Egyptian TV presenter, Ramy Radwan: I’ll quit if I’m ever forced to give up my principles!

By Farah Zalat and Hussein Shaker

(Cairo, Egypt) - Ramy Radwan, TV presenter of El Beit Beitak and alumnus of The American University in Cairo (AUC), spoke at AUC about the challenges facing young media professionals on Monday, November 2, 2015.

Radwan was the guest speaker and around 50 people attended, ranging from current AUC students and faculty to AUC alumni. It was planned by The AUC Alumni Association, which strives to connect the AUC alumni with one another as well as with the university.

After a brief introduction of Radwan by Dr. Naila Hamdy, associate professor and chair of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department (JRMC), he began his speech by clarifying how he was choosing to speak in Arabic because his respect for his native language has significantly grown lately. He jokingly, yet informatively, mentioned some of the challenges he has faced in the field.

He reassured the audience by using a personal example that making a mistake will not be as severe if you take the right measures to correct it and apologize. He also talked about how hard it is now to stay grounded ethically, stating how this problem has become increasingly evident in the Egyptian media.

In 2015, The Guardian published an article focusing on the increasing number of Egyptian media professionals who are becoming “mouthpieces for the government.” Which further proves Radwan’s point about the ethics in Egyptian media.

Rawan Lasheen, a JRMC graduate who attended the event; stated, “The government restrictions they put on the media. To say this and say that, don’t say this and don’t say that,” is the biggest problem she is personally facing in the field.

During the interview with Radwan after the event, he advised, “If you stick to your own beliefs, you will always gain more than just doing like a chameleon” to further emphasize the importance of principles in media.

Radwan is on El Beit Beitak on TEN TV at 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Tune in to watch him apply his personal ethics as a TV presenter.

Lecture by professor N'Dri Assié-Lumumba: "Higher Education And African Development Since The 1960s"

By Hannah Altmann, Haneen Abdel Maksoud and Passant El Gayar

Cairo, Egypt – Professor N’Dri Assié-Lumumba of the African and Diaspora education at Cornell University in New York, held a lecture titled “Higher Education And African Development Since The 1960s: Global-Local Dynamics” on Sunday, April 27^th in Mansour Hall at The American University in Cairo (AUC). 

The lecture focused on the development of higher education since the 1960s in Africa.

“Education is a universal need,” states Assié-Lumumba, as she starts off the lecture and continues to say, “it has a particular connection with human advancement and social progress.”

When speaking of education, we have to look at the historical context. As the African-American historian, John Henrik Clarke had once said “the role of history is to tell a people what they have been and where they have been, what they are and where they are.”

After the creation of UNESCO in 1948, education was considered a human right; it gave the right for everybody to receive education and gave the states the responsibility to provide a framework for education (Assié-Lumumba). Prior to the creation of UNESCO, parts of Africa were still under colonial rule. Some countries didn’t receive education by their colonizers and those who did, by law had a limited amount of years of education they couldn’t exceed. However, Africans were eager to have access to education. The United Nations (UN) came to have similar views as them and the 1960’s was declared year of educational of development. Nevertheless, some African countries were still under colonial influence after their independence.

The lecturer continued to say that contrary to the UN’s belief, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided that higher education was not necessary in Africa, after the 1970s oil crisis. It was consuming too much money, and was not operating, as it should, according to the standards of the IMF and the World Bank. Therefore they refused to further invest in higher education in Africa and shifted their attention to basic education.

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aim to improve Africa by 2015. These goals include eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development. Assié-Lumumba points out that: ” if you want to succeed, you can’t miss out on any of these eight points” because as the Human Capital Theory suggests, there is a linear and positive correlation between education and development. An attendee of the lecture by the name of Ahmed Alaa said that "I found the lecture interesting because it made me understand why Africa is so behind in terms of education and development."

"Basic Needs: Palestine Capitalists and the British Rule" by Sherene Seikaly

By: Rawan Lasheen, Eshraka Sumrain and Nourhan Rateb

Cairo, Egypt – On Wednesday, April 9, Sherene Seikaly, assistant professor of history and director of the Middle East Studies Center, gave a lecture critiquing the Palestinian economists and the Arab liberal project during the British colonial rule. Seikaly expressed at the start of the lecture that the topic lies at the heart of her new book, “Bare Needs: Palestinian Capitalism and British Colonial Rule.”  

The lecture took place at the Prince AlWaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Hall at The American University in Cairo, and generally explores how Palestinian capitalists and British Colonial officers used the economy in the 1930s and 1940s to shape notions of territory and nationalism in Palestine.

Seikaly started by shedding light on the Balfour Declaration, which she described as having “committed the British Government to fulfilling…to facilitating a Jewish national home in Palestine.” Seikaly expressed that it was odd how European Jews, who began settling in Palestine in the 1930s, are almost completely nonexistent in the Palestinian capitalist narratives. 

Her take on this narrative dissonance is that Palestinians at the time were occupied in separating the economy from the political arena by “trying to carve out the economy as a discrete sphere.” Herein lies Seikaly’s critique of the Palestinian Capitalists of the late 19^th century. Seikaly went on to clarify that, ultimately in the 1940s, it became clear to them that this separation was virtually impossible. 

At the end of the lecture, Seikaly left 15 minutes to open the floor to questions. One attendee’s question appropriately served as a conclusion to the lecture. She asked whether it was at all possible to separate the economy from politics, referring to the Palestinian capitalist’s intent to do so during the 1930s. Seikaly argued that they tried to read politics ‘between the lines’ as the politics present at the time was one that embraced capitalism. She put forth an example where the Palestinian capitalists would say that they’d refuse to talk about the legislative council, for example, as they would leave that issue to the “men of politics.” However what they would talk about is how this legislative council would be good for the economy.

"Empires and Ends of History: The Life and Times of Sayyid Fadl b. 'Alawi" by Wilson Jacob

By Alaa Adel Elsayed and Noha Mohamed El Tawil

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Cairo, Egypt – On Monday, April 7, Wilson Jacob, associate professor of history at Concordia University, delivered a lecture entitled "Empires and Ends of History: The Life and Times of Sayyid Fadl b. 'Alawi" that was held by the Department of History and Middle East Studies Center at The American University in Cairo.


The lecture presented the life of Bin Alawi and his significance that was evident in his Sufi tradition, his relations with prominent political figures in the 19^thcentury and the unstable relation between him and the British colonizers in the area of the Indian Ocean.


Jacob started by giving a brief description of the political situation in the area of the Indian Ocean, where the Mongol Empire was the significant power in the 16^th century before Bin Alawi, whereas the European powers were not "making much significance."

The popular narrative of the origins of Bin Alawi is that he is a descendent of Prophet Mohamed’s bloodline, so that gives him a "distinct identity," and remarkable legacy as a Sufi teacher.

A mosque was built upon Bin Alawi’s grave in Malabar, turning it into a shrine that people visit for blessings, and embodies his impact in that area's history.

Throughout his life, Bin Alawi composed a threat on the rulers' power in the areas he lived in. That had started when the British colonization had perceived Bin Alawi as a "disturbing force" to its power in Malabar because of the large trade deals he had with the neighboring islands, and cities, in addition to his popularity and influence on people.

Therefore, The British colonizers reached a compromise with Bin Alawi to go to Mekka for Haj. "He went but was never back," as he headed to "Istanbul," after he had remained in Yemen for a while, Jacob added.

"The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire acknowledged his nobility," and hosted him in the "special guests" building. Thereafter, the Sultan appointed him as the "governor" of Dhafar in Yemen, however, he felt later the "challenge" he presented on his sovereignty.

"Global history is shaped by many different agents," Jacob said. Bin Alawi is a "great lens to global history, to the 19^th century history."

Jacob could successfully describe the biography of Bin Alawi, accurately explaining his life as a Sufi, his achievements and conflicts, and displaying his Arabic writings, and places he lived in. "Alawi’s Sufi tradition is not disappearing but under attack," Jacob concluded.

Jacob's work is "absolutely fascinating," commented Nefertiti Tigra, student at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tigra has already been familiar with Jacob's work, as they both work for the American Research Center in Egypt, so that she attended the lecture to "hear and support."

"Imagining the Book: Student Initiatives" Lecture by Melanie Carter

By Nadine Awadalla, Zeina Foda, and Farah Tawfeek

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CAIRO, Egypt – Professor Melanie Carter, poet and senior instructor in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition, gave a lecture titled “Imagining the Book: Student Initiatives” on the 7^th of April in the American University in Cairo, AUC, to showcase creative literary work of four AUC students that align with the ideas of the Al-Mutannabi Street Starts Here project.

The lecture was based on a creative writing course started by Carter and Professor Amanda Fields, where students have the chance to develop a “work-in-progress,” short story, essay or series of poems into long manuscripts that would address their ideas on the context of culture. Carter explains, “what students begin with is almost never a work-in-progress, rather its something much more fragile: an idea, a fragment of an idea and sometimes just hope.”

The first two speakers that Carter introduced, Hussam Sultan and Nada Helal, focused their manuscripts on social problems such as poverty, social inequality and street children. Sultan’s story features a 9-year-old girl named Samira to directly highlight the social dynamics of living on the street in Cairo. Helal, a Middle East studies major, tackled the same social issues, but set in India and based on an “untouchable” Hindu boy, Raj and reflects upon how he lives “in constricted social boundaries and how he escapes that.”

Inspired by Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland, English language and comparative literature major, Amerah Abu-Ward, uses this course to draw upon the power and dangers of books in culture throughout history; an idea that resonates well in AUC’s Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project.

This course not only impacted student’s thoughts, but also shifted AUC graduate Dina Al-Abd’s career focus from mechanical engineering to writing children’s literature and even went on to publish one of the region’s first children’s magazines, Kaleidoscope.

“The most compelling part of the course is that it’s non-prescriptive and that everyone was allowed to truly bring in something that was their own and develop it within that class,” says audience member Yasmin Motway, visiting senior instructor in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition. The lecture was an opportunity to showcase the works of AUC’s up-and-coming writers.

Food Safety in Egypt: A Lecture at AUC

By: Amira Mahmoud, Farah Abdelkader, and Farrah El Essawi



Cairo, Egypt – On Monday, March 31, the Chemistry Club at the American University in Cairo hosted a lecture on “Food Safety in Egypt” given by Dr. Tarek El-Arabi, assistant professor of agriculture at Ain Shams University. El-Arabi shared his own opinions about the “safety” of the food industry in Egypt.

El-Arabi has been trying to raise awareness about the gravity of hazardous food in Egypt for many years. He has stated that food safety should be applied in each stage of the food supply chain, beginning with how we produce the food until we dispose of it. But apparently, this is not the case in Egypt.

Egyptian food contains different forms of hazards, including physical or chemical hazards, such as small rocks and nails found in our bread or polyvinyl chloride, a chemical used in plastic packaging. This chemical causes “severe health damage,” explains El-Arabi and it even “takes around two million years to degrade.”

The food safety in Egypt is below zero and the only thing we do is count on personal references for where to eat, which El-Arabi believes is highly dangerous. Just because somebody did not get sick eating at a certain place does not mean that the underlying affects of the hazardous foods will not eventually show.

El-Arabi was asked, “Would word of mouth create awareness, though?” He responded by explaining that while he believes this is not enough, it is definitely a start. He added that when there is a demand for a certain service by the people, the food industries will eventually have to comply. Yet, this demand is not currently prevalent.

Madonna Nassif, head of the Chemistry Club, had contacted El-Arabi to give the lecture. Nassif believes that this topic is important because it “would interest all students, not only chemistry or science students,” and according to the information El-Arabi had to share, one could say it would. This lecture was educational to those attending seeing as it enlightened them on the safety of food which is something we are exposed to everyday.