constitution of al-futuwwa, in which the nature of history itself was radically transformed and contributed to the formation of a new politics and a new subject of politics. As part of the hegemonic rise of this field of politics and its subject, history typically shows, or simply presumes, that other life-worlds, like that of the futuwwat and their particular form of power, were rendered exceptional and ultimately obsolete. In a larger project from which this article is drawn, I explored the gendered constitution of that new cultural and political hegemony. I labeled the gender norm that emerged at the intersection of colonial modernity and nationalism as effendi (bourgeois) masculinity, which I located in a new constellation of practices and discourses around the desirable, modern body. The present essay is in part an effort to de-center this bourgeois figure and the terms of its narration, which I unwittingly reproduced in the original study by rendering the event of the futuwwa's transformation as a bit part within a larger story of ostensibly greater national and historical import.

The Effect of Cultural Distance on Translating Cultural References in al-Zayyat's The Open Door (1960

“…Afterwards, the negative connotations of futuwwa started to emerge and by the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, futuwwa became associated with a strong man imposing his power over a neighbourhood. It turned into a system in Cairo and other Egyptian cities by which every futuwwa, or rather fitiwwa, dominated a certain neighbourhood and protected it from the attacks of the fitiwwas of other neighbourhoods who usually sought to bring more districts under their control, aiming for a bigger share of protection fees (Jacob, 2007). Of course, this phenomenon does not exist in modern-day Egypt and has been so for long decades.…”

Contemporary Youth Research in Arab Mediterranean Countries: Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Research

“…In Arab Mediterranean Societies, until the first decade of XXI century, youth was a key variable in the analyses of education, employment, politics, gender, policies and mobility for several disciplines (El Messini, 1974;Rough, 1987;Singerman, 1994;Early, 1997;Bayat, and Denis, 2000;Haenni, 2005;Jacob, 2007;Scheele, 2007;Newcomb, 2009) but few works were produced about youth as an explicit research category in Arab Mediterranean countries. In recent years, coming from different disciplines within the social sciences, several scholars maintain a critical standpoint toward the construction of youth as a category in scholarly and political discourses and projects.…”

“…Among the male features are strength, courage, gallantry, bravery, honesty, intelligence, generosity, grace, verve, insight, etc. Skills and virtues that would be included in the term futuwa, contrasting with muruwa -understood as a model of control by the intellect of irrational passions and lusts (El Messini 1974;Singermann 1995;Haenni 2005;Jacob 2007). The patriarchal model emphasizes the lack of reason -aql'-of young people, which paradoxically allows for the expression of certain attitudes that are strongly discouraged in other age groups and are classified as gross errors of judgment, including disobedience to the political system.…”

“…A question arises, are no married young adult women placed in an exaggerated liminal situation? Prior to her marriage, her mere presence in public space can be perceived as dangerous to the community (El Messini, 1974;Rough, 1987;Singerman 1995;Jacob 2007). However, new social conditions permit and indeed require the growing presence of young unmarried women who go to college, work and occupy the same spaces as men in malls and central areas of the city.…”

Mohamed “el-Limby” Saad and the Popularization of a Masculine Code

“…El-Limby sees himself as the cool guy from the hood. He is acting like a futuwwa, a term which is translated in English sometimes as bully and sometimes as a chivalrous person (Salinger 1950;Jacob 2007). It is a known character in real life and very famous in Egyptian films as well (Malkmus and Armes 1991: 101-102).…”