Little or no knowledge of contemporary Egypt?

If you have little or no knowledge of Egypt, then we recommend that you start with the featured topic article, ‘An Historical Overview of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution’, which can be found in the ‘Featured Topics’ part of the website, accessed directly from the home page or via ‘Resources’ on the menu bar.

The article provides a description of the main events in different periods from the outbreak of the revolution on 25 January 2011, which led to the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak, until the election of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in 2014, which firmly cemented the victory of the counter-revolution. The article includes embedded links to further on-line articles that provide more detailed coverage of particular aspects of events. At the end of the article, there is a list of further readings that provide more in-depth, academic treatment of the topics included in the article.

The article also includes a selection of archive items that illustrate the mood of Egyptians at different points in the revolution and/or highlight the ways in which artists have represented different moments of the revolution. Clicking on a particular item takes you to its entry in the archive. Each archive item includes basic information about the item (title, creator, date, etc.), a brief description of the context for the item, links to related resources, which may include other relevant archive items as well as external links to on-line articles that provide further contextual information. There is also a link to the original media item (e.g. video clips of songs on YouTube), or an on-line reproduction (e.g. republishing of graffiti images or cartoons on-line), or an abridged version (e.g. a trailer of a film). In the case of books, a link to the respective publisher's website,  where possible, is provided under 'source'. Many items include English translations.

We also recommend that you read the featured topic article, ‘An Introduction to Popular Culture and the Egyptian Revolution’. This article introduces readers to the concept of ‘popular culture’ and how it can be understood in relation to the Egyptian revolution. Similar to the article, ‘An Historical Overview of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution’, this article includes some embedded links to further on-line articles and a list of further readings that provide more in-depth, academic treatment of popular culture in general and popular culture in Egypt more specifically. The article also includes a selection of archive items that illustrate some of the issues and themes discussed in the article.