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The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt

In the wake of the Egyptian January 25, 2011 popular uprisings that deposed Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, youth and leaders from Kanisset Kasr el Dobara (KDEC) in Tahrir Square embarked on new and unpredictable political projects and activisms. This ethnographic study is an engagement with the...

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Main Author: Dowell, Anna
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2012
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access_status_str Open Access
author Dowell, Anna
author_browse Dowell, Anna
author_facet Dowell, Anna
author_sort Dowell, Anna
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.
description In the wake of the Egyptian January 25, 2011 popular uprisings that deposed Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, youth and leaders from Kanisset Kasr el Dobara (KDEC) in Tahrir Square embarked on new and unpredictable political projects and activisms. This ethnographic study is an engagement with these new revolutionary negotiations on the part of the largest Protestant congregation in the Middle East. Using participant observation, focus groups, and interviews this research seeks to elucidate the ways that youth and leaders utilized institutionalized discourse, religious imagery, and relational networks in order to carve out a place in the Egyptian public sphere regarding public religion, national belonging, and the ideal citizen. Broadly this research seeks to understand how Evangelical Egyptians at KDEC navigated their colonial heritage and transnational character even as their leadership sought to ground the congregation in the Egyptian nation-state and in the emerging post-revolutionary political scene. I argue that these negotiations were built upon powerful paradoxes concerning liberal politics, secularism, and private versus public religion, which often implicated Evangelicals in the same questions being raised more broadly in the Egyptian political sphere concerning Islamist politics and religious minorities. These negotiations also serve as a significant departure from the political posture and intervention of the much larger Coptic Orthodox establishment in Egypt. This project contributes to literature on the formation of religious subjectivity and political imaginaries, the nexus between Protestantism and modernity, as well as the role and future of public religions, especially as these topics are being pursued in the anthropology of Christianity.
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
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license_str Other — see source repository
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2131 The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt Dowell, Anna In the wake of the Egyptian January 25, 2011 popular uprisings that deposed Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, youth and leaders from Kanisset Kasr el Dobara (KDEC) in Tahrir Square embarked on new and unpredictable political projects and activisms. This ethnographic study is an engagement with these new revolutionary negotiations on the part of the largest Protestant congregation in the Middle East. Using participant observation, focus groups, and interviews this research seeks to elucidate the ways that youth and leaders utilized institutionalized discourse, religious imagery, and relational networks in order to carve out a place in the Egyptian public sphere regarding public religion, national belonging, and the ideal citizen. Broadly this research seeks to understand how Evangelical Egyptians at KDEC navigated their colonial heritage and transnational character even as their leadership sought to ground the congregation in the Egyptian nation-state and in the emerging post-revolutionary political scene. I argue that these negotiations were built upon powerful paradoxes concerning liberal politics, secularism, and private versus public religion, which often implicated Evangelicals in the same questions being raised more broadly in the Egyptian political sphere concerning Islamist politics and religious minorities. These negotiations also serve as a significant departure from the political posture and intervention of the much larger Coptic Orthodox establishment in Egypt. This project contributes to literature on the formation of religious subjectivity and political imaginaries, the nexus between Protestantism and modernity, as well as the role and future of public religions, especially as these topics are being pursued in the anthropology of Christianity. 2012-06-01T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1132 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2131/viewcontent/Dowell_The_20Church_20in_20the_20Square_20Full_20Draft_May_2020.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Revolutions Egypt
spellingShingle Revolutions
Egypt
Dowell, Anna
The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title_full The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title_fullStr The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title_full_unstemmed The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title_short The church in the square: negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in Cairo, Egypt
title_sort church in the square negotiations of religion and revolution at an evangelical church in cairo egypt
topic Revolutions
Egypt
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1132
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2131/viewcontent/Dowell_The_20Church_20in_20the_20Square_20Full_20Draft_May_2020.pdf
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