Table of Contents

Part 1: Marginality, poverty and political economy
1. Introduction: Marginality and exclusion in Egypt and the Middle East - Ray Bush and Habib Ayeb
2. Marginality: curse or cure? - Asef Bayat
3. Accumulation by encroachment in the Arab Mashreq - Ali Kadri

Part 2: Creating and reproducing marginality
4. Marginality or abjection? The political economy of poverty production in Egypt - Ray Bush
5. The marginalization of the small peasantry: Egypt and Tunisia - Habib Ayeb
6. Margins and frontiers - Reem Saad
7. Transport thugs: spatial marginalization in a Cairo suburb - Dalia Wahdan
8. Against marginalization: workers, youth and class in the 25 January revolution - Rabab el Mahdi
9. National geographical targeting of poverty in Upper Egypt - Saker el Nour
10. Working with street kids: unsettling accounts from the field - Kamal Fahmi
11. Marginalization and self-marginalization: commercial education and its graduates - Moushira Elgeziri
12. Disability in transition in Egypt: between marginalization and rights - Heba Hagrass

Promotional Information

The book provides a revealing analysis of key areas of Egyptian political economy, such as labour, urbanization and the creation of slums, disability, refugees, street children, and agrarian livelihoods, reaching the impactful conclusion that marginalization does not mean total exclusion.

About the Author

Ray Bush is Professor of African Studies and Development Politics at the University of Leeds, UK. He is deputy chair of the Review of African Political Economy. His most recent book is Poverty and Neoliberalism: Persistence and Reproduction in the Global South (2007). His work focuses on the political economy of economic reform, resources, social and rural transformation. Habib Ayeb is a researcher at the Social Research Center at the American University in Cairo. His research focuses on agrarian change, water resources, poverty and marginality. He has worked in the Ministry of Agriculture in Tunisia, the University of Paris 8-St Denis, CEDEJ (Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation Juridiques et Sociales), IRD (Institute of Research for Development) and the SRC..

Reviews

This fascinating collection captures the rhythms of real life for the majority of Egyptians. Along with analytical heft, it features portraits of everyday abjection, struggle and adaptation that ring searingly true. Required reading for serious students of Egypt.
*Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project*

The contributors to this book effectively challenge the category of marginality as it is commonly used and show that "marginal" people and groups are actively created by the processes of neoliberal capitalism in which they have no role or value. At the same time, "marginals" do not acquiesce to their fate but find creative ways to exercise agency in dealing with their situations. Some contributors argue for the utility of a revised notion of marginality; others argue for increased attention to class and exploitation. This lively debate is a valuable contribution to understanding the underside of the neoliberal phase of capitalism in Egypt.
*Joel beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University, California*

I cannot imagine a more relevant collection of revealing snapshots of Egyptian society in the lead-up to the ousting of Mubarak. This excellent book not only offers an insightful reading of the conditions which led to the struggle of the Egyptian people against a devastating neoliberal economic system but also provides a solid contribution, which is grounded in class analysis and an experience of collective resistance, to our understanding of concepts of marginality and exclusion.
*Maha Abdelrahman, University of Cambridge*

This exciting book provides superb background to an understanding of the Egyptian "revolution" of 2011 and continuing. It provides fresh data on topics that are not generally covered in the press. The essays in this book are essential to understanding Egypt, both the expected and the unexpected.
*Nicholas Hopkins, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, The American University in Cairo*