Ingvild Tomren

Academic interests

Popular culture and music in the Middle East, with a focus on Egypt. My research interests also include sociolinguistics and the Arabic speech community.

My PhD project will examine Egyptian popular music in the early twentieth century. I want to look at how ordinary people were marked and reflected in the music, and in what ways it represents a counterculture in this transformative period.

Background

I completed my Master of Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic at IKOS in the spring of 2015. My Master's topic was on a new genre within Egyptian youth music and I conducted fieldwork in Cairo. The thesis focused on how the music served as a means of expression and outlet for young marginalized Egyptians in an authoritative state. I also have a Bachelor of Middle Eastern Studies from IKOS, in addition to two semesters of language exchange at the International Language Institute in Cairo. In the first year of my Bachelor I studied Social Anthropology at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

In addition to my studies I have gained working experience from a variety of jobs including counseling, freelance translation, teaching and providing information to asylum seekers in Arabic. I also participated in the IKOS based project "In 2016" where I contribute with an article on pop music and underground music in Egypt after the Arab spring.