International student Sara Carere has never experienced a month quite like Ramadan in Egypt. Living in wust el balad, or downtown Cairo, Carere has fasted with friends from Assiut, eaten suhoor on the street with her neighbors and watched hours of musalsalat (Ramadan TV series).
“I was most surprised by how special and collective fasting feels,” Carere says. “Back home in the Netherlands I had some Muslim friends who fasted, but seeing Ramadan on a country-wide scale is incredible.”
Carere fasted the first two days of Ramadan to understand what her Muslim friends and neighbors were feeling firsthand. “It was really hard for me,” Carere recalls. “Maybe it's because I haven’t done it before, but not drinking water was so tough. That first iftar was incredible, though; water and dates have never tasted so good.”
As a Middle Eastern studies student from the University of Groningen, Carere has spent her study abroad year at AUC making friends from all over the world. Her iftars have included traditional Egyptian foods and sweets, like molokhia, mahshi, kunafa and atayef, in addition to international foods, like Spanish omelets and pasta bolognese.
“I’ve really enjoyed this month because my roommates and I always have dinner together at iftar. Planning the meals, going grocery shopping and visiting the local market in Sayeda Zaynab to see the lanterns has been a lot of fun,” Carere says. “The fresh fruit juice from the street vendors is so good. My favorite is the coconut drink, sobia.”
Living in downtown Cairo has immersed Carere in the Ramadan spirit. “The first night we walked around downtown until suhoor. Everyone seemed so happy and energetic,” Carere recalls. “We spent the night playing dominoes at an awha (local coffee shop) and drinking tea. It’s been a great chance to practice my Arabic.”
Ramadan has also highlighted some amusing cultural differences between the Netherlands and Egypt, particularly with regard to watching musalsalat. “In the Netherlands, we usually watch a show in silence and discuss it after,” Carere explains. “Watching the shows here with my Egyptian friends involves a lot more commenting and asking questions. I like it; it's more engaging. My favorite shows so far are Al Maddah and Al Soffara.”
At other times, the month feels bittersweet for Carere. “Seeing everyone breaking fast with their families and spending so much time together does make me a little homesick,” Carere says. “Thankfully, my dad is coming to visit next month, and I am so excited to show him how special Egypt is during Ramadan.”
Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties earlier this month in a negotiation mediated by China. The two countries suspended diplomatic relations in 2016 after demonstrators in Tehran stormed the Saudi embassy in response to a Shia cleric being executed in Riyadh. Ambassador Karim Haggag '92, professor of practice and director of Middle East studies in AUC’s Department of Public Policy and Administration, explains what this development means for the region and for global powers like the U.S. and China.
What is the original source of conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran?
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is historic and relates primarily to the status of these two countries as rival regional powers, going back even before the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. Part of this rivalry is geopolitical and part of it is ideological.
What is the geopolitical aspect?
It relates to security, specifically to the reliance of Saudi Arabia on American military protection, which is a clear security threat to Iran. Over the past 10 or 15 years, this rivalry has extended to other areas in the region, including Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iraq. Each country’s internal conflicts were influenced by Saudi Arabia and Iran’s interests in checking each other’s power.
What is the ideological aspect?
The ideological conflict is seen in instances of Shia agitation in Saudi Arabia that seem to be fomented by Iran. Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric in 2016 which led to demonstrations in Iran at the Saudi embassy. Hopefully, the limited agreement reached last week will defuse the immediate source of tension between the two countries.
Why do you say that the agreement is only “limited”?
The agreement brokered in Beijing was not comprehensive. While it did open channels of political communication between the two countries, which should de-escalate some of the rhetorical animosity on either side, it has not broadly changed their relationship as rivals in the region.
Since the agreement is not comprehensive, do you think it will be successful in stopping bloodshed in the high-conflict areas these two countries are involved in?
It remains to be seen. The immediate litmus test of whether this arrangement is making real change will be Yemen, as Yemen is the conflict closest to home for Saudi Arabia and presents the most immediate security threat to the monarchy. After Yemen, we will also have to look to Lebanon and Syria to see if there are real shifts in the way Iran and Saudi Arabia are engaging with each other in these proxy states.
Can you expand on what it means for Saudi Arabia and Iran to use proxies?
Sure, it means that they are leveraging their relationship with certain groups within other countries to exert their influence against the other power. We see this in Yemen with the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.
How will we know if deescalation is actually happening on the ground?
Let’s look at Yemen as an example. There has been a tenuous ceasefire in Yemen since April 2022 between the Houthis and Yemeni government. If this arrangement between Saudi Arabia and Iran opens the door for a consolidated settlement to the Yemen conflict, then this will be a definite indication of the two rivals changing their approach with their proxies.
In our last discussion on geopolitics in the Middle East, we discussed China’s rising influence in the region. Why was China selected to broker these negotiations instead of the U.S.?
The U.S. could not have mediated this discussion because it is not a neutral party; it has a major security role in Saudi Arabia and no official diplomatic relationship with Iran. China, however, has diplomatic relations with both countries and was able to frame its involvement with the conflict in almost purely economic and commercial terms, rather than in overt political or security terms.
Why is China’s role significant?
Up to this point, China’s influence in the region has been rising steadily but has remained in the economic sphere. For China to involve itself in these regional political conflicts is a significant departure from its previous approach, but it's too early to tell if this will turn into a broader and consistently politically involved role for China.
Why is China suddenly the Middle East’s peacekeeper?
Well, let’s be clear on what happened and what didn’t happen. China stepped in to play a mediating role and achieved a narrow, transactional agreement between the two countries to open up communication. China did not fulfill any sort of broad peacemaking role and still has no involvement in regional security.
Who handles regional security?
The U.S. is still the dominant player regarding security and military presence in the region. China does not seem interested in contesting that role, even though it has been filling the diplomacy vacuum that the U.S. has left.
Do you think China’s involvement will bring U.S. focus back into the region?
At this point, the U.S. has no interest in mediating conflicts in the region and has refocused its interests elsewhere internationally. The U.S. may be concerned with China’s expanding influence in the MENA region and that may be an incentive to pay more attention to the Middle East, but that is less about regional politics and more about countering China.
Two courses aimed at informing and empowering AUC students to lead the charge against climate change won this year’s Core Curriculum Course Competition during AUC’s 2023 Research and Creativity Convention (RCC).
“Climate change is certainly one of the most pressing concerns which urgently requires raising a new generation of educated, responsible and proactive youth who are willing to make a real change and aspire for a promising future,” explained Amina Saleh, assistant professor in AUC’s Department of Chemistry, who co-wrote one of the winning courses, Climate Change: From Interdisciplinarity to Action, with Tamer Shoeib, professor and chair of the department and Noha Omar, assistant professor in the Department of Economics. “Ultimately, we want to inspire students to conscientiously contribute to the betterment of their communities by solving problems of both global and local concern.”
Taking place at AUC’s New Cairo campus this week, RCC is a weeklong convention that showcases research from faculty and students across disciplines, in addition to hosting competitions, performances and discussions.
“The competition is an important opportunity for faculty to engage in the process of curricular innovation to provide our students with high impact learning experiences,” explained Ghada Elshimi (MA ‘93), dean of undergraduate studies and The Academy of Liberal Arts. “In line with AUC's liberal arts mission, the competition promotes examination of human issues from the perspective of multiple disciplines and encourages faculty to employ project-based learning teaching styles and inquiry.”
Alongside Saleh and Shoeib, Noura Wahby, assistant professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration, and Sherif Goubran ‘14, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, co-wrote the other winning course, Sustainability in the Cracks of Urban Policy: Communities, Bureaucracies and Adaptation.
“We hope that the course will inspire both us and our students to dig into the reasons behind our relationships to our surrounding built environment and understand how socio-technical factors shape our attitudes, practices and beliefs of the environment,” the duo wrote.
Winning Course: Climate Change: From Interdisciplinarity to Action
Developed by: Tamer Shoeib, Amina Saleh and Noha Omar
With the aim of creating and empowering more environmentally conscious students, this course will explore climate change from multiple disciplines, focusing on filling information gaps about the crisis in addition to the specific context of Egypt. “Filling these gaps would allow for a better understanding of the climate change crisis in Egypt and therefore a better management of it,” the course description reads.
A major part of this course is centered around community-based learning; students will work with different organizations and groups of people around Egypt, gaining real-life experience while leaving a lasting impact on their communities. Projects will span the industries of wastewater treatment, fish farming, recycling and waste management, among others.
“In this course, we leverage the connections that AUC has forged over the years with communities and NGOs across Egypt to provide relevant, intriguing and challenging real-life based learning opportunities for our students,” Saleh said. “Through field trips and literature-based research, students will tackle real-world issues that are of great relevance to the environment, the local economy and human health.”
Winning Course: Sustainability in the Cracks of Urban Policy: Communities, Bureaucracies and Adaptation
Developed by: Noura Wahby and Sherif Goubran '14
This course explores and challenges the norms, regulations, policies and laws that inform unsustainable behaviors, from the overuse of plastic at AUC and in Egypt to the pricing of water in urban areas.
“For example, although we are constantly reminded of the importance of recycling, the fact remains that not many people do,” Wahby and Goubran explained, pointing to both individual behavioral and systemic issues contributing to this problem.
“By tackling these underlying notions, we hope that we will build active citizens who better understand how sustainability works, the larger obstacles hindering more progressive policy-making, and what we can do ourselves to contribute to climate justice in Egypt,” they wrote.
Focusing on solutions as well as problems, the course will also take into account how policy loopholes can be used for good. “It is this sense of critical reflection and activism-driven learning that we hope to explore in this AUC course,” they concluded.
The Core Curriculum Course Competition is responsible for a growing number of innovative courses offered at AUC, including a few new classes introduced last fall and this spring: The World of Naguib Mahfouz, Social Problems of the Middle East and Building for Underdeveloped Egyptian Communities.
With COP27 taking place in Sharm El Sheikh just months ago, AUC’s Climate Change Initiative is still going strong, producing new research, projects and initiatives at a steady pace.
