Social Science Research in the Social Research Center

The symposium on Social Research for Development was held on May 5-11, 1981, in Cairo, Egypt; by the Social Research Center (SRC) of The American University in Cairo (AUC). The Symposium was supported by funds from Battelle Human Affairs Research Center, Ford Foundation, International Development Re­search Center {IDRC}, and the Population Council. The theme of the Symposium was selected in respons.e to the increased con­cerns of social scientists, policymakers and funding agencies about the current status and new directions of social science research, its role in the pro­cess of social and economic development, and its contribution to policy-rele­vant issues. The Symposium, therefore, aimed at providing a valuable opportu­nity for the invaed participants to exchange ideas and views on social research findings, methodologies, priorities, strategies, and funding as they relate to policy issues of various aspects of social and economic developmenthttps://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1840/thumbnail.jp

The Development of Cooperation

Egypt has been and continues to be one of the major recipients of development assistance in the third world, yet very little effort has been made to assess the overall impact of this aid on Egypt A symposium was held on December 10th and 11th, 1983 in Oriental Hall at the American University in Cairo, organized by Cairo Papers in Social Science with financial support from the Cairo Office of the Ford Foundation. Egyptian government ministers, officials from representative donors and scholars experienced in development were invited to make formal presentations to the symposium. The essays presented in this issue were all presented at the symposiumhttps://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1895/thumbnail.jp

Scarce Resources, Perception of Risk, and Collective Action

[abstract not provided]https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1918/thumbnail.jp

The Informal Sector in Egypt: Towards an Anthropology of Work

N/Ahttps://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1904/thumbnail.jp

Markets, Marketing, the Market: Informal Egypt

[abstract not provided]https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1911/thumbnail.jp

Production as a Focus in Urban Studies

This work on urban research strategies in Egypt is the product of several factors. First of all is the challenge, excitement, diversity and stimulation of living in Egyptian cities, Cairo above all. Not only are Egyptian cities rooted in deep antiquity, but they have the richly stratified layers of a host of great civilizations. Modern urban Egypt is immeasurably complex in its own right, but its quite astounding past only adds to its wonderment. Thus, the chief inspiration for this publication is the wealthy cultural and historical context in which these scholars were assembled and where they sought to interpret a range of adjustments and reacdons to modern urban life. The second factor is found in the intellectual fecundity and the traditions of the Social Research Center (SRC) at the American University in Cairo which has, for three decades, been at the epicenter of social investigation and evaluation in Egyptian society. Its contribution is truly without adequate definition in terms of published works, academic interaction, research and development. The SRC represents the intellectual birthplace of a host of Egyptian, American and other foreign scholars who have come to study Egypt. The creation of the Urban Development Unit in 1982 as a section of the SRC has underscored the pioneering on another area of specialized research in Egypt. The workshop held on 6-7 June 1982 on Strategies for Urban Research in the 1980s\u27 was sponsored by this new unit of the SRC. The third factor which made the workshop possible was represented in the unpaid, voluntary contributions of time and effort of the assembled participants and contributors and especially of the Workshop Preparatory Committee, composed mainly but not exclusively of the following: Mark Kennedy, Ibrahim Omar, Madiha Al-Safty, Marina Ottaway, Barbara Ibrahim, Nick Hopkins, Saneya Saleh, Assad Nadim, Soha Abdel Kader, Tim Sullivan and myself. Finally, the pleasant atmosphere, ample luncheons and refreshments, secretarial support and other details. of the workshop\u27s inf ras true ture were sustained through the generosity of the Cairo office of the Ford Foundation and its Director, John Gerhart. Here, appreciation for all of the above is very gratefully recorded. Some of the participants were invited only to enjoy the academic interaction and to enrich the base of discussion with comments from their own pertinent experiences. Others were invited to prepare papers for the workshop. As far as possible, the papers were reproduced and circulated before and during the workshop to make a qualitative contribution to the depth and intensity of the discussion which followed each group of papers. For various reasons, all of the papers originally presented are not published here but certain among them were selected and edited for this special publication. Also, while the discussions followed each unit of grouped papers, the versions presented here are really a distillation of this stimulating dialogue. Special mention needs to be made to the Editorial Board of CAIRO PAPERS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE at the American University in Cairo which has been willing to publish these papers as Volume 6, Number 2 of this journal. Since the decision was made, I have been asked to join the Editorial Board and have benefitted from the collegial criticisms and general support of the Board. In this context, particular note is due for the contribution of Mahmoud Abdel-Fadil. His workshop paper was actually a condensed version of a larger work on the same topic which Md already been submitted to CAIRO PAPERS for publication. Since the study of the urban informal sector was so strongly featured in the workshop discussions, the Editorial Board concluded and Dr. Abdel-Fadil agreed that hie paper would be best published in its entirety in this publication. I believe that we all benefit from his flexibility and understanding. The other papers represent on-going research and/or were specially prepared for the workshop. Finally, acknowledgement of the critical secretarial support for this publication is very gratefully offered to Hekmat. Wasef, Yvonne Shunbo, Mona Tawfik, Brenda Carpenter and Joan Bickelhaupt who helped with some of the transcriptions of the taped discussion.https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/1864/thumbnail.jp

Chuj (Mayan) Narratives

"The Chuj of northwestern Guatemala are among the least studied groups of the Mayan family, and their relative isolation has preserved a strong indigenous tradition of storytelling. In Chuj (Mayan) Narratives, Nicholas Hopkins analyzes six narratives that illustrate the breadth of the Chuj storytelling tradition, from ancient mythology to current events and from intimate tales of local affairs to borrowed stories, such as an adaptation of Oedipus Rex. The book illustrates the broad range of stories people tell each other, from mythological and legendary topics to procedural discussions and stories borrowed from European and African societies. Hopkins provides context for the narratives by introducing the reader to Chuj culture and history, conveying important events as described by indigenous participants. These events include customs and practices related to salt production as well as the beginnings of the disastrous civil war of the last century, which resulted in the destruction of several villages from which the narratives in this study originated. Hopkins also provides an analytical framework for the strategies of the storytellers and presents the narratives with Chuj text and English translation side-by-side. Chuj (Mayan) Narratives analyzes the strategies of storytelling in an innovative framework applicable to other corpora and includes sufficient grammatical information to function as an introduction to the Chuj language. The stories illustrate the persistence of Classic Maya themes in contemporary folk literature, making the book significant to Mesoamericanists and Mayanists and an essential resource for students and scholars of Maya linguistics and literary traditions, storytelling, and folklore.

Assessing the variation in the load that produces maximal upper-body power

Substantial variation in the load that produces maximal power has been reported. It has been suggested that the variation observed may be due to differences in subject physical characteristics. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the extent in which anthropometric measures correlate to the load that produces maximal power. Anthropometric measures (upper-arm length, forearm length, total arm length, upper-arm girth) and bench press strength were assessed in 26 professional rugby union players. Peak power was then determined in the bench press throw exercise using loads of 20 to 60% of one repetition maximum (1RM) in the bench press exercise. Maximal power occurred at 30 +/- 14 %1RM (mean +/- SD). Upper-arm length had the highest correlation with the load maximizing power: -0.61 (90% confidence limits -0.35 to -0.78), implying loads of 22 vs. 38 %1RM maximize power for players with typically long vs. short upper-arm length. Correlations for forearm length, total arm length and upper-arm girth to the load that maximized power were -0.29 (0.04 to -0.57), -0.56 (-0.28 to -0.75), and -0.29 (0.04 to -0.57), respectively. The relationship between 1RM and the load that produced maximal power was r = -0.23 (0.10 to -0.52). The between-subject variation in the load that maximised power observed (SD= +/- 14 %1RM) may have been due to differences in anthropometric characteristics, and absolute strength and power outputs. Indeed, athletes with longer limbs and larger girths, and greater maximal strength and power outputs utilised a lower percentage of 1RM loads to achieve maximum power. Therefore, we recommend individual assessment of the load that maximizes power output

The rule of law and the rule of water

Life in Egypt is dependent on water from the Nile, and historically has adjusted to the seasonal rhythm of the river’s flow. Egyptians have created cooperative institutions to make the best use of this water, and every so often they have passed laws spelling out the rights and duties of those involved in water. The question this paper addresses is the success of human efforts in Egypt to establish rules and laws to allocate the flow of water among different users and different uses. It examin..