Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East

Dramatis Personae

D r a m at i s P e r s o n a e 219 Many, many people helped me understand Cairo’s cosmopolitan class. This is a list of the small group that made it into the final text, alphabetically by pseudonym. Mrs. Abdel Rahman. Forty-five-year-old translator and interpreter for a multinational corporation; divorced. Son attends ASC; daughter attends AUC. The children live with her, but their father pays their fees. Ahmed. Male engineering major at AUC; attended the French-language Choueifat International School and spent two years at Cairo University ’s School of Medicine before switching to AUC. Hopes to find work in the United States or Canada or, barring that, with a multinational in Egypt. Fond of shisha. Aida. Female AUC junior majoring in anthropology. Grew up in California until she was twelve and wished to study sports medicine at UCLA. Aline. Ten-year-old female student at ASC. Egyptian father and French mother are co-owners of a successful international development company . Has an ample trust fund; plans to pursue education in Europe. Amin. General manager of a large pharmaceutical firm. Married with four children, including Ismail. Amira. Female sophomore at AUC, majoring in modern history. Took the veil after listening to Amr Khaled tapes with a friend. Arvind. Director of marketing research for the Egyptian branch of a major European household goods and processed foods manufacturer. Born and educated in Mumbai, India. Ashraf. Male tenth-grade student at ASC. Huge fan of Arabic, European, and North American pop music. Hopes to form a band while in high school but says his parents will make him major in engineering or medicine when he goes to college. D r a m at i s P e r s o n a e 219 Dramatis Personae 219 220 D r a m at i s P e r s o n a e Bilqis. Female tenth-grade student at ASC. Has attended ASC since first grade; spends summers with cousins in Riyadh and New York. Butros. Computer programming and software solutions manager with a European-based international corporation. In his early thirties, educated at a Canadian university, worked in Canada for several years, returned to Egypt for family reasons and stayed. Carlos. Peruvian-born director of the Middle East office of a major oil company subsidiary. Married to an American woman; four children. Dalia. AUC undergraduate student in communications, graduate student in sociology/anthropology. Mother of two. Dina. Teacher at ASC with B.A. and M.A. from AUC. Married with two children, both of whom attend ASC. Donald. Vice president of marketing for Egyptian branch of a major U.S. household goods manufacturer. Eiman. Female tenth-grader at ASC. Attended a less expensive, private, English-language school until her freshman year, then switched to ASC to prepare for college at AUC or abroad. Her younger brother (by five years) attended ASC since first grade. Farid. Waiter at an ’ahwa in Tahrir Square near AUC; lives in the sha‘abi neighborhood of Abu Khalifa in Ghamra. Nicknamed Maru’a (Generous ). Gazbeya. Female student at AUC, majoring in political science. Father is in the diplomatic service, and she would like to follow in his footsteps, as part of the growing number of women in the diplomatic corps. Girgis. Egyptian-born, American-educated director of the Cairo office of a major multinational manufacturer. Hassan. Fifteen-year-old student at ASC. Hopes to attend Boston University and pursue a business career abroad. Hawass. AUC computer science graduate who obtained a job with a German firm and was preparing to relocate to Bonn. Heba. Account executive for advertising agency that handled McDonald’s Egyptian marketing. AUC graduate with a double major in business and psychology. Hedayat. Female graduate student in sociology/anthropology at AUC. Attended Choueifat International School, then took her undergraduate degree at Alexandria University. Accepted to a U.S. graduate program, she switched to AUC when she got engaged to a local doctor. D r a m at i s P e r s o n a e 221 Hosni. In his late thirties, degree from the School of Law, Cairo University. He has a minor position in the post office, runs the cash register and handles the books at a store owned by a family connection, and drives a friend’s taxi. Most of his income pays school fees for his children, an...