Communications and Media

There are many groups of people that form communities all over the world. The real understanding of communities has not been clearly elaborated and there is a need to show the composition and example of a community. The major components of a community include social practices, history language and art among others.

A community is composed of a group of people who share a common understanding. The groups of people reveal themselves and are uniquely identified by their language, customs laws and traditions. The groups of people forming a community have common rights, privileges or interests and they live together in the same place with the same laws and regulations governing all of them.

The Egyptian community is found in Africa and it is one of the most populous countries in Africa with an estimated 78 million people (2008). Most of the people live near the banks of the river Nile in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers with their main economic activity being farming. The Egyptian community has five thousand years of recorded history and its complex and stable culture influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A community has religious beliefs and this is practiced by all of the members in the community.

The Ancient Egyptian religion was mainly influenced by their tradition and they did not question their beliefs which had been handed down to them since they did not desire to cause change to their community. Their religion was a polytheistic which is a belief in many gods and it hosted around 700 different gods and goddesses. Their main tradition was the one of Divine Kingship which is the belief the Pharaoh was their King (a political ruler) and also their god. All the people respected the Pharaoh and he was associated with Horus, son of the Re the sun god. The Egyptians believed that when the Pharaoh died, he became Osiris and would help the Egyptians in their after-life. The Pharaoh represents the Egyptian community and this is well known throughout the world.

Communities have moral values which are practiced by the Egyptian community. There are greetings when people meet and handshakes are the customary greetings among the individuals of the same sex. They are usually limp and prolonged and they are always given with a smile and direct eye contact. When there is creation of a relationship it is usually common to kiss one cheek and then the other while shaking hands and this is practiced by the same gender. Greetings between men and women, the woman must extend her hand first and if she doesnt the man should bow his head in greeting.

The Egyptian community is part of the Arabic Speech community of about 250 million people who spread from Morocco to Oman. Egypt became an Arabic-speaking community which was a result of the Muslim conquest in the seventh century with the replacement of the earlier languages taking several centuries. The Arabic language is characterized by diglossia since there is a substantial difference between the written and spoken language. The major forms of entertainment which include the radio and television impose the Cairo-spoken language which is used as the standard dialect. The most common foreign language in the Egyptian community is English followed by French.

The main dominant art elements are derived mainly from the aspects of Egypts history especially the Pharaonic and Islamic periods. The three Giza pyramids together with the Great Sphinx represent the most important elements of the Egyptian community. The nineteenth century Mohammed Ali mosque which is built on top of a medieval citadel is also an attractive and important piece of art and is visible from different parts of Cairo.

The main dish in the Egyptian community is foul. This is a dish of cooked fava beans with low heat and seasoned with salt, oil, lemon and cumin. This is mostly taken for breakfast. The other common dishes are the tamiyya and koshari. The Egyptian community has been there for many years with more than 3,000 years of Egyptian culture. There are different communities in the world with each community having its own set of unique attributes and social practices which identifies the specific group of people as a community.