The Coptic Theme in Egyptian novels The case of Bayt al-Qibṭiyya (“The house of the Copt woman”) by ʼAšraf al-‘Ašmāwī

This article discusses Bayt al-Qibṭiyya (“The Hhouse of the Copt woman”), a novel by ʼAšraf al-ʻAšmāwī; published in 2019, the novel is a recent iteration of the Coptic theme in Egyptian fiction. The Copts are an integral component of Egyptian society. They form part of Egypt’s social fabric and today constitute some 8% to 9% per cent of the population. Their presence has been evident in the Egyptian novel since its birth. In the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, they were at the forefront of the renaissance that led the country towards a cultural and economic resurgence. Discrimination against Copts in Egypt increased markedly in the second half of the twentieth century, notably since the Revolution of 1952 and in the context of the Islamic revival following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. This trend gained strength during the Sadat era and erupted in numerous episodes of religious violence during the 1970s. The violence continued during the Mubarak era and escalated in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011. This contentious issue is reflected in modern Egyptian literature. In his novel, al-ʻAšmāwī addresses the tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Upper Egypt through the story of Huda Habīb, the Coptic heroine. In order to contextualize his treatment of the theme and afford a broader perspective on its development in Egyptian literature, this article also outlines its representation in other Egyptian novels at different points in history

Egypt's Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in Egyptian Cinema

This thesis argues that the representation of gay men in Egyptian cinema not only has been historically problematic but rather regressed considerably over the years. While critically reflecting on twenty-three feature films as case studies, I demonstrate that depictions of gay characters in Egyptian cinema have overwhelmingly been limited to crude and cruel stereotypes. These stereotypes are often associated with mental illness, being sexually abused at a young age, being influenced heavily by ‘Western decadence’ or a result of lack of self-control or willpower. Furthermore, the thesis argues that censorship plays an important but not a major part in depicting homosexual characters in a more realistic and less stereotypical manner. The filmmakers’ interpretations and cinematic ploys also play a crucial part in the way these characters are portrayed. In interviewing experts, as well as filmmakers of Egyptian cinema, my work reveals how the majority of filmmakers remain complicit with the expectations of Egyptian audiences and society. In addition, in adaptations, particularly films based on novels, filmmakers sometimes intentionally transform homosexual characters by portraying them as ‘deviant’. As a creative-critical PhD, this thesis has two components. The written component of the thesis, which offers a critical reflection on the representation of gay characters in Egyptian cinema, is accompanied by a documentary I have written, directed and produced, entitled Egypt’s Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in Egyptian Cinema. While the documentary traces the depiction of gay characters between 1963 and 2018, the theoretical framework I provide in the written piece reflects my own creative practice. Although there is existing academic work on the representation of sexuality in Egyptian cinema, a creative-critical approach is a new approach in the field. This is where the original contribution of my thesis from a methodological point of view lies: in making a documentary about the topic I address the research questions of the thesis in visual form. The unique insights afforded thorough the documentary form are complemented by my review of the trope of homosexuality in broader Arabic cultural contexts and the ethnographic value of the interviews I have conducted in the process of the film’s making. Chapter One looks at links between representations of homosexuality in Egyptian literature and cinema and the effects of Egyptian censorship structures. Chapter Two looks at the history of the Egyptian film industry, its alignment with state ideology and its depiction of minorities. Chapter Three considers state concerns about the ‘image of Egypt’ and illustrates through case studies how production design (mise-en-scène) and authorship (cinema d’auteur) have shaped depictions of gay characters on screen. Chapter Four analyses the process of making my documentary and the knowledge generated during this process. These analyses demonstrate the ways in which authorship and its relation to specific directors play a major part in showing gay characters realistically. It shows that state censorship can be seen collectively as an important element that helped shape the representation of gay characters, but there are other elements also involved in the construction of these characters

The other Copts: Between sectarianism, nationalism and catholic Coptic activism in Minya.

The partnership between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Egyptian State has been a political technique that has left little space for religious diversity and has overshadowed other Egyptian minorities. Eschewing this dichotomous illusion and blowing the dust off of Missionary Studies that has left Catholic Copts in the past, this ethnographic study gives an account of the life of a Catholic Coptic NGO, the Jesuit Brothers Association for Development (JBAD), within the context of the uncontested capital of sectarian violence in Egypt: Minya. Using participant observation, focus groups, and interviews, this study intends to shed a light on the ways through which sectarian boundaries and identity politics have affected Catholic Copts engaging in activism in the post-2011 era. Particularly, this study explores how three sectarian lines are negotiated in the everyday life of this Catholic Coptic NGO. It explores the convenience and sponsorship that being part of a transnational Catholic Church gives Catholic Coptic institutions such as the JBAD yet its ritualistic remoteness from other types of Catholicism; the negotiation of its common roots with the Coptic Orthodox vis-Ã -vis their perplexity of their historic rivalry; and the ways in which Catholic Copts relate with the Muslim majority and the Egyptian State that vacillate between spiritual service and sectarian violence. This thesis questions how still today Catholic Copts are perceived as a foreign or fabricated minority while they are actually industrious and even nationalist citizens. Although this research subscribes to the literature that addresses the transitions from Mission to NGO\u27s that took place at the end of WWII, in the particular case of Catholic Copts, it proposes a change of scholar discourse from Missionary Studies into those of nationalism and citizenship

Annual Report, 2014

Program Director: Tom Paradise, 2005-2009; Joel Gordon, 2009

Recasting Islamic Law

By examining the intersection of Islamic law, state law, religion, and culture in the Egyptian nation-building process, Recasting Islamic Law highlights how the sharia, when attached to constitutional commitments, is reshaped into modern Islamic state law. Rachel M. Scott analyzes the complex effects of constitutional commitments to the sharia in the wake of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. She argues that the sharia is not dismantled by the modern state when it is applied as modern Islamic state law, but rather recast in its service. In showing the particular forms that the sharia takes when it is applied as modern Islamic state law, Scott pushes back against assumptions that introductions of the sharia into modern state law result in either the revival of medieval Islam or in its complete transformation. Scott engages with premodern law and with the Ottoman legal legacy on topics concerning Egypt's Coptic community, women's rights, personal status law, and the relationship between religious scholars and the Supreme Constitutional Court. Recasting Islamic Law considers modern Islamic state law's discontinuities and its continuities with premodern sharia. Thanks to generous funding from Virginia Tech and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories

THE MUSLIM FEMALE BODY IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY DISCOURSES BY ARAB AND ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS

Abstract The Muslim Female Body in Twenty-First-Century Discourses by Arab and Arab American Women Writers employs a culturally symptomatic approach in its reading of various modes of representation of the Muslim female body. Analyzing visible as well as buried topics in selected twenty-first century Arab and Arab American women’s novels, the dissertation examines dominant cultural constructions of the body within socio-political frameworks. In this context, both present and absent themes are equally important for understanding the production of knowledge by a literary text and, hence, the culture(s) a text symptomizes. To this end, it studies four twenty-first-century novels by Arab American women authors and three novels by Arab women writers, including Syrian American Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), Jordanian American Diana Abu-Jaber’s Crescent (2003), Palestinian American Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home (2008), Egyptian American Samia Serageldin’s The Cairo House (2000), Egyptian Nawal El Saadawi’s Zeina (2010; trans. 2011), Saudi Arabian Rajaa Abdalla Al-Sane’s Banāt al-Riyāḍ (2005); trans. Girls of Riyadh (2007), and Egyptian Bedouin Miral al-Tahawy’s al-Khibāʾ (1996); trans. The Tent (1998). Part of the contribution of this dissertation is that it puts in the foreground what is in the background. By this I mean, it minutely traces and scrutinizes scattered details about the subject of the body of Muslim women across 21st-century Arab and Arab American women’s literatures. Its main claim is that the perception of the Muslim female body is based on cultural fabrications. It seeks to deconstruct dominant one-dimensional interpretations of the position of the Muslim female body today, by laying out the multiplicity of the ideological constraints that the body currently confronts. It views those ideologies as interwoven constituents of a web. At the same time, it teases out multiple modes of resistance that these writers develop to counteract Orientalist, Islamist, and other powers which manufacture and enforce dominant body images. The dissertation highlights the heterogeneity of the authors it deals with, paying close attention to the singular subjectivities of their production of knowledge. To do so, it shows how differences are augmented, multiplied, and rendered more nuanced when delineated within diasporic as well as national contexts. It evaluates how each novel positions itself in relation to damaging ideologies by assessing the counter-images that the writers create. The study discusses how those counter-pictures trouble, adhere to, or refute conventional constructions. This project is both appreciative and critical of Michel Foucault’s theory of the body. It extends Louis Althusser’s theory of ideology. In analyzing the social construction of the Muslim female body, it aligns itself with a handful body theorists, particularly Gayle Rubin, Elizabeth Grosz, Susan Bordo, and Lennard J. Davis. Keywords: Arabophobia, Body Politics, Counterhegemonic Powers , Diaspora, Discourse, Feminism, Gender Construction, Habitus, Identity Politics, Ideology, Islamism, Islamophobia, Oppositional Cultures, Orientalism, Survivance, the Veil, and Zionism

Spaces of escape: Sexuality in the age of the Internet.

This thesis is an online ethnographic study of anonymous sexual interactions and expressions on the internet in twenty first century Egypt. I draw on how the internet is used as a space of freedom and resistance against the regulatory powers of state, society and religion, which decides how sexuality is expressed, discussed and practiced. I look at how a parallel sex culture is constructed online as opposed to the offline hegemonic, heteronormative sex culture. I observe sexual interactions and expressions in three anonymous internet platforms: an Egyptian chat room and two closed secret social media groups. I explore how alternative sexuality is represented, how men and women perceive their sexuality and how new modes of masculinity are performed. I look at how the anonymous online platforms are deemed sites of cultural production where Egyptians anonymously use it as a safe outlet to express their sexual dreams, fears, desires, orientations and behaviors without the fear of losing face in their offline lives. I attempt to understand a side of our truth in sex through analyzing the reciprocal relationship of our sexuality and the internet. Influenced by Foucault\u27s work on sexuality, I examine how online sexual interactions and perceptions are subject to various changing forces such as internet anonymity, wide accessibility of information, and the availability of sexualized material. I look at how these forces shape the way sexuality is performed and perceived online. I draw on how the internet is used as an easy affordable, accessible, and anonymous sexual gratification vehicle in a country with suffocating economic and social circumstances. I look at how sex constitutes an integral part of their everyday experiences, fears, desires and dreams. This thesis is about how sex is practiced and expressed online in context of Egypt\u27s strict regulatory powers of state, religion, and society and how in the process it was subject to other forces of change

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Challenges of Building Coptic Spaces in Contemporary Egypt

The Coptic community of Egypt operates daily under pressures from state, society, and the Coptic Orthodox Church, and yet are expected to be an invisible minority that places its national identity over its ethnoreligious one that it is often ostracized for. This thesis explores how Copts navigate the concept of space in Egypt, and more importantly, how, through a process of cooptation, creative subversion of, or opposition to the systems they operate under, build space for themselves outside of what they had been restricted to. This thesis explores ideas of visibility, panopticism, and hegemony as I discuss the historical and sociological intricacies of Copts in Egypt engaging in quiet practices and loud actions