Egypt in the Future Tense: Hope, Frustration, and Ambivalence before and after 2011

by Samuli Schielke

Against the backdrop of the revolutionary uprisings of 2011-2013, Samuli Schielke asks how ordinary Egyptians confront the great promises and grand schemes of religious commitment, middle class respectability, romantic love, and political ideologies in their daily lives, and how they make sense of the existential anxieties and stalled expectations that inevitably accompany such hopes. Drawing on many years of study in Egypt and the life stories of rural, lower-middle-class men before and after the revolution, Schielke views recent events in ways that are both historically deep and personal. Schielke challenges prevailing views of Muslim piety, showing that religious lives are part of a much more complex lived experience."

Genres: Egypt, Politics

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2015

Reviews

[versarbre · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is a very good writer but the flow only gets interesting and exciting not until the last two or three chapters, when he brings socialist sentiments (or the lack of socialist sentitments) to the picture so that we see a more nuanced politics in the making...and the tear gases, oh, it was in 2011. History repeats?

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a first read. The text is dry but provides an informative and educational read. Those with a background in social sciences will find the book of more interest than the general public as all the familiar faces are discussed: Weber, Marx, Foucault, Sartre, etc. The book provides an interesting look at ethics, religion, mores, economics, societal classes, and aspirations of Egyptians before and after the 2011 revolution. It asks the classic philosophical questions of what it means to be good, moral, or pious in the context of Islam. It serves as an a nice comparative religion and comparative history lesson and many comparisons can be seen between Islam and Christianity (Ramadan vs Lent) as well as the general discontent and struggle of society prior to a revolution. Readers will be able to easily identify with the people discussed in the book and the struggle to balance life, find a good job, find a good marriage, have good relations with family and friends, and get ahead to make a better life for yourself - not just the American dream but the dream of most people in the world to be happy and free. I could easily see this book being required reading in a Sociology or Anthropology class.