Routledge Handbook on Cairo: Histories, Representations and Discourses

This Handbook simultaneously provides a single text that narrates the Cairo of yesterday and of today, and gives the reader a major reference to the best of Cairo scholarship.

Divided into three parts covering Histories, Representations and Discourses of Cairo, the chapters provide comprehensive coverage of Cairo from both a disciplinary and an interdisciplinary point of view, with scholars from a great range of disciplines. Part One contains chapters on the history of specific parts of the city to provide both a concise picture of Cairo and an appreciation for the diversity of its constituent parts and periods. Part Two of the book deals with the various forms of representations of the city, from high-end literature to popular songs, and from photographs to films. Finally, Part Three covers current discourses about the city, comprising historical reflections on the city from the present, surveys of its current condition, analysis of it serious urban problems and visions for its future.

The Routledge Handbook on Cairo provides a unique and innovative look at the ever-evolving state of Cairo. It will be a vital reference source for scholars and students of Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East History, Cultural Studies, Urban Studies, Architecture and Politics.

Nezar AlSayyad is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Planning and Urban History at the University of California, Berkeley, where he designed and also served for two decades as Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). He is a founder and past President of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE), and Editor of Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (TDSR). Among his grants and awards are those from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Getty Center, Ford and the Graham Foundations, and a Guggenheim Distinguished Fellowship. He has authored and edited numerous books, several of which have been translated into other languages, among them Nile: Urban Histories on the Banks of a River (2019); Traditions: The Real, The Hyper, and the Virtual in the Built Environment (2014); Cairo: Histories of a City (2011); The Fundamentalist City? (2010); Cinematic Urbanism (2006); Making Cairo Medieval (2005); and Cities and Caliphs (1991).