Directions of Change in Rural Egypt

This compilation of fieldwork includes information on the changing economic situation in the countryside, particularly after the "owners and tenants" law of 1992. Along with the effects of structural adjustment on agriculture, marketing and rural life, several chapters address the declining trend of rural Egyptians to emigrate. Other chapters examine changes in consumption patterns and health, various rural social processes and the "new lands" being reclaimed in Egypt's desert areas, representations of the rural population in the media and in statistics, and their own changing self-image. What emerges is a picture of a rural Egypt that is dramatically evolving and treading a delicate line between progress and impoverishment.