The American University in Cairo Press Bounded Knowledge: Doctoral Studies in Egypt

An ethnographic study of how doctoral-level research in the social sciences and humanities is produced in Egypt Much scholarship has been devoted to debates around how global inequalities of knowledge production arise from asymmetric power relations and disparities in access to material resources, as well as values and practices that prioritize certain academic disciplines and research outputs over others. The central role played by universities in producing both knowledge and researchers is similarly acknowledged, with the doctorate increasingly recognized as a crucial phase in establishing both. Bounded Knowledge: Doctoral Studies in Egypt explores these debates from a uniquely Egyptian perspective. It provides a fresh, historical analysis of how doctoral studies evolved in Egypt and an ethnographic inquiry into the actual conditions of knowledge production in the country's public universities, with focus on the humanities and social sciences. Although it is commonplace to speak of international collaborations in knowledge production, institutional settings and material conditions are so uneven as to make the fiction of equality impossible to sustain. The chapters in this book, by social scientists within and outside Egypt, look closely at how such academic hierarchies are reinforced in the context of the internationalization of research. They also look at the ways in which notions of socially responsible research, common the world over, are translated in the particularly Egyptian context: how research topics are discussed, how doctoral studies are organized, and ultimately, how society thinks about research. Contributors Mona Abaza, The American University in Cairo, Egypt Daniele Cantini, Martin-Luther-University of Halle/Wittenberg, Germany Nefissa Dessouqi, Cairo University, Egypt Hala Kamal, Cairo University, Egypt Jonathan Kriener, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany Ola Kubbara, Cairo University, Egypt Ahmed Mansour, University of Alexandria, Egypt David Mills, University of Oxford, England Review A pioneering analysis of doctoral education in Egypt, Bounded Knowledge focuses on the social sciences. This is to my knowledge the first full-scale discussion of doctoral education anywhere in the Arab world published in English.--Philip G. Altbach, Boston College Bounded Knowledge offers unique insights into the vastly understudied subject of knowledge production in the social sciences and humanities in Egyptian universities. The authors deftly tackle critical issues around internationalization, censorship and academic freedom, gender, and religion in the academy. This edited volume is a valuable sociology of knowledge in itself, and a highly welcome addition to the literature on doctoral education, state power, and counterpower in Egypt.--Linda Herrera, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign This is a vital read for scholars and students of higher education in Egypt and the Arab region. In this ethnographic inquiry, the authors take us on a journey into the doctoral phase in the humanities and social sciences in Egyptian universities. As they do that, they provide significant insights into what constitutes knowledge, the material conditions of knowledge production in Egyptian academic institutions today, and how doctoral students navigate a difficult terrain before they earn a formal academic credential.-- Moushira Elgeziri, Arab Council for the Social Sciences Much more than a review of doctoral studies in the social sciences at Egyptian universities, Bounded Knowledge successfully integrates different genres, multiple narratives, and competing frames: the transmission and uses of knowledge, institutional design, and social practices.-- Iman Farag Bounded Knowledge brings alive the material conditions of how Egyptian social science and humanities doctoral students undertake their doctoral research, offering an eye-opening window into the role played by these academic dis