Rooftop Recipes for Relating

Ecologies of Humans, Animals and Life

in Anthropology of the Middle East
Author:
Noha Fikry American University in Cairo n.fikry@aucegypt.edu

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2019.140204
Keywords:
the animal turn; ecologies; food; interspecies relations; temporality
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Abstract

The article explores the particularly lively rooftops of Cairo through which interspecies intimacies unfold. On these rooftops, various animals (such as chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, goats and rabbits) are raised to be later eaten and consumed for sustenance. I expose the various patterned modalities, terms and codes bringing these different species together in their sustained long-term relationships. I follow these interspecies relations as they narrate wonders of life and death, collaborations, various instantiations of home, social gift exchanges, marital rituals and grieving patterns. Rooftop recipes for relating slowly cook these human-non-human relations as uniquely embedded in a socioecological intricate awareness of surrounding environments of neighbours and families, but also of trees, waste, changing seasons, aging species and growing parents.

Contributor Notes

Noha Fikry teaches undergraduate social science courses at the American University in Cairo, where he graduated with an MA in Anthropology. Her work explores ecologies and interspecies relations in Cairo, Egypt, and her research interests include ecological anthropology, economic anthropology and the anthropology of food. Email: n.fikry@aucegypt.edu

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Anthropology of the Middle East

Cover Anthropology of the Middle East
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
13
Keywords:
the animal turn; ecologies; food; interspecies relations; temporality
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2019

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