Growing up between Egypt and Kuwait, and later coming to political consciousness in the US, meant that I was exposed to a plethora of divergent narratives around the plight of Copts in Egypt. After each incident of violence against Copts, the Egyptian state espouses an empty rhetoric of national unity while the Church advances a theodicy of martyrdom that transforms death into a blessing. As one brutal incident of martyrdom occurred after another, however, I quickly became disenchanted with these narratives, seeking alternative avenues that centered justice and equality. Yet these competing approaches to Coptic belonging are not simply an intracommunal matter. Coptic martyrdom figures prominently in the imaginary of global Christian persecution, aligning the plight of Middle East Christians firmly within conservative religious freedom advocacy. Ultimately, my own quest to understand the complexity of Coptic collective memory, identity, and politics drives my research interests in understanding how these competing narratives are situated within broader geopolitical currents between democracy and security.
My research explores the transnational politics, meaning, and memory of violence and suffering. I am especially interested in how religion and rights shape interpretations of violence and chart trajectories for mobilization. My dissertation specifically explores how the plight of Middle East Christians, and specifically Coptic Egyptian Christians, has become a contested category of political concern in US foreign policy advocacy.
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