Coptic Heritage Awakening

Coptic Heritage Awakening is about the living heritage of the Copts of Egypt as experienced in daily life and in important seasons of the year. Through powerful images and stories, you are invited to visit streets and highways, homes and festivals, churches and fields where Coptness is manifest in all kinds of ways. From decals on vehicles to intricate displays fronting homes to the gleaning of the harvest, Coptic Heritage Awakening sheds light on heritage practices shared in an accessible but scholarly way for the first time. Readers are invited on a journey of heritage sense-making through multiple lenses: that of the author, the heritage gatherers comprising the hundreds of young people who have captured the photos and collected the stories, alongside members of their communities. The original contribution of this book is in its approach: the journey starts from the heart of Coptic communities; heritage is gathered through the young people residing there, and heritage sharing efforts are shared first and foremost in these same communities. We ask “whose heritage counts” as we accompany everyday Copts across communities stretching from Cairo passing by Beni Suef, Minya, Asiut, Sohag and Aswan. Coptic Heritage Awakening celebrates the joy of communal celebrations but also exposes the many subtle forms of resistance that the Copts manifest in daily life to prevent the erasure of their identity. This book documents not only what has been passed on intergenerationally but also the current efforts of young people to revive Coptic practices that create interconnections across generations and those of different backgrounds. Readers are invited to take part in these revivals, enabled through the book’s display of individual stories, recipes and step by step guidelines on performing some of these heritage practices. This bilingual book, in English and Arabic, is also freely available online, through this open access version.