[The following article is part of a Jadaliyya roundtable on “The Language of Revolution in Egypt.” It features contributions by Paul Sedra,
Adam Sabra is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara and holds the King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies. His research focuses on the social and cultural history of Egypt in the late medieval and early modern periods. He is the author of Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam: Mamluk Egypt, 1250 - 1517 (Cambridge U. P., 2000), and numerous other studies on Egyptian history. His current research focuses on aristocratic families in Ottoman Cairo.