Ya Fallah : Agricultural Cultural View in Egypt {The Egyptian Explained}

source: Encyclopedia Britannica

“As we all know that Egypt is the land of civilization (hadara) and the civilization resulted from the formulation and conglomeration of sophisticated urban cities. The word (hadara) in Arabic is translated into civilization and hadar also an Arabic word is meant by the urban that is why civilization is the result of the urban or hadar. “These are the words of the Egyptian radio station lady during the in-between pop songs breaks.

Like most of the Egyptians and maybe non-Egyptians are aware of the fact that Egypt is considered to be an agricultural country in the first place. Historically, during the ancient Egyptians there has been agriculture based- industries. One of these was for the writing boards they created for the sake of writing. The Egyptians created the irrigation systems and gauge the Nile water levels. Egypt is considered to be the gift of the Nile as paraphrased in Herodetes words. The country was famous for its strategic agricultural crops like wheat that was exported to feed and cover the needs of all the Roman Empire and was central for averting something like famine, stabilizing the peace and reinforcing order across the Roman Empire states. Agriculture is considered to be central for the development and rising of civilizations in Egyptian history. It was one of the first things that are associated with the ancient civilization Egypt.

So as a result of all this sneak peek info, you might just come up with this conclusion that agriculture is really something that is at the core of this country. While the view on agriculture differs from one country where some celebrate the economic vitality of this remunerated activity for its key role in the country's development. It is also considered to be an opportunity to establish bilateral trade relations with other countries. There might be this cultural negative connotation with the countryside and agriculture as it is sophisticated like the sense of patronizing, I have noticed in Egypt.

Living in Egypt most of my life made me exposed to some perspectives that reflect the Egyptian people mindset towards the countryside and agriculture in general. A mindset grounded in deep historical and culturally much acknowledged facts among the Egyptians themselves.

Cairo is Egypt, some Egyptians still refer to Cairo as Egypt. This is due to the centralization of most of the services and the governance attention. All what is considered the most advanced in most fields are often to be found in Cairo. Giza is considered the extent of Cairo and Alexandria is the second capital as perceived locally.

For most of the other governorates, some still perceive them as the countryside for its marginalized status whether classified as urban or countryside. In fact, in each governorate, there is still this classification of urban (hadar) and countryside (reef). This information might not be recognized by some of the Egyptians but still will not contribute to any mindset shift as most the governorates are in what is considered to be marginalized compared to the major cities stated earlier.

Another cliché point which could be found in all articles on nearly anything, the amount of public spending directed to governorates is less than the one directed to Cairo and the major cities. Subsequently, in the countryside (reef) the deterioration in the basic services including infrastructure, education and healthcare could be noticed more.

The Egyptian countryside has suffered a lot and still suffers from heavily deteriorated infrastructure. There has been a history of feudalistic systems in the country. Some mental images come with the ones in the governorates working in agriculture. Those images unfortunately are backed with historical and cultural background and still very vivid in what could some argue to be a different era.

Mental image no. 1: The wealthy are owning a vast agricultural land where a lot of farmers or to be exact fallahen are being the modern slavery system fuelling an unjust economy. I mentioned the term fallahen because even there are “people” working in agriculture and there are fallahen where of course the fellaheen are being lower in the social system. This could even be associated with the Egyptian ancient civilization where the farmers working the lands were considered lower in the social hierarchy scheme endorsed socially. For more background on this information. There was a pyramid-like info-graph displaying the social classes in Egyptian society back then according to the occupation and status.

I remember two guys were in the middle of a fight in downtown Cairo. It was a slight clash between a bike and a car where the car owner called the other one the magic word “ya fallah”. At that time, the bike rider yelled as he was called by the most outrageous names anyone could hear.

Mental image no.2 most fallahen are ignorant mumbling in unrecognizable funny accents where they are in an untidy outfit covered with dirt and mud. They are somehow primitive in how they express themselves and their environments. During the Egyptian royalty era, there was this project to provide the ones living in the countryside with slippers or shoes because they were barefoot.

The funny irony here is there are in Cairo the capital a lot of slums and marginalized communities with so many disadvantages but some of these marginalized communities will find mocking fallahen very comical making them feel even somehow superior.

Picture from the Digital History Project

Mental image no. 3. This image is very much reflected in Egyptian humor. If you know Egyptians, ask them to tell you one funny tale on fallahen/even the ones coming from the south of Egypt (Saidy) but if you are an Egyptian then you must have heard one already. In these funny tell-tales, there is always this comparison between this fallah/saidy and other developed world nationals to bring up a more dramatic discrepancy and laugh maybe a bit louder. These types of classist/ethnic/racial humor reflect the traumatizing culture many Egyptians including me have always indulged in. The very blatant fact that there is a national unanimous tolerance of the humorous nature of this tell-tale reflects the deeply wounded country perceptions among its inhabitants. This consensual contract between all the ones hearing and retelling and laughing on this is worth a mourning minute for contemplation if this is affordable for some at least.

There is even an extra mile where there are some circulating tell-tales and insulting phrases about being Egyptians told by Egyptians who refuse and will be extremely furious if told there are Egyptians. Why? Because there are also classifications of Egyptians, but this is another dilemma.

This degrading perception of agriculture and countryside vanished with no traces in some cases that pulled off the exquisite nature of agriculture and fellahin but there was a secret ingredient. Short story time to look up for is Evelin the Swiss who chose to live in the countryside not the urban side in Fayoum.

The lady who managed to drastically make an urban uprising in the area and turn it to a destination for international visitors and tourists. Tunis village branded to be the leading pottery sophisticated village in Egypt. The products have been sold abroad and many are still coming to check the countryside in Egypt with maybe a look for hand-made pottery products that will give any space the authenticity and oriental tastes. The Swiss lady came to the village where there was no electricity. She acted as a local fallaha. Some reported she was sometimes barefoot. She introduced pottery classes to the community and marketed the products.

The prestigious cultural community welcomed Evelin the Swiss. After the international branding, the village became a relaxing getaway for artists and who they perceive themselves as cultural people.

Also, there are some tips and tricks for making the agricultural businesses look more extravagant and vanguard.

Avoid looking local at all costs, this will undermine the elegance of your business. The shop, if there is any, could be in the European and American style. I think plenty could be found online. Your salespeople should look sharply dressed and have etiquette in communicating with your elite. Avoid this filthy flowy manly dress (galabiya) in the local shops as it will not elevate your business.

The branding could be in English if you are targeting the higher classes. The packages could be really chic and well prepared.

There are also these amusing marketing events for the agricultural produce from internationals in Egypt as well as highly bourgeois directed to the educated community with interest in the higher standards of farmers and agriculture. No worries, fallahen/Locals are not allowed.

The true elegance of Egyptian society could be perceived in the aristocratic ladies and gentlemen walking down the street in Cairo. The city which won the most beautiful city in 1925. The truly well-dressed, expensive European looking societies were greeting each other in foreign languages like English or French. Cairo was exclusive to this highly prestigious network where some own these vast lands with the working fallahen.

There is an open-ended criterion for the description of fallahen even if they are not fallahen. It can be how they act, behave or just be. It can fall for anyone who is not following your community code or yours. It is and will always be a great reference for those who want to feel some dominance and prove themselves before other the real essence of helpless superiority to feed and nurture their egoistic emptiness. It will be a great way to demean someone for all the unfavorable attributes associated with the term.

The countryside is having a lot of challenges in an already underdeveloped country with a lot of challenges. But it is the historical and cultural perception of it that will ever be engraved in the Egyptian collective memory. Those mental images reflect the truly distorted history we especially Egyptians have adopted willingly.

Of course, growing up with the media exposure, I watched and heard a lot of heartfelt narratives broadcasting nationwide to express the pride the Egyptian nationals have towards the countryside.

So, in our efforts to raise awareness on civilization and the civilized behavioral conduct, we need to try and aspire to actually be like one rather than fulfilling our mental image of being looked just like one.