Ramblings about privilege

I know it hasn't been long since my last post, but I just want to mention a few things. First of all, I figured out how to change some of the settings so that people who don't have a blogspot account can still comment on my entries. So, comment away!

Second of all, I am very much aware of how shallow this blog is, and it really bothers me. It certainly serves its purpose of letting friends and family back home know what I'm doing, but oh God, how I miss academia and Hampshire conversations! I miss talking about identity and power and privilege. I miss feeling uncomfortable during discussions, because it usually meant I was learning something. I mean, here I am, an able-bodied, middle-class, white American who is able to study (towards no degree, I might add) in Egypt thanks to the trust fund my grandfather set up for me, and the only person I'm discussing privilege with is myself. And I still haven't figured out how exactly that privilege transfers to Egypt. Living on campus at an American University is a strange experience indeed. I am more or less oblivious to the subtle manifestations of privilege and power (institutional or otherwise) surrounding gender, race, religion, sexuality, etc. in Cairo. Sometimes it is more obvious, like when my Arabic teacher won't let Sarah, one of my classmates, play a taxi driver in a role-playing exercise because women can't be taxi drivers. The religious aspect is more apparent in the news, such as the debates around the niqab, or the government killing all the pigs (which are raised by the Copts) allegedly because of swine flu. The sexuality aspect is one I am particulalry cognizant of, especially since I am dating an Egyptian man. But as for sexual orientation, I quickly learned that I should not talk openly (such as in a blog?) about the past relationships I've had with women, or about my own queer identity. But ask me what it's like to be an American woman living in Cairo, and I'd have to tell you that honestly I'm not really sure. Like I said, I live on an American campus, where most of my friends are also American, or at least international. Even though the school is 80% Egyptian, I don't think I can name a single Egyptian student, except for Mona, the grad student who substitute taught my colloquial Arabic class today. I know this is largely because I am in the ALI department, which is geared more towards non-native speakers of Arabic, but still. The social scene is very divided, and as far as I can tell, the school does very little to integrate the international students into the larger student body. The fact that it is difficult (and expensive) to get off campus only increases my inability to become familiar with and therefore adjust to Cairene life. I know I've idealized getting an apartment as the solution to all of my problems, but I really hope that actually living in Cairo will help me figure a lot of this stuff out.