Hania Sobhy Gehad Abaza
This article highlights Hania Sobhy's groundbreaking book, Schooling the Nation: Education and Everyday Politics in Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2023), which she discussed during a webinar book launch with the Orfalea Center on June, 24th, 2024. Hania Sobhy is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI MMG) in Germany. This text explores Hania's three key arguments: the concept of "permissive-repressive neoliberalism,” a central factor in understanding how neoliberalism is shaping and reshaping the schools and their relationship with the state; the Egyptian school’s function as a disciplinary institution; and finally the concept of “failed and veiled legitimization,” showing how the education system in Egypt plays a crucial role in shaping notions of citizenship and nationalism among young people.
Permissive and Repressive Neoliberalism
The intersection of neoliberal policies and education in Egypt is complex and multifaceted. The concept of "permissive-repressive neoliberalism" is central to understanding this dynamic and how neoliberalism is shaping and reshaping the schools and their relationship with the state. This form of neoliberalism is characterized by its two most basic traits: austerity measures and the logic of privatization. Hania emphasizes what she calls “permissiveness,” and described it as the retraction of legal, institutional protections and regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, i.e. the absence of rule of law. Hania stated, “my argument is that you can't understand the way the Egyptian regime governs and the way that citizenship is lived without understanding this very multifaceted issue of permissiveness.”
Neoliberalism, in the context of Egyptian education, manifests through significant defunding and the resultant shortages of classrooms and teachers., leading to extreme classroom densities. The prevalence of private tutoring further exemplifies the privatization aspect of neoliberal policies. Hania noted, "Private tutoring functions as a parallel system that creates further inequality within the educational landscape." Even students in private schools, which are ostensibly part of the neoliberal privatization model, find themselves relying heavily on additional private tutoring to succeed. This dual layer of privatization places an immense financial burden on families, making education increasingly inequitable. The permissive aspect of this neoliberalism is evident in the erosion of legal and institutional protections within schools, and is manifested in various ways, such as inconsistent attendance, lax enforcement of school regulations, and widespread cheating on exams. "Permissiveness,” Hania Sobhy explained, “allows the system to reproduce itself just as much as repression does." These practices allow the system to perpetuate itself, albeit in a weakened state, by creating spaces where rules are selectively enforced, and both teachers and students navigate these ambiguities to their advantage.
The differentiated impact of these policies is particularly pronounced. Wealthier families can afford the costs of private tutoring and other educational resources, while poorer families struggle to keep up, often with little to no support. This creates a highly inequitable system where education quality and opportunities are heavily dependent on socio-economic status. Additionally, the experience of neoliberal policies is gendered, with female students facing different challenges and constraints compared to their male counterparts. The permissive-repressive nature of neoliberalism in Egyptian education also denotes a contested space. These policies are not passively accepted, but are actively negotiated and resisted by teachers, students, and families. This contestation underscores the ongoing struggle for a more equitable and effective education system in Egypt.
Sobhy illustrates repressive neoliberalism through two of its functions. Physical punishment remains a common disciplinary method, despite official regulations prohibiting it. Teachers often resort to physical abuse and demeaning language towards students to maintain control. Hania highlighted how this violence is gendered, as “it is boys who are at the receiving end of this more harsh physical and verbal violence.” This violence is also class based: the use of physical punishment is particularly prevalent in technical schools, where students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more vulnerable to such practices.
As opposed to the physical violence male students experience, female students face other forms of surveillance and the enforcement of modesty or proper behavior that are often the focus of discipline and punishment in the school. This surveillance speaks to one of the goals of this repression which is to to deter any kind of expression or representation. The reactions to these disciplinary practices vary among students and teachers: some students develop resilience and coping mechanisms to deal with the constant humiliation and physical punishment, while others express their frustration and anger, sometimes through subtle acts of defiance and resistance. Teachers, on the other hand, often justify their use of physical punishment as a necessary tool to maintain order and discipline, reflecting a broader acceptance of such practices within the educational culture. Sobhy recounts, "The harsh punishment and physical violence are justified by teachers as necessary for maintaining order and discipline." This, however, was before the Arab Uprising and the January 25th Revolution in Egypt; Hania has since observed more resistance from students to such harsh punishments.
Schools as a Disciplinary Institution: Discipline and Punishment in Egyptian Schools
Hania’s second argument posits the school as a disciplinary institution. Michel Foucault makes a distinction between monarchical repression and modern discipline; in the Egyptian context, the failure of this framework allows us to reexamine what discipline means and what the disciplinary institution does, or can do. The three techniques of discipline as described by Focault are observation, normalization and examination. As Hania explained, we can see these three systematically failing in many of the schools, except for tutoring centers, which function as disciplinary institutions. During exams in these centers, invigilators ensure that exams are corrected fairly, grades are meaningful, and cheating is not permitted. These centers embody observation, normalization, and the assignment of grades that truly reflect students' performance. However, even when traditional schools do not operate as disciplinary institutions in the Foucauldian sense, they still play a role normalizing hierarchies and creating subjectivities. Schools continue to shape citizens and students, defining their place in the world. Thus, even amidst violence and archaic forms of repression, it is important to understand the role of these educational institutions and their subjectivities.
Defining Belonging and Citizenship: Failed and Veiled Legitimization
Hania Sobhy’s third major area of focus is on the notion of “failed or veiled legitimation.” The education system in Egypt plays a crucial role in shaping notions of citizenship and nationalism among young people. Schools are not just spaces for academic learning but also sites where national identity and belonging are constructed and reinforced. This process is evident in various aspects of schooling, from textbooks and curricula to school rituals and daily interactions.
These factors – textbooks, rituals, and student discourses - can reveal the extent to which religious legitimation supersedes general nationalist legitimation. Through extensive reading of Egyptian textbooks, which are nationally unified – everyone reads the same textbook – Hania observed how they define the nation and outline who is considered a good citizen, often portraying the good citizen as one who obeys God, prays, and practices Islam. Such readings are centered on and legitimized through a particular reading of Islam. “I show the paradoxes in how the regime portrays itself as anti-fundamentalist, yet the Arabic language is at the core of the curriculum, partly due to its accessibility. These narratives of identity in the Arabic language, which are very Islamized, become center stage for students,” said Hania.
These textbooks emphasize democracy without any mention of social or economic rights. Political rights are presented as important, yet students understand this as a veiled message. Official legitimation thus revolves around Islam, the nation, and a superficial nod to democracy. However, when examining how students perceive and reproduce these narratives, the result is quite different. Students often subvert and withdraw from rituals like the morning assembly, where they salute the flag and sing the national anthem. Many students simply do not attend these rituals, and those who do often develop alternative lyrics to mock the national anthem. This ritual, when enforced during inspections, quickly descends into chaos and violence, visibly manifesting repressive permissive governance. Sticks, sometimes wooden and other times plastic hoses, are used to physically discipline students. When asked by Hania about belonging to the nation, the students employed what Hania calls “oppositional non-belonging.” Students use these opportunities of being interviewed to critique their relationship with the state. They articulate their entitlement to dignified treatment, functioning services, and basic social and economic rights, rather than political rights. Students also do not use religious frameworks to critique the state despite these references dominating their textbooks. Instead, they focus on the lack of tangible benefits they receive from the state. “This leads to a failed legitimation, where official narratives of neoliberalism, nationalism, and even Islamism do not resonate with the students,” Hania concluded.
➔ To watch the full webinar, click on the following video:
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