Why is Anthropology so hard in Egypt?

Abstract

The political difficulties of writing anthropology and ethnography in Egypt persist despite the newly found fame of certain anthropological methods. These difficulties are about readership and about the consumption - not just the production - of texts. Missing from the 'universal' anxiety over power and representation, often referred to as post-modernism (Clifford and Marcus 1986; Rabinow 1991; Said 1991, 1989), are considerations of the anthropologist in her/his national setting when this is a non-Western one. Also missing is the problematization of audience and readership for the non-Western national working at home. The consequences of such collegiate exclusion can be explored by examining the structures and considerations marking the borders of anthropological research written by locals working locally.