Rural Egypt is undergoing a process of socio-economic transformation which has made a great number of rural agricultural workers redundant. These seek work in non-agricultural occupations in villages and fast-growing cities. The limestone industry is a major source of non-agricultural income in the villages of the east Nile in Middle Egypt. Some of the purely Coptic villages in this region have completely converted their economy to the limestone industry. This economic transformation is embedded in a socio-political context of increasing conflict between Copts and Muslims. With a research approach based on qualitative methods, this transformation process was studied using the example of the village of Nazled Ibeid near El Minya. While the transformation, despite numerous problems, seems to be an economic success, it has also led to an increase in ethno-religious tensions and the possibility of social conflict.

埃及农村正在经历社会经济转型过程，导致大量农村农业工人失业。这些人在乡村和快速发展的城市寻找非农业职业。石灰石工业是埃及中部东尼罗河村庄非农业收入的主要来源。该地区一些纯粹的科普特村庄已经完全将他们的经济转变为石灰石工业。这种经济转型植根于科普特人和穆斯林之间冲突日益加剧的社会政治背景。通过基于定性方法的研究方法，以El Minya附近的Nazled Ibeid村为例，研究了这种转变过程. 尽管存在许多问题，但这种转变似乎在经济上取得了成功，但也导致了民族宗教紧张局势和社会冲突可能性的增加。