Producing the Public in Arab Societies: Participation Working Group

Hoda Elsadda: Neoliberalism in Higher Education in Egypt: Histories, Contestation, and Visions for the Future

Hoda Elsadda is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cairo University. She previously held a Chair in the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Manchester, and was Co-Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World in the UK. In 1992, she co-founded and co-edited Hagar, an interdisciplinary journal in women’s studies published in Arabic. In 1997, she co-founded and is currently Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Women and Memory Forum, a research organization which promotes the production of knowledge on gender issues in the Arab world. She is also member of the March 9, a collective of activist/academics in Egypt. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS); member of the Board of Directors of The Global Fund for Women; member of the International Advisory Board of al-Raida; member of the Arab Families Working Group; and member of the Board of Trustees of the Sawiris Cultural Award. She was member of the Advisory Board of the Durham Modern Languages Series; Associate Editor of the Online Edition of the Encyclopedia of Women in Muslim Cultures (2006-2012); Consultant Editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Second Edition (2006-2009); member of the British Academy, The Middle East Panel (2008-2011); member of the Editorial board, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES) (2005-2009); and member of the Judges Committee for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (2012). Her research interests are in the areas of gender studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, oral narratives and women’s writings. Her most recent book is: Gender, Nation and the Arabic Novel: Egypt: 1892-2008 (Edinburgh University Press and Syracuse University Press, 2012).