Brazilians are crazy? Germans are reserved? These are just two of millions of stereotypes that I hear in Cairo all the time. I have more examples. When asked about my impressions of Egyptians, I always respond: people here are so friendly!
However, why Brazilians are crazy? Why Egyptians are friendly? We may find people that actually represent the typical concept of certain nationality. But if we go a lit bit deep in this analysis we find out that this is nothing but a nonsense that has meaning only in our minds.
When we say such a cliché we are comparing to an imaginary stereotype of another nationality. When I say Brazilians are crazy we are comparing us to an imaginary English or German, that for purpose of comparison has to be reserved and quiet. By this hypothetical comparison we conclude that we are mad, we always do something extraordinarily insane. The same process occurs to me when I reflect about Egyptian friendliness. We are comparing them to another imaginary stereotype which makes sense only in our heads.
Given this situation, is it possible to say that a whole mass of people inside an invisible line that we call a country are friendly, crazy or happy? In fact, many unknown Egyptians helped me a lot during this journey. So the obvious consequence is that they are in general friendly? I don’t think so.
Let’s suppose it is possible to count one by one and get the total amount of “friendly Egyptians” and “non-friendly Egyptians”. If the friendly ones were the majority, it would not mean that this is a hospitable country? It doesn’t seem reasonable to me. A society is not formed by the total amount of every individual. When we try to understand the whole of a society, we need to have in mind that its characteristics may differ from the individuals that constitutes it. The society itself has other structure, history and dynamic that doesn’t necessarily represent the individuals. This concept, brilliantly elucidated by Durkheim, forms the basis of Sociology.
So, how to answer these kind of question? Which sociological theory do I need to apply so that I identify friendliness or hospitality? I honestly don’t know. Maybe we should look carefully to the instrumentalized dimension of culture: arts in general. However it is not enough. Although I cannot respond, it seems to me that to answer it properly we need to use sociological concepts that are far beyond our senses. Abstract our senses. It could be a way.
Therefore, what can I conclude? What’s the point of this post? In fact, my originally intention was to answer whether Egyptians are friendly or not. But, as you may notice, I miserably failed in this mission. Perhaps try to identify friendliness and hospitality in a society is nothing but nonsense. There are individuals who are and individuals who aren’t. All depends the way someone perceives another person. If you don’t understand another person as a threat you may be gentle and helpful. If not, you can expect disrespect and impoliteness.
