Introduction: Language and Identity in Modern Egypt

Abstract

The aim of this work is to examine how language is used in Egyptian public discourse to illuminate the collective identity of Egyptians, and how this identity is then made manifest in language form and content. The data used to identify the collective identity of Egyptians in public discourse includes newspaper articles, caricatures, blogs, patriotic songs, films, school textbooks, television talk shows, poetry, and, finally, Egyptian novels that deal with the theme of identity. Edwards (2009: 20) stipulates that “individual identities will be both components and reflections of particular social (or cultural) ones, and the latter will always be, to some extent at least, stereotypic in nature because of their necessary generality across the individual components.” That is, the influence of public discourse in providing a coherent unified identity to all Egyptians is essential, even on the level of individual identity. What concerns us here is the individual as a member of an imagined “coherent group.” A collective identity may be stereotypic, exclusive, built on myths, detached from reality, and propagated by politicians or the media at different times. However, it is, indeed, this imagined identity that steers individuals into taking specific actions, endorsing others, and perhaps putting up with some. This in itself makes the study of the relationship between language and identity a pivotal task.