The Muslim Brothers in Society : Everyday Politics, Social Action, and Islamism in Mubarak’s Egypt

A groundbreaking ethnography of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood The Islamists’ political rise in Arab countries has often been explained by their capacity to provide social services, representing a challenge to the legitimacy of neoliberal states. Few studies, however, have addressed how this social action was provided, and how it engendered popular political support for Islamist organizations. Most of the time the links between social services and Islamist groups have been taken as given, rather than empirically examined, with studies of specific Islamist organizations tending to focus on their internal patterns of sectarian mobilization and the ideological indoctrination of committed members. Taking the case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), this book offers a groundbreaking ethnography of Islamist everyday politics and social action in three districts of Greater Cairo. Based on long-term fieldwork among grassroots networks and on interviews with MB deputies, members, and beneficiaries, it shows how the MB operated on a day-to-day basis in society, through social brokering, constituent relations, and popular outreach. How did ordinary MB members concretely relate to local populations in the neighborhoods where they lived? What kinds of social services did they deliver? How did they experience belonging to the Brotherhood and how this membership fit in with their other social identities? Finally, what political effects did their social action entail, both in terms of popular support and of contestation or cooperation with the state? Nuanced, theoretically eclectic, and empirically rich, The Muslim Brothers in Society reveals the fragile balances on which the Muslim Brotherhood’s political and social action was based and shows how these balances were disrupted after the January 2011 uprising. It provides an alternative way of understanding their historical failure in 2013.

The first book to reveal the private life of anEnglishwoman whose contribution to the recording of Egypt's ancientpast has long been overlooked An Artist in Abydosis the first book to recognize Broome's great contribution to thework done during this golden age of excavation in Upper Egypt. Inthis remarkable account, Lee Young tells the story of MyrtleBroome, who died in 1978, largely through her letters. An onlychild and a prolific writer, Broome wanted her parents to knowevery facet of her life in Egypt. Her frequent letters to themvividly capture life in the villages, the traditions of the localpeople, the work of artisans, such as weaving and pot-making, andfestivals, ceremonies, and music. In fascinating detail, theletters also depict Broome's living conditions providing us with apersonal account of what it was like to be an English, workingwoman living abroad in Egypt in the 1930s. Myrtle Florence Broomewas born in 1888 to artistically inclined middle-class parents inthe district of Holborn in London. Between 1911 and 1913, shestudied at University College London under the legendary SirWilliam Petrie. In 1927 she was invited to join the excavations atQau el-Kebir as an artist for the British School of Archaeology inEgypt, later traveling, in 1929, to work at the now famous SetiTemple in Abydos for the Egypt Exploration Society. Broome spenteight seasons there, copying the painted scenes in the Temple.Regarded then as one of the greatest copyists working in Egypt, sheleft invaluable renditions of some of ancient Egypt's mostbeautiful monuments. An Artist in Abydos is an importantbook celebrating the contributions of an under-recognized womanartist during the golden age of excavation in Egypt.

The first book to reveal the private life of an Englishwoman whose contribution to the recording of Egypt's ancient past has long been overlooked An Artist in Abydos is the first book to recognize Broome's great contribution to the work done during this golden age of excavation in Upper Egypt. In this remarkable account, Lee Young tells the story of Myrtle Broome, who died in 1978, largely through her letters. An only child and a prolific writer, Broome wanted her parents to know every facet of her life in Egypt. Her frequent letters to them vividly capture life in the villages, the traditions of the local people, the work of artisans, such as weaving and pot-making, and festivals, ceremonies, and music. In fascinating detail, the letters also depict Broome's living conditions providing us with a personal account of what it was like to be an English, working woman living abroad in Egypt in the 1930s. Myrtle Florence Broome was born in 1888 to artistically inclined middle-class parents in the district of Holborn in London. Between 1911 and 1913, she studied at University College London under the legendary Sir William Petrie. In 1927 she was invited to join the excavations at Qau el-Kebir as an artist for the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, later traveling, in 1929, to work at the now famous Seti Temple in Abydos for the Egypt Exploration Society. Broome spent eight seasons there, copying the painted scenes in the Temple. Regarded then as one of the greatest copyists working in Egypt, she left invaluable renditions of some of ancient Egypt's most beautiful monuments. An Artist in Abydos is an important book celebrating the contributions of an under-recognized woman artist during the golden age of excavation in Egypt.