The Myth of the Dam1

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Abstract
Change and stability can be understood not as polar opposites but as conditions necessary to the viability of organic life. Social transformation may be accomplished, in part, because there exists a mythopoeic faculty which during processes of transformation acts to preserve one's self‐concept and collective identification. Although the Nubian practiced labor migration over centuries, he asserts, today, that no one could have left Nubia had it not been for the construction of the Aswan dam in 1902. By reference to the mythical effect of the dam on his natural history, the Nubian could bring into congruence the apparent contradiction between his urban commitment and his loyalty to collective sentiments. Allegorically, by extracting his migratory behaviors from their historical roots and by attaching them to an artifact of symbolic significance for the collectivity, migration would represent no denial of his relation to nature. Myth and ritual may be cohesive forces when they act on a society undergoing change.

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