Abu-Lughod, L., Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt: [Review]

How do Egyptians come to think of themselves as part of a nation? And how should we study the practices involved in this complex process? Dramas of Nationhood sophisticatedly addresses these fundamental questions and provides plenty of insightful answers in a well argued and written manner. LiIa Abu-Lughod's important study deals with the instrumental role of television melodrama serials (aired during the holy month of Ramadan during the 1990s) in the production of Egyptian national culture and molding individuals into modern national citizens. As in other societies, impersonal communication media, first among them TV, are the prime source of information for most Egyptians. AbuLughod convincingly demonstrates how in Egypt "cultural forms like television melodrama [...] are seen by state officials and middle-class professional producers as particularly effective instruments of social development, national consolidation, and 'modernization.' [...] those who make melodrama see themselves as trying to produce modern citizens and subjects" (p. 112). Television melodramas, much like schools, encapsulate and disseminate a similar message: modern education and devotion to the Egyptian nation are the two most treasured objectives that any decent and patriotic citizen should endorse. Almost all the melodramas discussed in Dramas of Nationhood epitomize this fundamental message.