Showing "A Trade like Any Other": Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt by Karin van Nieuwkerk

In Egypt, singing and dancing are considered essential on happy occasions. professional entertainers often perform at weddings and other celebrations, and a host family's prestige rises with the number, expense, and fame of the entertainers they hire. Paradoxically, however, the entertainers themselves are often viewed as disreputable people and are accorded little prestige in Egyptian society. This paradox forms the starting point of Karin van Nieuwkerk's look at the Egyptian entertainment trade. She explores the lives of female performers and the reasons why work they regard as "a trade like any other " is considered disreputable. In particular, she demonstrates that while male entertainers are often viewed as simply "making a living", female performers are almost always considered bad, seductive women engaged in dishonourable conduct. Drawn from extensive fieldwork this is the first ethnography of female singers and dancers in present-day Egypt.