Schooling the Nation

'This is a fascinating and ground-breaking book. With verve and rigor, Hania Sobhy shows how the impoverished financial and managerial conditions of the education sector in Egypt have made it totally inept. Instead, young Egyptians in school learn a mix of unenforced rules that breed cynicism and corruption, and pervasive violence through which money, class, and male power rules.' Ishac Diwan, Ecole Normale Superieure and Paris Sciences and Lettres 'Set at the cusp of the late-Mubarek and Arab uprisings period, this immersive, richly documented ethnography of schooling takes us to the heart of everyday governance in Egypt. It reveals the workings of lived citizenship under 'permissive-repressive neoliberalism' and how everyday repression and violence are mediated by class and gender. A must-read for students of Middle Eastern studies, political sociology and comparative education at all levels.' Deniz Kandiyoti, SOAS University of London 'In this closely observed and theoretically rich ethnography, Hania Sobhy has done something remarkable: presented us with a detailed, honest, and often tragic portrait of student experience in half a dozen Egyptian secondary schools. Describing the combination of everyday violence and neglect that shapes students' experiences, she outlines the increasingly degraded forms of citizenship available to the youth of the region.' Gregory Starrett, University of North Carolina at Charlotte