July 18, 2009
The phonebook you never thought you'd have
This week has been, by far, my busiest week in Cairo. I have worked a six day week, with most days lasting from 9:30 in the morning until I get home around midnight. Normally, I'd probably have a few choice complaints about such a hefty schedule; however, the particular cause of this business has outweighed the inconvenience significantly.
I had already compiled my information about Pope Shenouda III's Jerusalem pilgrimage as gleaned from newspaper sources as best as possible when this week began, but the amount reported in the media (albeit a large amount as this is a popular story) failed to really convey what I felt was the amount of nuance available in this decision, as well as the multiple forces and beliefs informing the cultural debate. What was appearing in print seemed to only be the tip of an iceberg, the statements without the ideas that had informed them. Clearly, I needed to do some interviews, but lowly me with my Brown Student ID as my most qualified credential was unlikely to get incredibly far on my own.
Enter the Arab West Report and its illustrious (and well-connected founder) Dr. Cornelis Hulsman. People with whom I had desperately been calling for weeks getting only convoluted bureaucratic information regarding their being "busy" or "out of the office" are on Dr. Hulsman's mobile phone. As in, their personal numbers. What is extraordinary about this is not that he would have prominent social contacts in his phone, but rather the ease with which he can get in contact with so many people. After about a ten minute conversation with Dr. Hulsman, I not only had a very full week of interviews planned, but quite the cellphone contact roll of my own.
Indeed, now I have a multiplicity of bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church on my speed-dial, as well as a newspaper editor (and former member of the Maglis Milli – Lay Council of the Coptic Orthodox Church), a police general, and a prominent Church critic and reformist. Each of these individuals also provided an incredible insight into the issues surrounding the debate on the Jerusalem pilgrimage, its ban, and the exact forces, factors, and powers that enable such a ban to have been placed by His Holiness. Without giving away too much of my own final research (which will have a link posted to this site when completed), the most intriguing part of this issue as I proceed is the way in which this debate has crystalized over deeper issues within the Coptic Community. Most interviewed identify both "political" and "religious" aspects of the ban (often being coded as "political:" bad, "religious:" good), but the exact meaning of either varies greatly and is intensely rooted in personal understanding of religion, Christianity, and focus upon the individual versus the community. The Jerusalem ban then sits on top of a larger ideological negotiation within the Church to define its actions, scope, and justifications. I will stop the assessment there until I finish transcribing my interviews and begin the actual report, but I hope that this "teaser," if you will, will have piqued interest into what otherwise might appear to be a thirty year old policy in a rather distant religious community. The Jerusalem pilgrimage ban of Pope Shenouda III is lens into a much larger and more relevant debate as to the appropriate roles and responsibilities of a Church that is increasingly becoming more globalized and internationalized.
Posted by Alexander Steven Wamboldt at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
The phonebook you never thought you'd have
This week has been, by far, my busiest week in Cairo. I have worked a six day week, with most days lasting from 9:30 in the morning until I get home around midnight. Normally, I'd probably have a few choice complaints about such a hefty schedule; however, the particular cause of this business has outweighed the inconvenience significantly.
I had already compiled my information about Pope Shenouda III's Jerusalem pilgrimage as gleaned from newspaper sources as best as possible when this week began, but the amount reported in the media (albeit a large amount as this is a popular story) failed to really convey what I felt was the amount of nuance available in this decision, as well as the multiple forces and beliefs informing the cultural debate. What was appearing in print seemed to only be the tip of an iceberg, the statements without the ideas that had informed them. Clearly, I needed to do some interviews, but lowly me with my Brown Student ID as my most qualified credential was unlikely to get incredibly far on my own.
Enter the Arab West Report and its illustrious (and well-connected founder) Dr. Cornelis Hulsman. People with whom I had desperately been calling for weeks getting only convoluted bureaucratic information regarding their being "busy" or "out of the office" are on Dr. Hulsman's mobile phone. As in, their personal numbers. What is extraordinary about this is not that he would have prominent social contacts in his phone, but rather the ease with which he can get in contact with so many people. After about a ten minute conversation with Dr. Hulsman, I not only had a very full week of interviews planned, but quite the cellphone contact roll of my own.
Indeed, now I have a multiplicity of bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church on my speed-dial, as well as a newspaper editor (and former member of the Maglis Milli – Lay Council of the Coptic Orthodox Church), a police general, and a prominent Church critic and reformist. Each of these individuals also provided an incredible insight into the issues surrounding the debate on the Jerusalem pilgrimage, its ban, and the exact forces, factors, and powers that enable such a ban to have been placed by His Holiness. Without giving away too much of my own final research (which will have a link posted to this site when completed), the most intriguing part of this issue as I proceed is the way in which this debate has crystalized over deeper issues within the Coptic Community. Most interviewed identify both "political" and "religious" aspects of the ban (often being coded as "political:" bad, "religious:" good), but the exact meaning of either varies greatly and is intensely rooted in personal understanding of religion, Christianity, and focus upon the individual versus the community. The Jerusalem ban then sits on top of a larger ideological negotiation within the Church to define its actions, scope, and justifications. I will stop the assessment there until I finish transcribing my interviews and begin the actual report, but I hope that this "teaser," if you will, will have piqued interest into what otherwise might appear to be a thirty year old policy in a rather distant religious community. The Jerusalem pilgrimage ban of Pope Shenouda III is lens into a much larger and more relevant debate as to the appropriate roles and responsibilities of a Church that is increasingly becoming more globalized and internationalized.
Posted by Alexander Steven Wamboldt at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
July 09, 2009
updates and the benefits of working for a religious community
Since I last posted, I've certainly had a busy work life. But now that July has come, I can officially announce that I have read through all 3,000 or so articles that in any way mention Pope Shenouda III within in the Arab West Report database. While a monumental milestone, I realized the day I finished how much more I still had to do. True, I had collected, compiled, and categorized all of these articles in what might be the most horrifying Microsoft Excel document to behold imaginable, but honestly, that was the easy part. What my past week has become then is trying to discover out of all of this information what topic I want to pursue (made slightly more difficult as my boss is currently out of the country). However, I finally did settle on a topic for investigation while in Egypt (as well as a related thesis topic for when I get back stateside): Pope Shenouda III's ban on Coptic pilgrimage to Jerusalem. For those of you who don't know (which I would presume to be most reading this blog), Pope Shenouda III placed a ban on all Coptic tourism to Israel (including the very widely-practiced pilgrimage to Jerusalem) in 1979 following the "normalization" of relations between Egypt and Israel under President Sadat. This ban was certainly surprising to the then President (who, it should be mentioned, did not have the best relationship with Pope Shenouda to say the least), as well as many Copts who considered it part of their religious obligation to go to Jerusalem during their lifetime (indeed, traditionally, Copts even received a special tattoo within Jerusalem to "prove" that they went). However, the move won Pope Shenouda accolades from across the Arab world, and is often cited as a demonstration of his (and by proxy the Copts') patriotism. However, the exact reason and authority behind the ban are somewhat opaque. The punishment for violation of the ban has been strengthened over the years, and is now denial of communion, excommunication, or essentially the confirmation of one's denied entry to heaven (though I have been unable to find a documented case of this punishment being implemented). Despite these obviously religious consequences, the ban itself is of an unclear motivation. Is it a political gesture? National/patriotic? Religious? Even more complicated, what about the Copts who willfully decide to flaunt the pope's command and travel to Jerusalem? What about Copts who do not live in Egypt, or Copts that might not agree with the perceived political stance of this policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? While I have yet to have concrete answers to these questions, I have begun to find my own thoughts on them, as well as a deeper and deeper intertwining of these themes and issues to broader challenges facing the Coptic Church. As such, I feel it will be a fascinating topic upon which to do a final report for the Arab West Report, as well as a potential chapter in my thesis (which, for those curious by the above teaser, seems to be moving toward the globalization of the Coptic Orthodox Church and its effects upon the perceived authority, responsibilities, and roles of the Patriarch. Isn't that a mouthful?).
In other news, I get to have a new volunteer start next week, who will initially be working with me on my Pope Shenouda III project, conducting interviews with local Copts as well as (ideally) interviews with several more prominent members of the community as a means to practice her Arabic as well as provide me with more ethnographic material. Starting on Tuesday, I get to have a much needed helper on this project, which is incredibly welcome, and I am glad to have her.
Finally, in completely unrelated news, I have an unexpected perk of working for the Arab West Foundation. While in Cairo, I wanted to find a Coptic icon to bring home as part of my family's own connection to Orthodox Christianity through the Ukraine. As regional experts on Coptic Orthodoxy, I thought I would ask my boss about his recommendations of where to get such an icon, and was referred to his wife. She happens to know the nuns of the Convent of Saint Demiana and the Forty Virgins (an early Christian martyr and popular Coptic saint) in the Nile Delta, who currently finance their convent by being the sole producers of the beautiful icons that grace Coptic churches across Egypt. While the nuns normally only take commissions from churches and monasteries, due to her connection with the nuns (the nuns calls her "Tasoni," or "Sister," in Coptic), they agreed to make an icon for me. Flash forward to yesterday when it arrived in Cairo, and now there is an icon of Saint Antony (the original desert father) that was personally handmade for my family from the nuns of Saint Demiana and the Forty Virgins in my apartment. I'd call that a good job perk. For those curious, it looks something like this:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34290571&id=1013451
Posted by Alexander Steven Wamboldt at 06:56 PM | Comments (2)
