The Principled Fine Line in Egypt’s Sociology: Farewell Mona Abaza1

Abstract

In 2001, a colleague at the American University in Cairo (AUC) asked me if I would be interested in taking over her position as a research assistant to an exceptional sociologist. At the time, I was a student in the Master’s Program in SociologyAnthropology and was nervous about stepping into that role, as my knowledge of the field was still nascent. Ultimately, I took her up on the offer. And little did I know I was stepping into a foundational experience that would shape my intellectual trajectory for decades to come. That scholar was Professor Mona Abaza, who died peacefully in Berlin on 5 July 2021 after a long battle with cancer. She left us far too soon, but while leaving behind a rich legacy by ways of cutting-edge research, enduring mentorship, and conscientious scholarly activism. When I worked with Professor Abaza, she was in the process of finishing her book Debates on Islam and Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt: Shifting Worlds. I came to develop a deep sense of appreciation and admiration for her work. In fact, decades later, I have come to realize how much my own work on Egypt and my approach to teaching have been influenced by the example she set as a scholar who studied the country through the lens of world-class analysis while situated in the Global South. Abaza’s work in the last two decades represents an incredible social history of Cairo’s social transformation. She wrote about a wide range of themes, including fashion, enlightenment, urban spaces, Occidentalism, everyday life in Cairo, intellectuals, the state, secularism, the challenges that social scientists confront in the Middle East, cyberspace in Egypt, globalization, graffiti and mass culture, and neoliberal transformation in Cairo. Any observer would attest that Abaza’s work is, appropriately, widely