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Summary:

In light of the Egyptian uprising in early 2011, understanding the dynamics that are shaping Egyptian politics and society is more crucial than ever as Egypt seeks to re-define itself after the Mubarak era. One of the most controversial debates concerns the place of religion in Egypt's political future. This book examines the escalation in religious violence in Egypt since 2005 and the public discourses behind it, revealing some of the complex negotiations that lay behind contestations of citizenship, Muslim-Christian relations and national unity. Focusing on Egypt's largest religious minority group, the Coptic Orthodox Christians, this book explores how national, ethnic and religious expressions of identity are interwoven in the narratives and usage of the press and Internet. In doing so it offers insights into some of Egypt's contemporary social and political challenges, and recognises the ways that media are involved in constructing and reflecting formations of identity politics. The author examines in depth the processes through which identity and belonging are negotiated via media discourses within the wider framework of changing political realities in Egypt. Using a combination of methodological approaches - including comprehensive surveys and discourse analysis - the research offers a fresh perspective on the politics of identity in Egypt.

Table of Contents:

• Machine generated contents note: pt. I Copts, Copticness and the Egyptian media
• 1. contemporary Coptic community: between the state and the Church
• Meanings of ̀Copt' and ̀Copticness'
• Contemporary challenges
• 2. Egyptian press in national political life
• early Egyptian press
• press after the 1952 revolution: a shrinking of the public space
• press and politics: controlling the flow of information
• Copts on the national front page
• Conclusion
• 3. Coptic online spaces: the impact of the Internet on Coptic politics
• Crossing more red lines: the Internet effect
• Virtual Copticness: constructing Coptic networks online
• function of online Coptic media: minority or particularistic?
• Connecting the national and the virtual
• Conclusion
• pt. II Copts and national representation in the Mubarak
• Shenouda era
• 4. Coptic Orthodox Church as a media and political actor
• emergence of the Church as a social and political actor

• Church as a national institution: relations with the state
• Church management of a Coptic communicative space
• Church, Internet and the diaspora: a challenge to Church authority or broadening its support base?
• Conclusion
• 5. Discoursing national belonging: national unity versus sectarianism
• History, collective memory and constructing national unity
• Discourses of displacement and forgetting
• Implications of the minority label for belonging and national Egyptian identity
• Shifting the boundary of ùs' and ̀them'
• Al-Mowatana: rebranding national unity
• Conclusion
• pt. III Challenging regimes of representation
• 6. Resisting Church leadership through media: dissent and legitimacy 2005
• 10
• Dissenting discourses and sustaining Church legitimacy
• Strategies for presenting and undermining resistance discourses
• Discourses of resistance online
• diaspora: space for resistance?
• Conclusion
• 7. Revolution and political crisis: shifting discourses and relations of power
• Re-contesting normalized discourses of Coptic Church authority
• Cracks in the Church
• state pact
• Church and the revolution
• Church
• SCAF pact?
• Church and Coptic protests
• Conclusion
• 8. Copts, sectarianism and citizenship in post-25 January Egypt
• State media, sectarianism and Coptic protests
• Constructing citizenship and the civil state: prospects and challenges
• Prospects for citizenship and Coptic inclusion beyond the transition.

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Author/Creator:

Iskander, Elizabeth

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Sectarian conflict in Egypt: Coptic media, identity and representation [by Iskander, E.]

Related Series:

Routledge studies in Middle Eastern politics; [volume] 43

Subjects:

Coptic Church — History — 21st century

Egypt — Church history — 21st century

Christianity and politics — Egypt

Church and state — Egypt

Religion and state — Egypt

Egypt — Religion

Coptic Church

2000-2099

Christianity and politics

Church and state

Religion and state

Religion

Church history

Egypt

Genres:

History

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

BX134.E3 I85 2012eb

ISBNs:

9781136313653 (electronic bk.)
1136313656 (electronic bk.)
9780415695787 [Invalid]
0415695783 [Invalid]
9780203119204 [Invalid]
0203119207 [Invalid]

Other Standard Numbers:

[Unknown Type]: 40021249487

OCLC Numbers:

796839759

Other Control Numbers:

460416 (source: EbpS)
[Unknown Type]: ybp9244956