"That's a pretty boy" or "I have a great new job" are sentences which are rarely heard in Egypt for fear that they spark envy and the evil eye.
I know women who have concealed a relationship until just before the wedding for fear of losing their finance if jealous girlfriends give them the evil eye. Children are viewed as particularly vulnerable. Sometimes they are even given strange names, for example Shahtino, which means "I begged him". Boy babies, widely preferred in Egypt, are occasionally are given earrings or dresses so that they look like a girl. Belief in the evil eye is widespread in Egypt, spanning the urban hubs as well as the countryside.
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So many people are increasingly speaking in the name of "We" in public. The French philosopher Tristan Garcia discusses how these identities of the "We" can be reconciled.
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Terrorist attacks, armed robbery, water scarcity: Everyday life in the capital of the Central African Republic is hard. And yet people here are safer than in the rest of the country.
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On the one hand fitness and tattoo studios, on the other public executions and a moral police unit. The photo journalist Fatemi shows contradictory scenes from everyday life in his home country
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In his new book, tropical biologist Mark W. Moffett researches the ties that bind human and animal societies.
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