Book dossier

Egypt's Culture Wars

by Samia Mehrez

"This work presents original research on cultural politics and battles in Egypt at the turn of the twenty-first century. It deconstructs the boundaries between "high" and "low" culture, drawing on conceptual tools in cultural studies, translation studies and gender studies to analyse debates in the fields of literature, cinema, mass media and the plastic arts. Anchored in the Egyptian historical and social contexts and inspired by the influential work of Pierre Bourdieu, it rigorously places these debates and battles within the larger framework of a set of questions about the relationship between the cultural and political fields in Egypt." "Egypt's Culture Wars is a valuable contribution to the often neglected and ignored subject of cultural politics and battles for representation in Egypt. Detailed and insightful, this innovative interdisciplinary volume allows us to understand what has been happening in the sphere of public debate in Egypt. As such, it will be of interest to scholars and students from the literary field, cultural studies, political science, Middle East studies, sociology and gender studies."--Jacket.