The 1976 Soweto uprising

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 2 May, 199

Gail Gerhart Oral History

Gail Gerhart was a faculty member teaching political science at the American University in Cairo from 1980 to 1985 and in the early 2000s, and her husband John Gerhart was President from 1999 to 2003. She discusses her education, meeting John Gerhart during a 1963-1964 Harvard University-Radcliffe College student teaching project in Tanzania, and her field research on apartheid in South Africa (interviewing important figures like Steve Biko). Gerhart offers a sketch of John Gerhart’s childhood in Texas, his education, and almost 30-year career with the Ford Foundation, including postings in Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa (the first soon after their marriage in 1968). She recounts living in those countries, from raising children, to her research and teaching and refugee medical clinic work, to John’s interest in birdwatching. Gerhart speaks about their move to Cairo in 1980 for John’s 5-year Ford Foundation posting there, and discusses her teaching as a faculty member in AUC’s Department of Economics, Political Science and Mass Communication. Various aspects of her professional experience at AUC, and of living in Cairo, are addressed. She provides her perspective on the selection of John Gerhart as President of AUC in 1998, his efforts in planning and fundraising for the new campus, and controversies over a book censorship case, a film made on the campus, and the arrest of sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Dealings with trustees and administrators, students and interns, and faculty (including the equalizing of Egyptian and foreign faculty salaries) are addressed, along with Gerhart’s relationship with Provost Tim Sullivan. She touches on her political science teaching, and life in Cairo, during John’s presidency. Gail Gerhart also speaks of John’s leaving the presidency due to cancer, and his death in 2003. His successor David Arnold, the Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, and her continued research projects on African politics are mentioned as well