Title: Educating Egyptians: Civic Values ​​and Ideological Struggles

Author:  Linda Herrera, Translated by Ayman Al-Husseini

Publisher: Al-Maraya for Culture and Arts

Education in Egypt developed during the last century, achieving tremendous success in terms of its reach and its place in the collective imagination. The state and various sectors of society have long benefited from education in shaping identities, asserting political and moral authority, and realizing ambitious visions for economic and social development. Education is a vital field of research, specifically because:

With broader processes of power and resistance, continuity and social change, and its close connection to the hopes, aspirations, opportunities, hardships and setbacks of millions of families and children, and their enormous sacrifices in order to obtain academic degrees.

This book traces the daily practices, policies, and ideological battles surrounding education from the nation-building era of the 20th century to the digital revolution of the 21st century. Its central argument is that school education, and education in general, has always been a reflection of major political, economic, and cultural trends, as well as competing ideas about what constitutes a “good society,” a “good citizen,” and an “educated person.” Questions of citizenship, civic belonging, and participation in public and economic life, in particular, emerge as arenas of conflict and reimagining, and these themes serve as a unifying thread connecting the book’s chapters.