The principal focus of my research is the social and cultural history of the modern Middle East. Most recently, I have examined the connections between education and the rise of the modern state in nineteenth-century Egypt. To this end, my work has chronicled moments of contestation as to both the methods and the purposes of education — contestation between Anglican and Presbyterian missionaries, Ottoman and Egyptian officials, Coptic priests and Muslim reformers.
In a different vein, given a longstanding interest in the popular culture of the Nasser era, I am undertaking both teaching and research in the history of Egyptian cinema; specifically, the film culture of the 1950s and 1960s. I am particularly interested in exploring the images of village poverty, colonial violence, family discord, and the subjugation of women that pervade such films. My current research considers the possible links between these images and such state priorities as eradicating 'backwardness' and 'superstition,' pacifying the 'social body,' and consolidating 'modern' forms of subjectivity among them, the companionate spouse, the productive worker, and the patriotic citizen
