Remembering and forgetting: the built environment as an agent of collective memory in Old Cairo

Adela Kutnarova

This essay explores the intersection of memory and the built environment in Old Cairo, Egypt. Through looking at two ethnographic case studies based in Haret-al Darb al-Asfar, I answer the question of: How does the built environment act as an agent of collective memory in Old Cairo? The tensions between the forces of remembering and the forces of forgetting are examined through the examples of shaping and reshaping social practices and identity throughout time. I highlight the role in reproducing values pertaining to gender held intergenerationally in Old Cairo, as well as the ways in which meaning and values are reproduced in modern forms by each subsequent generation.

‘In the harah, we all are one network, neighbours and relatives. We marry each other. The world is one network. The son of this family is married to the daughter of this or that or those... we cannot live outside the harah. Here we are born, live and going to die. The harah is part of us, and we are part of it.’ (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012: 183)

Above is an excerpt from an interview with a senior leader living in Old Cairo in Egypt. His words signal a long term intimate relationship between the Old Cairo community and its built environment. He reflects upon the community's progression of life spent in the harah (plural hawari), a city feature unique to Cairo defined as a ‘path’ ‘closed by masonry’ (Kern 2003: 139). The community's intergenerational connectedness with place springs about images of how a network of people thinks about the idea of home. Our memories are largely thought of as individual. For example, when you close your eyes and think of your childhood home, this can be perceived as an individual memory of space. However, memories can also be what some academics have coined as ‘collective’. Collective memory is defined as a pool of memories shared by a group of people. The knowledge within the social group is also considered to be important to the group's identity and shared experiences are considered to produce a sense of togetherness (Halbwachs 1992; Pallasmaa 2009). Collective memory also can be passed down through generations, with each subsequent generation having a sense of the past. Cities that have traditional quarters are particularly inclined to have a distinct sense of the past due to the presence of buildings from different periods (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012).

I have chosen to focus on the Old Cairo quarter in order to unravel the complexities of the intersection of memory of its residents and the built environment. The main research question I will attempt to answer is: How does the built environment act as an agent of collective memory in Old Cairo? My two main research objectives are: to explore the extent to which the Old Cairo built environment shapes and re-shapes current social practices through collective memory; and to examine the forces of change, specifically destruction and modernization, in Old Cairo as an assertion of value systems or as a breaking of continuity with the past.

The two ethnographic studies that I will largely be drawing on are by Abdelmonem (2011) and Abdelmonem and Selim (2012). Both focus on Haret-al Darb al-Asfar, one of the oldest hawari in Cairo. The first study examines current social patterns and the ways in which the built environment informs them. The second study explores intersections between ‘architecture, memory and historical continuity’ (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012: 163). Both studies base their analysis on group and individual interviews, visual observations and historical archival data, such as maps and building floor plans. Using the two ethnographic studies, I draw connections to bodies of literature in anthropology and architecture to reveal the complexities between the built environment and collective memory.

I will achieve this through exploring the tensions between the forces of remembering and the forces of forgetting in relation to the role of the built environment in shaping and reshaping social practices and identity. The first section of the essay will look at the ways in which every day social practices are reproduced through interactions with the built environment and tie in with the forces of remembering. Expanding upon this analysis, the second section looks at the forces of forgetting, with a focus on destruction and modernization in Old Cairo. The two forces are interrelated, and I weave them together throughout the analysis to explore the complexity of the built environment as an agent of memory. Memories can be unpeeled as countless layers of meaning; my essay is therefore intrinsically limited as the topic is complex and frequently debated (Treib 2009). The essay is structured by arguments within anthropological theory that I found the most convincing and I attempt to locate the topic within the narrow focus of traditional quarters in Old Cairo. Before we dive deep into Old Cairo I would first like to explore the theoretical links between collective memory and the built environment. 

Theoretical Framework

Fried (1963) has said that our identity and memory and are grounded in bodily experiences of our movement through space. Eco (1988: 94) further describes the built environment as the stage with which we live our lives, where our memory constructs a spatial relationship with it: ‘and perhaps architecture has always wanted to be a theatre of memory’. A key idea within anthropologies of the built environment has been by Lévi-Strauss (1987) who underscored the interlinkage between our environment and our social lives. He considered various architectural forms, but particularly the home as the key mediator of social life and reproduction (Lévi-Strauss 1987). Through his concept of ‘House Societies’ he examines the links between the house and the body and identifies the social relations between multiple households, considering them as a social construct.

Bourdieu (1972) builds on this connection between people and their built environment by exploring the ways in which meanings are generated by people themselves. Bourdieu (1972) considers buildings as objectified history. Social systems are inscribed in the physical durability of the building through the process of socialisation as equivalences between physical space and social space are drawn. The key structures of a group are thereby rooted in the experiences of the body. Mauss (1973) and Bourdieu (1972) apply the concept of ‘habitus’ to explain this process, which the latter defines as a ‘systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures’ (Bourdieu 1972: 72). This implies an inherent social entrenchment of memory, as established norms and values from the past are embodied through our everyday actions. From an intergenerational perspective, buildings and architecture have the ability to act as a representation of the past, allowing us to perceive the continuum of culture and tradition. The ways in which the built environment can act as an agent of collective memory can be understood through grasping the multitude of realities that we exist in (Pallasmaa 2009). The ‘spatial and material reality’, but also ‘cultural, mental, temporal realities’, where our ‘lived reality’ becomes a ‘constantly oscillating condition’ (Pallasmaa 2009: 17).

The built environment is often largely associated with a sense of permanence. Brick, stone and concrete are materials imbued with a sense of longevity, yet architecture and the built environment has also been described as ‘only a fragile shell’, one which only creates an illusion of safeguarding against change and destruction (Hornstein 2016: 2). Natural disasters and intentional destruction are amongst threats to the built environment. These human interactions can be carved into the physical material of the built environment, marking ‘cities as sites of endurance and transformation’ (Sandweiss 2004: 25).

Context of Old Cairo

The socially and culturally unique built environment of Old Cairo is made up of hawari, features that have been present since the city’s foundation in 969 AD (Abdelmonem 2011). The city is divided into quarters, with each quarter comprising of smaller units that include the hawari that can be seen in Figure 1. The urban area covers 3.87 km2 and has a population of around 310,500 people[1]. There have been numerous projects that have aimed to conserve Islamic urban landscapes in Egypt and have attempted to maintain the unique medieval urban structures. Yet, while the presence of valuable Islamic structures and monuments has been the general justification for protection, the key to the  survival of these urban structures since the Medieval times has been the presence of generations of Cairene communities (Abdelmonem 2011). The city's demographic has nevertheless changed since medieval times. The city that once used to include all social classes is now predominantly lower class. The spatiality of hawari is a ‘socially and culturally distinct entity that is informed by intrinsic but implicit mechanisms of everyday needs and activities’ (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012: 168).

I believe studying collective memory and the ways in which it ties into the built environment in Cairo is very interesting because it reveals the ways in which social groups living in historical environments understand time and participate in collective recollection. My analysis can hopefully fit into a broader anthropological understanding of the intricacies and debates of the built environment as an agent of collective memory. Furthermore, I think this research topic is also central to questions of conservation of historical buildings. Some conservation efforts have taken the detrimental approach of limiting people's access to the historical spaces, thereby displacing the communities that have relied on them. Through analysing links between environment and social practices and identity of a community, more informed decisions about the built environment can be made in a way to allow existing communities to maintain their social lives within such spaces.

Remembering: inherited gendered spaces and everyday social practices

I argue that the Old Cairo built environment acts as an agent of collective memory through representing traditional value systems that are then shaped and reproduced through everyday social practices. These value systems are notable within the understanding of the concept of ‘home’, as well as gendered value systems. The socio-spatial characteristics of the harah blend conceptualisations of the public and private realms. This has meant that the meaning of the word home resonates more strongly with the definition of Old Cairo territory as collective and belonging to community, rather than the meaning of an individual house. Due to the blended boundaries and emphasis on shared territory, individual and collective memory together with history are embedded in the one realm of the home (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012). Abdelmonem and Selim (2012) argue that this unique conceptualisation of the home is significant in impacting how memory is experienced by the collective and how the built environment moderates it.

The structures of houses and streets play a role in not only reproducing values held intergenerationally about the meaning of home and community, but also values related to male and female interaction. This becomes evident  through an analysis of the presence and usage of different house typologies from different time periods. The oldest buildings in Old Cairo were built in line with conservative culture from the Ottoman period where gendered segregation was a central value. Looking at the houses from this period, the Bayt al-Suhaimy, we can see a hierarchy of spaces, where shared, easily accessible rooms were the domains of men. On the other hand, rooms that were private and almost entirely inaccessible from the street were the sacred domains of women. The passages through the house were gendered, with male spaces being on the ground floor and easily accessible from the courtyard. This aspect is significant in the ‘home’ being considered a shared territory that I described above: having a male space easily accessible for male socialisation from the exterior of the house was significant in shaping a collective perception of home spaces.

Reaching the female spaces of the harem, however, was a long journey involving long staircases and lengthy corridors as can be seen Figure 2. Arriving at the female spaces appears to be a labyrinth to strangers, reinforcing the values of gendered segregation and the different domains of the home. The complex houses were modernized during the twentieth century. More compact houses were necessary to meet the needs of the population, as well as provide affordability. The newer houses included a hawsh, an adjoining multifunctional space to the house entrance. The harem became a simple room that is more accessible on the first floor, yet women still have defined spaces. Male visitors are prohibited from entering the house; male gatherings now take place in the hawsh or the alleys, where women also wander (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012). Despite the spatial transformations of houses over time, every successive space upheld the same value systems. I argue the inherited and altered spaces are key in shaping collective memory through reproducing social movements associated with values tied to gender. I believe it is through the combination of the presence of distinct spaces, with the subsequent daily usage of those spaces in accordance with key values of the community, that Old Cairo is able to continue filtering male and female interaction, though in progressively modern forms.

One of these inherited gendered values includes the codes of security, more specifically women's protection. When women are within the home, it is believed they should be protected from intrusive stares from people outside. The traditional window, the mashrabiyyah was a wooden lattice window that functioned in this way and didn't allow a view of the inside from the outside. While this type of window has been replaced by Rumi-style windows, they operate in the exact same way. Simultaneously, when medieval water fountain kiosks that were used for drinking at the harah entrance stopped operating, store owners in the vicinity began providing rows of water jugs as a substitute in Figure 3. Within the shared alley, the codes and values since the Ottoman empire are reproduced: staring into windows is prohibited and an individual's movements through the alley are actively monitored through the presence of local people gathering at spots such as the water drinking spots (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012). Despite modern adaptations to the built environment, the values of female protection as well as home security are inherited within collective memory through the repetition of social practices within the socio-spatial fabric of Old Cairo.

Theories of embodiment: can buildings communicate?

After having looked at some of the examples of Old Cairo where I argue the built environment acts as an agent of collective memory, it is crucial to examine the complex ways in which I believe this occurs. The fact that history is inscribed in buildings is disputed by few, yet the ways in which this inscribed history creates meaning and subsequently has the power to shape collective memory is debated. I believe we can expand our understanding through applying theories from the field of anthropology of the body, specifically the concept of embodiment.

Before diving deep into the intricacies of connections between embodiment, collective memory and the built environment, I would like to present a perspective to answer the question: can buildings communicate? According to the critical perspective of Forty and Küchler (1999) as presented in The Art of Forgetting, they convincingly argue “No”. The value of the built environment as an agent of memory is questioned throughout their book. From Forty's (1999) perspective, objects cannot communicate knowledge or experiences to a community in a way that would shape their collective memory. Other scholars have furthermore built on this idea that material objects cannot embody memories through simply existing, nor can spaces and cities tell their history without accompanying narratives told by their residents. While I personally agree with this perspective, the question that arises is that if we agree with Forty that buildings and other objects cannot communicate, can the built environment act as an agent of collective memory at all? This is where I would like to apply the ideas of embodiment as presented by Bourdieu and Mauss, to show how without directly embodying memories through their existence, the built environment plays a role within collective memory.

Durkheim (1973) conceptualized the idea of collective effervescence to explain the ways in which meaning is instilled collectively within a social group. He described ‘how the embodied social actor, inserted in this kind of periodical effervescence, thus participates in the production and reproduction of social meaning, social renewal, cohesion and creativity’ (Narvaez 2006: 53). Mauss (1973) further elaborated on these processes within his article the Techniques of the body[SB1] , which argued that bodily practices are what shape social order through the performance of everyday life. The past and social beliefs are therefore instilled within our bodies and performed by us every day. Furthering the idea that the study of techniques takes place on the scale of the body itself, Mauss (1973) contended that self-construction is constantly taking place on a variety of different spheres through our interactions with material culture. Applying this idea to the built environment means that the built environment shapes us by directing or hindering our movements and mobilities (Mauss 1973; Coupaye 2022). Looking at Old Cairo, I believe it is the everyday interactions between the body and the built environment that create meaning and allow a shaping and reproduction of the social order. Moreover, the concept of habitus is key in understanding how the past is carried forward through our bodies, considering  Mauss (1973) and Bourdieu (1977: 72)’s view that embodied actors carry out social norms through their everyday actions, whist also ‘structuring’ and influencing the societal norms and values. The interactions between humans and material culture including buildings have further socialising effects on a wider scale. For my Old Cairo examples this is particularly relevant to the ways in which gender and the social hierarchy is socialised. I would also like to apply Bourdieu's (2000; 2001) theory of symbolic violence in examining the values in Old Cairo, which can help us understand how the past that is carried forward through bodies and actions also carries forward forms of oppression. I would personally argue this is the case for the women living in Old Cairo. Using ideas from Mauss (1973) and Bourdieu (1977; 2000; 2001), I argue that the interactions between humans and their spaces lead to constructions of values related to gender and the social hierarchy in Old Cairo.

Forgetting? Destruction and modernisation

When evaluating the built environment as an agent of collective memory, I believe that discontinuity is just as important and complex as the continuity of historical fabric. The discontinuity of historical fabric, namely through destruction and modernisation, shows the ways in which destruction of the built environment is mobilized to shape collective memory, with their effects being contested. Since the time of the Shiite era until contemporary Old Cairo, powerful actors have used selective destruction as a method of reconfiguring the record of the past and breaking away from past values (Bevan 2007). During the twelfth century under the Sunni Ayyubid rule, there was significant selective destruction of buildings from the Shiite era (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012). The destruction took place in an effort to eliminate any remnants of tradition as well as built heritage from the Fatimid dynasty, including grand mosques in order to ‘carve a customised memory’ (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012: 172). The destruction can be linked to the idea of iconoclasm. Cole (2016: 529) has said that ‘iconoclasm is motivated by the iconoclasts’ profound belief in the power of the image being destroyed’. Through the efforts in breaking continuity with the past, I believe the rule under Sunni Ayyubid reveals how crucial the built environment was perceived at that point of time as an agent of collective memory. Yet interestingly, does the complete obliteration of spaces erase its associated beliefs and values?

While the physical built environment is reconfigured, this doesn't necessarily mean that it has impacted a community's values or shaped their actions. This can be seen through the example of Bahloul's (1996) exploration of the collective memory of Algerian migrant families in France. The layouts of Algerian houses appeared to be ingrained in the memory of the families that used to be neighbours, as they actively recreated their previous ways of life in regards to communal spaces and home boundaries within their new spaces. While this example doesn't refer to the destruction of the built environment, I believe it effectively represents the ways in which collective memory that was tied to a specific point in time and space can manifest through a reproduction of ways of being even without the physical presence of the built environment. From this perspective, I would argue that the built environment can be a powerful agent of collective memory, and breaking continuity with the past through the destruction of buildings leads to tension between the forces of forgetting and remembering. During times of change within the built environment, the built environment acts as an agent of collective memory that doesn't need to be physically present. Through the forces of remembering within collective memory, people can draw a connection to a specific time and space that may no longer exist and reproduce erstwhile values and social behaviours in an altered or different space.

Destruction is not the only significant threat to the built environment of Old Cairo. The forces of modernisation as represented by acts of resistance manifest as efforts to reshape collective memory. The forces of modernisation specifically through codes of behaviours have become progressively more visible in recent decades. In interviews, elderly members of the community expressed discontentment with young people. In their view, younger generations are exhibiting behaviours that challenge traditionally held values, behaviours such as ‘listening to loud music’ and dressing ‘like westerners’ (Abdelmonem and Selim 2012: 179). The complexities of the role of the built environment as an agent of collective memory is brought to the forefront when considering the individual and collective resistances through the repurposing spaces. It can appear as though the younger generations would like to be liberated from the constraints of the past. Coming back to ideas of habitus and embodiment, I believe that the example demonstrates that the forces of social agents as ‘constructing’ through collective resistances should not be underestimated within traditional quarters. The ways of life in the harah should not be viewed as static, as they are subject to dynamics of change. New habituses and ways of being with the built environment can emerge on the collective scale and exist in contrast to the prevailing collective memory (Narvarez 2006). Narvarez (2006: 71) therefore argues that embodied collective memory can be a ‘site of conflict or possibility’. The built environment therefore acts as a non-imposing agent of collective memory, one that can be repurposed for new ways of being into the future.

Conclusion

The Old Cairo quarter is characterised by the presence of its built environment originating since the city's foundation, as well as a community that feels a strong connection to its spaces. Firstly, I believe that the ways in which the idea of home is conceptualised by the community in Old Cairo leads to a collective distinct sense of the past. Secondly, I argue that the structures of houses and streets play a role in reproducing values pertaining to gender held intergenerationally in Old Cairo. Through applying ideas developed by Bourdieu and Mauss, I show that meaning and values are created through everyday interactions with spaces. Meaning and values are then reproduced in modern forms by each subsequent generation, despite slight adaptations in the features of the built environment, such as changing window types. I also present examples of selective destruction in Old Cairo. Using ideas from Bahloul, I show that the destruction of the built environment in Old Cairo can lead to repetitions of pre-existing norms and behaviours that are tied in our minds to a specific time and place. Lastly, I examine the forces of modernisation in Old Cairo and through applying theory from Bourdieu, I argue that collective resistances through the repurposing of spaces can shape collective memory into new forms, creating new habituses.

Further topics that I think would have been interesting to explore within this research are the implications of gender dynamics within the built environment. I attempted to cover the topic through an objective perspective centred around collective memory, but the topic spreads a lot wider and has major implications within the anthropologies of gendered spaces. Another topic I would like to further explore is the theme of conservation. Old Cairo has become a key site for conservation in recent decades; I think the politics of conservation of the built environment would have been fruitful to understanding the preservation of historical fabric and its implications on collective memory.

[1] These statistics are outdated: The latest available statistics were compiled during 1986 for a project led by the United Nations Development Programme

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