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INTRODUCTION
21
The dialectical nature of meanings requires a reform of both
sorts of analyses and descriptions of meanings. The understanding
of some sorts of meanings, particularly spiritual and social
ones, by the researcher, could be oversimplified or distorted if
one does not have a thoroughly local knowledge which can control
the perceptual reactions
53
•
On the other hand, the research
should not only explain what is already known but also the hidden
meanings in the present settings and the old meanings which have
disappeared or have been changed in the present and have not been
known by the users.
In some cases, the user may imitate design elements with
particular meanings from other settings or places and during this
process the user may transform the original meaning and create
different sensory qualities. Chadirji maintained that when
Europeans introduced particular furniture called "style" from
Europe into Egypt, the Egyptian furniture workers reproduced
copies and replaced their design with other symbols which hav�
no relation with the original copies�. Therefore, the research
should also explain how the cultural schemata influences users'
decisions in imitation of meanings from other settings or other
environments and their application in their particular
environment settings.
Another example is neglecting aspects of local tradition
(urf)
in judgements of Islamic law
(shari 'ah)
when the social
norms conflicted with Islamic principles
55
•
In these cases,
people 's meanings and researcher 's individual meanings cannot be
used to judge such issues because they should be considered as
holy principles and may have no explanations.
53 Geertz, Clifford, 1983,
Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive
Anthropology,
Basic Books.
�Chadirji, Rif'at,1991,
al-Ukhaider and Crystal Palace,
Riad el-Rayyes Books
Ltd., London.
55 These will be discussed in part 4: The case of
al-tina'
in Cairo.