2018-19 Abstract: Images of Sainthood: Media of Christian-Muslim Relations in Egypt 

My book Images of Sainthood (under contract, UC Press) examines religion, media and politics in contemporary Egypt. It focuses on Coptic Christians, the largest religious minority in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, and mixed cults of sainthood comprised of Christians and Muslims throughout Egypt. Based on 34 months of empirical fieldwork carried out over more than a decade (2004-2015), my study covers the last years of the Mubarak regime leading up to the Arab uprisings and the post-revolutionary aftermath of the Sisi military state. In my book, I argue that post-1952 Egyptian state reforms in Christian-Muslim governance enabled forms of nationhood that ended up reinforcing sectarian dynamics of marginalization and violence.  

By examining national and communal settings of mixed saint veneration, I study the politics of segregation and vulnerability with a materialist and pragmatic approach to religion on the ground. To be more specific, I analyze how Christians and Muslims interact with images of sainthood and how public imaginaries of divine authority mobilize inter-faith displays of national unity while also generating anxieties around militarized securitization. Ultimately, my book contributes to scholarship on modern religion and politics, advancing insights into the ways that everyday religion shapes landscapes of marginalization and violence.