Surfaces of Longing. Cosmopolitan Aspiration and Frustration in Egypt
SAMULI SCHIELKE

Abstract

One of the most ambiguous outcomes of globalization has been the emergence of a large class of people who subscribe to global trends in religion, consumerism, nationalism, sports and popular culture, without having access to the mobility nor the symbolic capital that are associated with cosmopolitanism. This sense of aspiration is far from ephemeral. It is material, it has shape, surface, and form. This photo essay attempts to connect this sensual presence of images, and materials with the sense of longing and discontent involved in looking out to the world from the vantage point of underprivileged social milieus in Egypt.

Samuli Schielke: „Surfaces of longing: Cosmopolitan aspiration and frustration in Egypt“. City and Society 24 (2012): 1, 29-37. The paper is accessible at:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-744X.2012.01066.x/pdf