Conclusion/Bibliography
In this project I have explored the relationship between the Coptic people in Egypt and dance, and how this raises questions of visibility, national definitions, and ethnic definitions. Through the sources of Milad Hanna and Pheobe Farag, the Coptic identity has been deconstructed, and revealed to be much more ambiguous than modern Copts claim of their heritage. Additionally, the important factor of the lack of national visibility for Coptic people through the public sphere and popular culture broadly becomes crucial in understanding the apparent lack of existence of Copts in the dance sphere specifically. However, though personal interviews of two Coptic women who experienced Egypt half a century apart, we have been able to determine that the relationship does in fact exist, and is not so different from Muslim Egyptians relationship to dance, albeit that it is an entirely private relationship. Although there does exist a relationship between Copts and dance, their lack of visibility has led them to reclaim and define their own dance identities, as seen through the pharaonic performance at the Egyptian Coptic festival, in addition to movement ingrained in ancient liturgical traditions. Overall, we can see that identities can not be so cleanly separated and defined, and though it is unrealistic to assign a singular experience to an entire group of people that move in circles apart from ethnicity, we can understand how the Coptic aspect of identity affects relations to a present culture and determines what one claims as one's own.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anonymous. Personal Interview. 27 October 2019.
"Coptic Christians battle prejudice in Egyptian football." YouTube, uploaded by AFP News Agency, 21 May 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynb1pxeBlx0&feature=emb_err_watch_on_yt.
Dunn, Ross. Chapel at St. Mary’s Egyptian Coptic Church, Formerly St Matthias Anglican Church, at Parkdale Avenue and the Queenway.
Farag, Phoebe. "Arabs, Copts, Egyptians, Americans: An Exploration of Identity in the Diaspora." Al-Raida Journal [Online], 0 (2007): 28-34. Web. 16 Dec. 2019. http://www.alraidajournal.com/index.php/ALRJ/article/view/206.
Hanna, Mariam. Personal Interview. 8 December 2019.
Hanna, Milad. Interview by Theodore May. Milad Hanna on Coptic Christians in Egypt. Daily News Egypt. 15 Jan. 2010. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ari18DorJw.Nieuwkerk, Karin van. A Trade like Any Other: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt. University of Texas Press, 2008.
Hong, George. "Egyptian Coptic Festival dancers MAH02324." YouTube, 17 Sep. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYmQWP1g4dM&feature=emb_title.
Kartaev, Vladimir. "How to do prostrations?" YouTube, 3 May 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd66Zx8ED90&feature=emb_title.