Living in Egypt at the turn of the millennium, cultural anthropologist L. L. Wynn was struck by the juxtapositions of Western, Gulf Arab, and Egyptian viewpoints she encountered. For some, Egypt is the land of mummies and pharaohs. For others, it is a vortex of decadence, where nightlife promises a chance to salivate over belly dancers and maybe even glimpse a movie star. Offering a new approach to ethnography, Pyramids and Nightclubs examines cross-cultural encounters to bring to light the counterintuitive ways in which Egypt is defined. Guiding readers on an armchair journey that introduces us to Russian and Australian belly dancers on Nile cruise ships, Egyptian rumors about an Arab prince and his royal entourage, Saudi girls looking for a less restrictive dating scene, and other visitors to this ''antique'' land, Wynn uses the lens of travel and tourism to depict a fascinating and often surprising version of Egypt, while exploring the concept of stereotype itself. Tracing the history of Western and Arab fascination with Egypt through spurious hunts for lost civilizations and the new economic disparities brought about by the oil industry, Pyramids and Nightclubs ultimately describes the ways in which moments of cultural contact, driven by tourism and labor migration, become eye-opening opportunities for defining self and other.

在千年之交的埃及生活，文化人类学家L.L.Wynn被她遇到的西方、海湾阿拉伯和埃及观点的并列所震惊。对一些人来说，埃及是木乃伊和法老的土地。对另一些人来说，它是一个颓废的漩涡，夜生活使人有机会对肚皮舞者垂涎三尺，甚至可能瞥见电影明星。金字塔与夜总会》提供了一种新的人种学方法，研究了跨文化的接触，以揭示埃及被定义的反直觉方式。怀恩用旅行和旅游的视角向我们介绍了尼罗河游轮上的俄罗斯和澳大利亚肚皮舞者、关于阿拉伯王子及其王室随从的埃及传闻、寻找限制较少的约会场所的沙特女孩以及这片 "古董 "土地上的其他游客，怀恩用旅行和旅游的视角描绘了一个迷人的、经常令人惊讶的埃及，同时探讨了陈规定型的概念本身。追踪西方和阿拉伯对埃及的迷恋历史，通过对失落文明的虚假追捕和石油工业带来的新的经济差异，《金字塔和夜总会》最终描述了在旅游业和劳动力迁移的推动下，文化接触的时刻成为界定自我和他人的大开眼界的机会的方式。