CAIRO – 24 September 2017: New focus on the social history of industrial workers was divulged recently in a published award-winning book,
Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and social transformations in Egypt, by Egyptian-American author Hanan Hamad, who spoke with Egypt Today on Friday about her society-tackling novel.
Assistant professor of Middle Eastern History in Texas Christian University (TCU), Hammad has won two American prizes including the Arab American Book Awards and the National Women’s Studies Association Award for her book last month.
Industrial Sexuality sheds light on various understandings in the history of masculinity and morality in social labor.
“This is new in the Middle Eastern labor history that mostly focuses on labor movement and workers’ participation in nationalism. The book deals with masculinity and with the male gender. This is a new field in gender studies. When people talk about gender issues, they always think of women’s issues,” Hammad told Egypt Today.
The book tackles issues of masculinity and femininity and the establishment of working classes. The author then reworked these concepts of masculinity and femininity in a swiftly changing society.
Hammad aimed to focus on ordinary people who are usually found in crowded factories, bus stations, and market places.
“I am pleased that I managed to maintain that goal of focusing on those ordinary people who are the real protagonists in my narrative,” she added.
When asked about her personal opinion on the current stature of Arabs and minorities living in the west and how they’re previewed by westerners, Hammad who has lived for many years in the U.S. described that the situation in the U.S. “feels bad.”
“I never personally experienced any sort of direct harassment [for being an] Arab; however I can’t deny the level of anxiety I feel. Like most immigrant and minority communities in the U.S., we are bombarded by hostile discourses from different directions. Racism and hostility come from the top, President Trump and his appointee, to the bottom of the American society.”
Despite the negative consequences Hammad receives for living as an Arab in the U.S., she also mentioned the positive support she receives among minority groups and immigrants. She cited a real example where Americans went to airports from across the county to support Muslims upon their arrival following what she called a “reckless” move by American President Donald Trump for applying the Muslim ban.
She further pointed out that Muslims and minorities have also received support and donations from civil liberty advocacy groups who are known for embarking on legal work to protect the rights of Muslims and all minorities.
“My institute, TCU witnessed the largest protest rally against Trump’s Muslim ban. In so much as the rise of White racism comes to the forefront, Muslims and Arabs in the USA become more visible allowing the American public to see us as part of the American fabric and contributors to the American society and culture. We also become more [visible] as humans with diverse subcultures, ideologies, religious and political affiliations and this is great in itself,” stated Hammad.
Hammad further explained her insights on social transformations in Egypt and what it lacks, emphasizing that the concept of equality is an ideal that is lacking in the Egyptian social development rhetoric. Equality to Hammad is depicted in equal rights between all people before the law, full human rights for men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims, rich and poor, and the urban and rural populations.
She wished that people would all recognize the privileges of the halves male urban Muslims and admit this is not fair or reasonable, hence changing that.
Hanan Hammad (Photo courtesy of Goodreads)
She perceives that culture is demonstrated in the masculine working class where women participate in Egyptian labor, in roles similar to men’s, such as Land Ladies (land lords). Social culture constantly changes, and that can be seen in the way people deal and partake together despite communal and sex dividends.
Hammad backs up her argument with a real example in Egypt featuring solidarity among male and female workers despite their geographical origins, and between people of Al-Mahalla governorate – which is the center of textiles industry in Egypt - during strikes and protests.
When asked about her book’s contributions to changing certain rhetoric manifested about Arabs, Hammad mentioned that there is no one book or a collection of books that can change such a wide scale belief.
“The contribution and impact of my book will stay in the academic circles relevant to Middle East studies and other studies conducted on gender, sexuality, urbanization, and industrialization,” she said.
She mentions for example the development of Middle East scholarship in U.S.A. that has transformed greatly since 1970, at a time when great scholars such as Roger Owen among others has challenged the Orientalist approach in dissecting and understanding Middle Eastern societies and economies.
“I will be very happy if my work continues the contribution of important social historians such as Judith Tucker, Afaf Ahmad Lufti al-Sayyid Marsot, Joel Beinin, Zachary Lockman, Khaled Fahmy, and Ken Cuno among many others,” Hammad explained.
Hammad revealed her future plans and upcoming projects as she is currently finalizing a book on life and legacy of the famous late Egyptian singer Laila Murad called,
Laila Murad (1918-1995). The research-based book seeks to use her life and persona to analyze the important role of culture as Hammad declared herself to be a big fan of Murad.
“My research employs her life and persona to analyze the crucial role popular culture, commercial cinema and celebrity publications in particular, played in constructing an exclusive Arabo-Islamic Egyptian identity and fastening virginity and sexual purity in the heart of this national gendered identity. I’m also starting a new project, still in its early phase, on the social history of childhood in modern Egypt,” she concluded.
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