Public Culture and Islam in Modern Egypt ─ Media, Intellectuals and Society

What does it mean to be an intellectual in Egypt today? What is expected from an 'authentic scholar'? And how does the mass media influence or reflect intellectual debates? Hatsuki Aishima explores these questions by examining educated, urban Egyptians and their perceptions of what it means to be 'cultured' and 'middle class'—something that, as a result of the neoliberal policies of Egyptian government, is perceived to be a shrinking sector of society. Discussing the media presentations and representations of Abdel-Halim Mahmoud—Sufi scholar and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar under former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat—she discusses the connection of Islam to these middle class considerations, as well as offering analysis concerning the commodification of religious teaching and knowledge. Public Culture and Islam in Modern Egypt is thereby a unique contribution to the fields of anthropology, Middle East and media studies.

Hatsuki Aishima is Research Fellow at the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan. She holds a DPhil in Anthropology from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.