مفهوم الرجولة كما تعكسه تنشئة الأم لأبنائها في المجتمع المصري : دراسة سوسيو أنثروبولوجية

الملخص EN

Men and women are ‘one’ human and social entity, none is complete without the other.

Understanding the concerns and issues of each requires a collective conviction that the prevalent antagonism between man/woman is but absurd.

As such, the study aims at complementing the growing number of women’s studies, through highlighting the importance of tackling men’s issues in urban Cairo, and delving into the meanings of “manhood,” rendering it problematic and in need of a scientific, reflexive and contextual vision.

In doing so, the current study departs form a culture-specific analytical reading, not overlooking social and psychological mechanisms by which “manhood” is ‘manufactured’ through the mothers’ upbringing of men in contemporary urban Egypt.

Meanwhile, the study can be considered an attempt to heal the rift in the social sciences with regard to studies of men and masculinit(ies), a relatively novel sub-filed of cultural anthropology in Egypt; where "manhood" is addressed as a social/ cultural construct, a product of interacting dynamics invloving individuals, social systems and agents of socialization, with special attention to mother's upbringing.

Moreover, the study also attempts to elucidate the meaning of “masculinity”, which has long been dealt with as a static, none problematic concept and taken at face value, instead of a problematic object requiring critical reflection with the specificity of urban Egyptian society.

The study -socio-anthropological in essence- addresses the prominent status of mothers within the Egyptian family, especially given their role in constructing and perpetuating internalized world views regarding self, and ‘other.’ Myriad theoretical frames have guided the study, taking into account an interdisciplinary view and a triangulated fieldwork methodology, including, but not limited to, life histories, thick description, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).

These methods have helped in deciphering a number of concepts, from the standpoint of the study population: Egyptian women and men in urban Egyptian society (Greater Cairo).

The study also seeks to discuss the causes and consequences of the socalled "masculinity crisis ", a deep rooted concept in everyday Cairo, also exploring whether mothers play a role in creating this crisis, and their ‘production’ of oppression through reproducing the heritage that glorifies men and masculinity, and oppressing other women and/or the less fortunate.

The study also highlights mothers’ role in the the perpetuation of patriarchal culture and the "feminization of oppression" posed by the current study for the first time