National Robin Hoods and Local Avengers: On Two Shifts in the Criminal Myth of Rayyā and Sakīna in Present Day Egypt

The article examines bandit myths from a socio-historical perspective, as part of the socio-cultural reality present-day Egypt. It engages in semiotics banditry encouraged by Stephanie Cronin taking first step towards social analysis Rayyā and Sakīna, two Egyptian female criminals par excellence, arrested 1920 executed 1921. I will argue that Sakīna's criminal myth is currently being resignified terms can be conceived banditry. Ethnography, press, broadcast sources help to highlight different recent shifts myths, linked respectively national local circulation.