Authors

Atef Said

Atef Said is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research engages with the fields of sociological theory, political sociology, historical sociology, sociology of the Middle East, and global sociology. He the author of Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities and Counter-Revolution in Egypt (Duke University Press, 2024). Said’s work is published in academic journals such as Social ProblemsSocial ResearchInternational SociologySociology CompassContemporary Sociologyand Middle East Critique. His work also has appeared in important scholarly references such as the Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East and the I.B. Tauris Handbook of Sociology and the Middle East, and important scholarly books such as Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa: Methodological and Ethical Challenges.

Before transitioning to academia, Said worked as a human rights attorney and researcher in Egypt, from 1995 to 2004. While there, he practiced human rights law and directed research initiatives at a number of human rights organizations. He also wrote two books, Torture in Egypt: A Judicial Reality (2000), published by the Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners, and Torture Is a Crime Against Humanity (2008), published by the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. Both organizations are based in Cairo, Egypt.

ARTICLES BY Atef Said

  • Atef Shahat Said, Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities, and Counterrevolution in Egypt (New Texts Out Now)

    Atef Shahat Said, Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities, and Counterrevolution in Egypt (New Texts Out Now)

    In my book, I discuss how many revolutionary actors brought ideas such as El Naddaha (النداهة or “the caller”), a myth or a legend particularly prominent in Egypt’s countryside about a female spirit that calls men to the Nile, leading to t..

  • Farewell and Thank You, Mona Abaza

    Farewell and Thank You, Mona Abaza

    In 2001, a colleague at the American University in Cairo (AUC) asked me if I would be interested in taking over her position as a research assistant to an exceptional sociologist. At the time, I was a student in the Master’s Program in Sociology-Anthropology and was nervous about stepping into t..

  • الليبرالية الامبريالية والثورة المصرية

    الليبرالية الامبريالية والثورة المصرية

    في هذه السطور بعض الخواطر العامة حول ما أسميه تيار الليبراليين الامبرياليين وكيفية تعاطيهم مع الثورة المصرية. وأقصد بهذا مجموعة من الأكاديميين والمحللين الغربيين في أوروبا والولايات المتحدة وكندا وخصوصا ًفي الولايات المتحدة. يمثّل هؤلاء إلى حد كبير الخطاب السائد في الأكاديميا والإعلام الغربي حول الثورة المصرية. لكن بعض ممثلي هذا التيار في عالمنا العربي أيضاً. ولذلك ليس المقصود هنا على الاطلاق أن ..

  • Imperialist Liberalism and the Egyptian Revolution

    Imperialist Liberalism and the Egyptian Revolution

    In the following lines, I level four criticisms against what I term the imperialist liberal trend of thought and how it deals with the January 25 Revolution.

    By “imperialist liberalism,” I mean that loose US-European academic tradition, whose defense of liberalism, especially of representa..

  • A New Judicial Moment in Egypt

    A New Judicial Moment in Egypt

    The paradox is stark. Vice President Mahmoud Mekky, Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky and Constituent Assembly Chief Hossam al-Gheriany — three icons of the Independence Current in the judiciary — are in the executive authority’s camp in the current constitutional crisis. Meanwhile, others who are co..

  • Egypt: After the Revolution

    Egypt: After the Revolution

    I got on a plane to Cairo on February 4, ten days after Egyptians took to the streets in a popular revolution that eventually led to the ouster of notorious dictator Hosni Mubarak. I had mixed emotions when leaving for Egypt: anxiety about the family I was leaving behind and abo..

  • المتهم حسني مبارك مجرم ضد الانسانية

    المتهم حسني مبارك مجرم ضد الانسانية

    كنت قد كتبت هذا المقال منذ أكثر من أسبوعين وأرسلته  للنشر في بعض الجرائد المصرية وقيل لي إنه "لظروف ضيق المساحة نعتذر عن النشر." ولم أتناول هنا فكرة ترددت مؤخراً في مصر وهي فكرة العفو عن مبارك إذا تنازل عن أمواله للشعب المصري، وهي الفكرة التي نفاها مؤخراً المجلس العسكري بعد استنفار كبير من أبناء الشعب لمجرد طرح الفكرة. ورأيي باخت..