Sectarian conflict in Egypt : Coptic media, identity and representation / Elizabeth Iskander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Iskander, Elizabeth.

Series:

Routledge studies in Middle Eastern politics ; 43.

Routledge studies in Middle Eastern politics ; 43

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coptic Church--History--21st century.

Coptic Church.

Religion and state.

Church and state.

Christianity and politics.

Church history.

History.

Egypt--Church history--21st century.

Egypt.

Christianity and politics--Egypt.

Church and state--Egypt.

Religion and state--Egypt.

Egypt--Religion.

Religion.

Physical Description:

xi, 224 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2012.

Contents:

Part I Copts, Copticness and the Egyptian media 9

1 The contemporary Coptic community: between the state and the Church 11

Meanings of 'Copt' and 'Copticness' 11

Contemporary challenges 17

2 The Egyptian press in national political life 22

The early Egyptian press 23

The press after the 1952 revolution: a shrinking of the public space 28

The press and politics: controlling the flow of information 35

Copts on the national front page 40

Conclusion 44

3 Coptic online spaces: the impact of the Internet on Coptic politics 46

Crossing more red lines: the Internet effect 47

Virtual Copticness: constructing Coptic networks online 48

The function of online Coptic media: minority or particularistic? 56

Connecting the national and the virtual 64

Conclusion 67

Part II Copts and national representation in the Mubarak-Shenouda era 71

4 The Coptic Orthodox Church as a media and political actor 73

The emergence of the Church as a social and political actor 73

The Church as a national institution: relations with the state 77

Church management of a Coptic communicative space 86

The Church, Internet and the diaspora: a challenge to Church authority or broadening its support base? 91

Conclusion 95

5 Discoursing national belonging: national unity versus sectarianism 97

History, collective memory and constructing national unity 97

Discourses of displacement and forgetting 100

Implications of the minority label for belonging and national Egyptian identity 105

Shifting the boundary of 'us' and 'them' 109

Al-Mowatana: rebranding national unity 116

Conclusion 120

Part III Challenging regimes of representation 123

6 Resisting Church leadership through media: dissent and legitimacy 2005-10 125

Dissenting discourses and sustaining Church legitimacy 127

Strategies for presenting and undermining resistance discourses 132

Discourses of resistance online 137

The diaspora: space for resistance? 143

Conclusion 150

7 Revolution and political crisis: shifting discourses and relations of power 152

Re-contesting normalized discourses of Coptic Church authority 152

Cracks in the Church-state pact 156

The Church and the revolution 162

A Church-SCAF pact? 166

The Church and Coptic protests 168

Conclusion 169

8 Copts, sectarianism and citizenship in post-25 January Egypt 171

State media, sectarianism and Coptic protests 172

Constructing citizenship and the civil state: prospects and challenges 177

Prospects for citizenship and Coptic inclusion beyond the transition 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415695787

0415695783

9780203119204

0203119207

OCLC:

738352202