'Discourse on the Go': Thematic Analysis of Vehicle Graffiti on the Roads of Egypt

Mohamed El-Nashar ,Heba Nayef

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.5p.227

Abstract

This paper investigates graffiti drawn on vehicles in Egypt as an expression of their authors' social values, religious ideologies and political affiliations. Little research has been done in Egypt on these meaning-loaded messages. This paper gives further evidence that graffiti are a very powerful mode of expression for groups that feel disenfranchised by the wider society. The data comprise (614) written graffiti taken from both highway and in-city vehicles from different parts of Egypt. This paper employs Fairclough's (1995) post-structuralist model of discourse analysis which extends the concept of discourse from the traditional and natural 'language in use' to be a social practice per se. One of the aims of this study is to explore the various discourse domains of vehicle graffiti in Egypt through thematically analyzing their patterns of usage. For this aim, the authors have devised a four-pronged thematic classification of such graffiti. The paper also tackles some of the lexical features of graffiti and addresses the language and language variations used. Results show that religious expressions constitute more than half the data. It is also shown that graffiti about the self or car are positive whereas statements about 'the other' are negative. The analysis reveals a strong positive inclination in the social and philosophical expressions with almost nonexistent political graffiti. Keywords: Graffiti, post-structuralist model, Discourse Analysis, discourse domains, Egypt

Highlights

In the ancient city of Hierakonpolis, modern Aswan, in Upper Egypt, Egyptologists found one of the oldest graffiti tableaus on which the king has inscribed his name 'Scorpion' and the story of his victory over the king of Naqada, modern Qena, in Upper Egypt, which led to the unification of the south under one ruler (Hendrickx Darnell & Gatto, 2012)
If identifying the discourse domain of vehicle graffiti in Egypt is the first level of analysis, we propose a second level which deals more with the form than with the content; that is, the language used as well as the language variation, or language map
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued reports (Among which was a report released on August 21, 2013 headlined "Egypt: Mass attacks on churches") that Coptic Christians were the subject of vandalism, destruction and murder especially after June 30th revolution, as Muslim Brotherhood supporters blamed Christians for being behind the ouster of their Islamist president Mohamed Morsi

Summary

Introduction

In the ancient city of Hierakonpolis, modern Aswan, in Upper Egypt, Egyptologists found one of the oldest graffiti tableaus on which the king has inscribed his name 'Scorpion' and the story of his victory over the king of Naqada, modern Qena, in Upper Egypt, which led to the unification of the south under one ruler (Hendrickx Darnell & Gatto, 2012) Following in their ancestors' footsteps 5,250 years later, drivers of vehicles rolling the streets of Egypt write on their cars messages that vary in nature but, like those of their pre-dynastic ancestors, are expressions of their social, religious and political identities and beliefs. Through running a qualitative and quantitative analysis of (614) of these vehicle graffiti, this study attempts to discern the thematic categories of vehicle graffiti in Egypt and study the lexical features of this type of 'mobile discourse' (Bloch, 2000:48)

Methods

Results

Conclusion