عنوان

Competing Narratives: The Struggle for the Soul of Egypt

Number

TL51935

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Competing Narratives: The Struggle for the Soul of Egypt

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

El Mansouri, Ahmed

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Anastasiou, Harry

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Portland State University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2019

Text of Note

120 p.

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

M.S.

Body granting the degree

Portland State University

Text preceding or following the note

2019

Text of Note

In January 2011, Egypt witnessed an uprising against ex-military president Hosni Mubarak, which resulted in his removal after ruling Egypt for thirty years. Yet, while the revolution targeted Mubarak, it also targeted to end the era of military rule, which started in 1952 with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, then was passed down to Anwar Sadat in 1970 and later to Hosni Mubarak in 1981. Thereafter, dissatisfied with existing national policies, political leaders and revolutionaries battled to redefine Egyptian national identity by contesting the writing of a new Egyptian constitution. The debates over the constitution exhibited an ample of destructive communication patterns that triggered my research question and hypotheses. In this thesis, I pose the question as to how a critical analysis of the communication patterns of the conflict actors involved elucidates Egypt's current state of affairs. The outcomes showed that the calm after an approved constitution in January 2014, and the return of the military to power in June 2014, maybe the silence before another revolutionary storm, because many underlining issues remain unresolved. In this thesis, I argue that the equivocal nature of Egyptian national identity and the exclusivist nature of the nationalistic approaches utilized to determine it were core elements that added to the conflict's lengthiness and exacerbation. Moreover, I show that the lack of understanding of these aggravating elements among the parties involved is due to the absence of positive dialogue that may aid in their deconstruction. To conclude, I explain through Egypt's bygone narrative how psychological layers, that begin with postcolonial-trauma and end with sheer distrust, are what hinder positive dialogical approaches amid the parties concerned.

Subject Term

Middle Eastern history

Subject Term

Political science

Subject Term

Social psychology

El Mansouri, Ahmed

Anastasiou, Harry

Portland State University

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y