The Muslim brothers in society / Marie Vannetzel and David Tresilian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vannetzel, Marie, author.

Tresilian, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam--Egypt--History--20th century.

Islam.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (299 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cairo, Egypt : The American University in Cairo Press, [2021]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

A groundbreaking ethnography of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood The Islamists' political rise in Arab countries has often been explained by their capacity to provide social services, representing a challenge to the legitimacy of neoliberal states. Few studies, however, have addressed how this social action was provided, and how it engendered popular political support for Islamist organizations. Most of the time the links between social services and Islamist groups have been taken as given, rather than empirically examined, with studies of specific Islamist organizations tending to focus on their internal patterns of sectarian mobilization and the ideological indoctrination of committed members. Taking the case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), this book offers a groundbreaking ethnography of Islamist everyday politics and social action in three districts of Greater Cairo. Based on long-term fieldwork among grassroots networks and on interviews with MB deputies, members, and beneficiaries, it shows how the MB operated on a day-to-day basis in society, through social brokering, constituent relations, and popular outreach. How did ordinary MB members concretely relate to local populations in the neighborhoods where they lived? What kinds of social services did they deliver? How did they experience belonging to the Brotherhood and how this membership fit in with their other social identities? Finally, what political effects did their social action entail, both in terms of popular support and of contestation or cooperation with the state? Nuanced, theoretically eclectic, and empirically rich, The Muslim Brothers in Society reveals the fragile balances on which the Muslim Brotherhood's political and social action was based and shows how these balances were disrupted after the January 2011 uprising. It provides an alternative way of understanding their historical failure in 2013.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Maps

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Encountering the Brothers

A Public Secret

Mosalsal

Al-Mahzura

Open Secrecy, Informality, and the State

The Gama'a and Society

The Debate

The Purpose of This Book

Investigating Open Secrecy

The Local Offices of Brotherhood MPs

Ethnography and the Evidential Paradigm

The Role of the Researcher

The Structure of the Study

1. (In)formal Politics

The Brotherhood and the Local Road to Parliament

Rebuilding an Undefined Organization

Electoral Politics and Social Embedding

The Brotherhood as an Informal Player

The 2005 Elections: Knowing the Brothers

Brotherhood Candidates: Non-professional Participants

A Local Public-Work Elite

Conclusion

2. Mobilizing Disinterestedness

Statesmen, Businessmen, and Men of God?

Patterns of Eligibility

Serving Society and Serving God

"A House Does Not Only Have Foundations"

Producing Voters

External Networks: The 'Izba Politics

3. Banned MPs

Dealing with the Tanzim

Internal Positioning of the MPs

Local Variations in MP Staff

Dealing with the Everyday State

Three Models of Negotiating Access to Resources

Meeting Individual Requests: Mediation, Instruction, and Ascription

4. The Politics of Goodness

The Social Spread of the Gama'a: The Networks of Khayr

Brotherhood Networks: Activist Groups and Extensions

Semi-Brotherhood Networks: Local Partner Institutions

Neighborhood Social Networks and Associated Personalities

The Social Construction of Ethical Conduct

Charity Days: Doing and Ways of Doing

Conducts of the Exemplary Self

5. The Double-edged Sword of Brotherhood.

Becoming a Brother: The Embodiment of Ethical Conduct

Methodological Remarks

Shaping Orthopraxy: Islam, Tarbiyya, and Discipline

Socializing the Brothers: The Centrality of Margins

Locating the Ikhwani Self

To Be or Not to Be Ikhwani-Is That the Question?

Brothers and Others: When Tarbiyya Encourages Social Interaction

When 'Good' Is Not 'Right': 'Us' vs. 'Them'

The Emergence of Public Dissent: Listening to the Bloggers

Ideological Defection and Emotional (Dis)affection

The Ambivalence of Virtue

6. Goodness in Dire Straits

The Politics of Conflictual Consensus

Authoritarian Co-production and Latent Conflict

Mazlumin and Virtuous Neighbors: Activating Political Divisions

Breaking Down and Falling Out: The Radicalization of Conflict

Mansour, a Low-ranking Feloul in the Breakdown of Local Politics

How Not to Get Out from Secrecy

Exiles and Exits

Notes

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781649030245

164903024X

9781649030238

1649030231

OCLC:

1240584775