“Illustrates the complex and contradictory impact of Muslim revivalism on the expectations and hopes of Egyptian youth . . . Recommended.” —Choice Against the backdrop of the revolutionary uprisings of 2011–2013, Samuli Schielke asks how ordinary Egyptians confront the great promises and grand schemes of religious commitment, middle class respectability, romantic love, and political ideologies in their daily lives, and how they make sense of the existential anxieties and stalled expectations that inevitably accompany such hopes. Drawing on many years of study in Egypt and the life stories of rural, lower-middle-class men before and after the revolution, Schielke views recent events in ways that are both historically deep and personal. Schielke challenges prevailing views of Muslim piety, showing that religious lives are part of a much more complex lived experience. “This wonderful book brings fresh insights into the anthropology of hope in general and Egypt in particular. It makes a rewarding read for scholars interested in how life and all its ambiguities and aspirations unfold under changing notions of religious commitment, new regimes of circulation, and emerging patterns of consumption.” —American Anthropologist “An altogether innovative, compelling, and sensitive perspective on what is perhaps the most important question facing young people in the Middle East today: how to make a life in rapidly shifting, complex times whose future is uncertain.” —Jessica Winegar, author of Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt

The book gives the first systematic account of the Egyptian Revolution in 2011 and its aftermath using a contentious politics framework. The book will be used by academics, upper-level undergraduates and postgraduate students interested in the Arab Spring.

An important look at the hopeful rise and tragic defeat of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 began with immense hope, but was defeated in two and a half years, ushering in the most brutal and corrupt regime in modern Egyptian history. How was the passage from utmost euphoria into abject despair experienced, not only by those committed to revolutionary change, but also by people indifferent or even hostile to the revolution? In Martyrs and Tricksters, anthropologist and Cairo resident Walter Armbrust explores the revolution through the lens of liminality—initially a communal fellowship, where everything seemed possible, transformed into a devastating limbo with no exit. To make sense of events, Armbrust looks at the martyrs, trickster media personalities, public spaces, contested narratives, historical allusions, and factional struggles during this chaotic time. Armbrust shows that while martyrs became the primary symbols of mobilization, no one took seriously enough the emergence of political tricksters. Tricksters appeared in media—not the vaunted social media of a “Facebook revolution” but television—and they paved the way for the rise of Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi. In the end Egypt became a global political vanguard, but not in the way the revolutionaries intended. What initially appeared as the gateway to an age of revolution has transformed the world over into the age of the trickster. Delving into how Egyptians moved from unprecedented exhilaration to confusion and massacre, Martyrs and Tricksters is a powerful cultural biography of a tragic revolution.

Featuring: Ahmed Fakharany, Azza Sultan, Belal Fadl , Camellia Hussein , Michel Hanna, Mansoura Ez Eldin , Nora Nagi, Heba Khamis, Mohamed Kheir, Ahmed Naji, Ahmed Wael & Yasmine El Rashidi Egypt + 100 poses a question to twelve contemporary Egyptian authors: what might your country look like in the year 2111 – exactly a century after the failed Tahrir Square Revolution? Might Egypt still be in the grip of ‘friendly authoritarianism’, clinging to power with all the weapons of futurism at its disposal: protest-avoidant architecture, excessive surveillance, the slow replacement of the outside world with the virtual one. Or might other historical forces come into play, pairing pragmatism with tolerance, and realising some of the lost aspirations of the long-cancelled ‘Arab Spring’. Covering a range of styles – from SF noir, to supernatural horror, to political farce – these stories use the blank canvas of the future to process recent traumas that Egypt has yet to come to terms with. Along the way, we encounter gladiatorial entertainments, anti-procreation resistance movements, the decline of Cairo into a lawless wasteland, far from the gated security of the New Capital, and the simultaneous flooding of lower Egypt with the drying up of the Nile. Each story offers an object lesson in the strange logic of authoritarianism, and how, as the editor puts it, politicians’ fantasies ‘eventually become the citizens’ worst nightmares.’ Translated by: Majd Abu Shawish, Robin Moger, Andrew Leber, Elisabeth Jaquette, Mohammed Ghalayini, Raphael Cohen, Raph Cormack, Paul Starkey, Mayada Ibrahim, Basma Ghalayini. Maisa Almanasreh, and Rana Asfour.

Focusing on authoritarian rule, unresolved economic challenges, and external dependency, the volume explains the salient political and economic features of contemporary Egypt against the backdrop of its history since the beginning of the 19th century. Presenting a comprehensive account of developments, it challenges common assumptions about secularists, Islamists, and revolutionaries, as well as 'modernization', 'economic reform', and political stability. Discussing domestic politics, economic change, and external relations since 1945, the author argues that Egypt continued to draw a degree of strength from sustained state-building activities, which its pre-colonial rulers could pursue in a favourable international environment and the partly related emergence of the country as a focal point of collective identity. More consolidated than many other states in the global south, Arab and non-Arab alike, independent Egypt, despite changing economic strategies, remained a (lower) middle-income country and despite repeated political contestation, most recently in the Arab Spring, continued to suffer from autocratic rule. Such continuity reflects not only the interplay between political forces at home, dominated by the military, and inconclusive economic policies but also the external constraints under which governments and other actors in the global south have to act. Based on numerous primary and secondary sources in various languages, including Arabic, and years of fieldwork, the book is a key resource for scholars of all levels, journalists, policymakers, and diplomats interested in comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East and Egypt.

Ancient cultures have left written evidence of a variety of scientific texts. But how can/should they be translated? Is it possible to use modern concepts (and terminology) in their translation and which consequences result from this practice? Scholars of various disciplines discuss the practice of translating ancient scientific texts and present examples of these texts and their translations.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.