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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 July 18, 2009 12:26 PM
