From small porcelain trinkets to closets bursting with winter clothes: Egyptians have, over the decades, developed a proclivity for hoarding karakeeb: unused, miscellaneous clutter that serves a minor purpose, be it sentimental, practical, or simply as comforting good-to-haves. Originating from the word karkaba and karkeb, which means ‘to clutter’, the word has become a go-to to describe this specific facet of Egyptian culture. Some collections are benign—a grandmother preserving memories of her past, a man whose soft sentimentality prevents him from tossing out his father’s old suit, and a teenager whose developed ties to the aging dollhouse she keeps in the corner of her room. But not all cases are quite as romantic. Some Egyptians hoard because of perceived crisis; between history and poverty, being stripped of one’s basic needs seems to loom over households that’ve gone through struggle. Karakeeb to some, it seems, a necessity to others—frozen food, plastic bags, old clothes: they are all things that, in practice, could alleviate foreseeable scarcity. Egyptian Streets sought to explore all the reasons behind people’s karakeeb, behind the wide-reaching and enduring nature of this phenomenon. Though commonly seen in older generations,…
