|
The Yacoubian Building
''The Yacoubian Building'' ( ar, عمارة يعقوبيان ''‘Imārat Ya‘qūbyān'') is a novel by Egyptian author Alaa-Al-Aswany. The book was made into a film of the same name in 2006 and into a TV series in 2007. Published in Arabic in 2002 and in an English translation in 2004, the book, ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, is a ''roman à clef'' and scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the Revolution of 1952. The locale of the novel is downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the novel's action takes place. The author, a dentist by profession, had his first office in the Yacoubian Building in Cairo. ''The Yacoubian Building'' was the best-selling Arabic novel for 2002 and 2003, and was voted Best Novel for 2003 by listeners to Egypt' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yacoubian Building (Cairo)
The Yacoubian Building (, ) is a mixed-use building in Downtown Cairo, Egypt, built in 1937. Located on No. 34 on Talaat Harb Street, Cairo, the Art Deco style edifice was named after its Lebanese-Armenian owner and businessman Hagop Yacoubian. The architect of the building was Garo Balian. The building served as a residence for Cairo's upper-class during the Kingdom of Egypt, home to cotton millionaires, members of the royal family, and foreign nationals. During and after the 1952 revolution the building was used as a domicile for Egyptian military officers and their wives. By the 1970s the building was transferred to mixed use, including shopfronts and offices. A fictionalised version of the building serves as a metaphor for Cairo's own deterioration in the 2003 Arabic language novel '' The Yacoubian Building'' by Alaa Al Aswany. The novel was adapted into a 2006 film of the same name, directed by Marwan Hamed. A larger building, located on Talaat Harb Square was used for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look (clothing, fashion and jewelry), Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings (from skyscrapers to cinemas), ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects like radios and vacuum cleaners. It got its name after the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. Art Deco combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, it represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''.Taboo. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Retrieved 21 Mar. 2012 Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies. Taboos may be prohibited explicitly, for example within a legal system or religion, or implicitly, for example by social norms or conventions followed by a particular culture or organization. Taboos are often meant to protect the individual, but there are other reasons for their development. An ecological or medical background is apparent in many, including some that are seen as religious or spiritual in origin. Taboos can help use a resource more efficiently, but when applied to only a subsection of the community they can also serve to suppress said subsection of the community. A taboo acknowledged by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." Along with bisexuality and heterosexuality, homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation within the heterosexual–homosexual continuum. Scientists do not yet know the exact cause of sexual orientation, but they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences and do not view it as a choice. Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, scientists favor biologically based theories. There is considerably more evidence supporti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoeshiner
Shoeshiner or boot polisher is an occupation in which a person cleans and buffs shoes and then applies a waxy paste to give a shiny appearance and a protective coating. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job was traditionally done by a male child. Other synonyms are bootblack and shoeblack. While the role is denigrated in much of Western civilization, shining shoes is an important source of income for many children and families throughout the world. Some shoeshiners offer extra services, such as shoe repairs and general tailoring. Some well-known people started their working life as shoeshiners, including singers and presidents. History Very large households in Victorian England sometimes included a young male servant called the Boot Boy, specializing in the care of footwear. Hotel staff for this function were commonly called The Boots. (A Boots was one of the crew in The Hunting of the Snark.) Branded shoe polish appeared early in the 19th century: Charle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alhaji
Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it can take years to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel (and did particularly before the advent of mass air travel), and in many Muslim societies to a respected man as an honorific title. The title is placed before a person's name; for example, Saif Gani becomes ''Hajji Saif Gani''. Hadži is also used in Orthodox Christianity for people who go on pilgrimage to the grave of Christ in Jerusalem. It can then be added to the pilgrim's first name, e.g., Hadži-Prodan, Hadži-Đera, Hadži-Ruvim, Hadži-Melentije Stevanović Hajji is derived from the Arabic ', which is the active participle of the verb ' ("to make the pilgrimage"). The alternative form ' is derived from the name of the Hajj with the adjectival suffix -''ī'', and this w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya
( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, "the Islamic Group"; also transliterated El Gama'a El Islamiyya; also called "Islamic Groups" and transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, al Jamaat al Islamiya, is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The group was dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state; the group has committed to peaceful means following the coup that toppled Mohamed Morsi. From 1992 to 1998, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya fought an insurgency against the Egyptian government during which at least 796 Egyptian policemen and soldiers, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya fighters, and civilians including dozens of tourists were killed. During the fighting al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya was given support by the governments of Iran and Sudan, as well as from al-Qaeda.Uppsala Conflict Data Program, Conflict Encyclopedia, The al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas. Although the two concepts are sometimes used interchangeably, urbanization should be distinguished from urban growth. Urbanization refers to the ''proportion'' of the total national population living in areas classified as urban, whereas urban growth strictly refers to the ''absolute'' number of people living in those areas. It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized. That is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050, much of which will occur in Africa and Asia. Notably, the United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all gl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slum
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people.What are slums and why do they exist? UN-Habitat, Kenya (April 2007) Although slums are usually located in s, in some countries they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohandessin
Mohandiseen ( ' , "The Engineers"), is a major 1940s sub-division project originally named Madinat al-Awqaf, and made up most of the Wasat (middle) district in the city of Giza, before being divided in 1997 into the districts of Agouza (covers most of the district) and Dokki (Covers half of the district). Al-Mohandessin in Arabic literally means ''the engineers'', after one of the sub-districts that was sold to the Engineers' Syndicate cooperative, and becomming the colloqial name for most of the districts. History Mohandessin used to be a mostly royal and state-owned agricultural estate held under ''waqf'' (endowment) until the early 20th Century with villages, such as Mit Okba, and '' 'izbas'' (hamlets) such as al-Hutiyya, and 'Awlad Allam. From the 1930s the Ministry of Awqaf who owned the land had piloted plans to turn the estates into a new suburban district of Cairo as Dokki to its south flourished. In 1948, its chief architect Mahmoud Riad set out the final plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medinet Nasr
Nasr City ( ar, مدينة نصر ) is a district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located to the east of the Cairo Governorate and consists mostly of condominia. It was established in the 1960s as an extension to neighboring settlement of Heliopolis. The establishment of the district was part of the Egyptian Government's plan to modernise and expand Cairo following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian President at the time, was involved personally in the design process, and was the one who chose the name Nasr for the new district ("''nasr''" being the Arabic word for "victory"). During the early stages of the project it was envisioned that it would constitute a new capital city. Now, Nasr City is extremely crowded, much more than was expected from the creation of the district, because of Egyptian families relocating to the district and also because of Somali and South Sudanese immigration to areas of Nasr City such as Hay El Asher (10th Neighbourhood) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_interior.jpg "Click for more on -> Art Deco")
