A Trade Like Any Other: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt
By Karin van Nieuwkerk
1995 University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0-292-78720-0
Karin Van Nieuwkerk certainly did a thorough job interviewing and exploring the roles a select sampling of women have had in the entertainment industry in Egypt and this book is one I'd recommend to lovers of history, dance historians and dancers in general. Her book is well researched and offers valuable information on the Egyptian cultural perception and real life gender politics of female performance artists. However, because this paper was written for academic purposes some may find the writing style to be a little too formal. This may sometimes makes the book a little dry and difficult to follow. However the effort is well worth it even if you normally don't read academic styles. She interviews several dancers who reveal a little bit about Egyptian society and their own lives allowing us to see how they came into this dance form despite the stigmas attached to dancers in Egypt. This is helpful for Western women looking to understand the position of female entertainers in modern Egyptian society (also in most Arab societies). Although much of their experiences are somewhat limited to the Mohammed Ali street area and Cairo in a larger sense much of it still applies to Egypt in general as well as much of North Africa and the Middle East. It takes a good look at the love-hate dynamic relationship Egyptians have with female performers and looks at the religious cultural, and societal implications of female performance. However, the book was written on research from the 1980's from a select sample of women in a relatively small sample area so when reading it remember that this research does not inherently reflect the current entertainment trade in Egypt nor does it necessarily reflect the way things are everywhere in the Middle East/North Africa (although since it is specifically about Egypt one really shouldn't have that expectation). For those who have already read the book or want to read a shorter updated piece, there is a follow up article by Karin Van Nieuwkerk available online at the following address:
'An Hour for God, An Hour for the Heart'
She also has an additional follow up book 'Performing Piety: Singers and Actors in Egypt's Islamic Revival' which looks at female performers from the 1990s and 2000s as Egypt entered the new millennium.
Both Books can be purchased from Amazon
There is also a Kindle version of both
