Related Papers
The Other Copts: Sectarianism, Nationalism and Catholic Coptic Activism in Minya (MA Thesis)
2017 •
Ana Carol Torres Gutierrez
The partnership between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Egyptian State has been a political technique that has left little space for religious diversity and has overshadowed other Egyptian minorities. Eschewing this dichotomous illusion and blowing the dust off of Missionary Studies that has left Catholic Copts in the past, this ethnographic study gives an account of the life of a Catholic Coptic NGO, the Jesuit Brothers Association for Development (JBAD), within the context of the uncontested capital of sectarian violence in Egypt: Minya. Using participant observation, focus groups, and interviews, this study intends to shed a light on the ways through which sectarian boundaries and identity politics have affected Catholic Copts engaging in activism in the post-2011 era. Particularly, this study explores how three sectarian lines are negotiated in the everyday life of this Catholic Coptic NGO. It explores the convenience and sponsorship that being part of a transnational Catholic Church gives Catholic Coptic institutions such as the JBAD yet its ritualistic remoteness from other types of Catholicism; the negotiation of its common roots with the Coptic Orthodox vis-à-vis their perplexity of their historic rivalry; and the ways in which Catholic Copts relate with the Muslim majority and the Egyptian State that vacillate between spiritual service and sectarian violence. This thesis questions how still today Catholic Copts are perceived as a foreign or fabricated minority while they are actually industrious and even nationalist citizens. Although this research subscribes to the literature that addresses the transitions from Mission to NGO’s that took place at the end of WWII, in the particular case of Catholic Copts, it proposes a change of scholar discourse from Missionary Studies into those of nationalism and citizenship.
Studies in World Christianity
Good Copt, Bad Copt: Competing Narratives on Coptic Identity in Egypt and the United States
2013 •
Joshua Donovan, Yvonne Haddad
This study analyses the relationship between the Coptic community in the United States and Egyptian Copts regarding the status of Coptic citizenship in the Egyptian state. The conception of citizenship for the Coptic Christian minority has been debated since the formation of the modern nation-state and has acquired greater relevance after the revolution that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power. One primary narrative of citizenship is promoted by the Egyptian Church. It recognises that, while Copts may not feel like equal citizens, they are devoted to their homeland. They try to promote greater equality through civil discourse, opposing foreign intervention and seeking to foster positive relations with Egypt’s Muslims. While many Diaspora Copts echo the message of the Egyptian Church, a minority of activist Copts have challenged that narrative. Inculcated with ideas of Islamophobia and neoconservatism, they tend to dismiss hopes of national unity and focus rather on incidents of persecution. These diaspora activist groups continue to challenge the Coptic Church. Their policies have influenced American foreign policy and have broader implications for Muslim–Christian relations in Egypt.
COPTIC CHRISTIANS: INQUIRY INTO THEIR CONTEMPORARY STATUS IN EGYPT
Kundan Kumar
The "Coptic Question" in post-revolutionary Egypt: Citizenship, Democracy, Religion
Paola Pizzo
Relations between the Coptic minority and the Egyptian state have gone through different stages, with Copts experiencing greater or lesser degrees of integration into, or alienation from, the social and civil fabric of Egypt. This paper traces the long and ongoing path of the Coptic community from dhimmah to citizenship, a path that is not yet concluded, with a particular focus on the relations between the Copts and Al-Azhar, especially in the transition period opened by the 25 January Revolution. New discourses among both Islamic and Christian intellectuals are examined in order to search out the conceptions of citizenship emerging both in Al-Azhar and Islamist scholars’ thought and in Coptic circles.
Arab Studies Journal
Review of Vivian Ibrahim’s The Copts of Egypt: Challenges of Modernisation and Identity
2012 •
Paul Sedra
The Coptic Question in the Mubarak Era
Candace Lukasik
"The Coptic Diaspora and the Status of the Coptic Minority in Egypt," Jornal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43:7 (2017), 1205-1221.
2016 •
Bosmat Yefet
This paper examines the political activity of the Coptic diaspora in the United States in support of the Coptic minority in Egypt. Analysing its strategy reveals that for years it has focused on lobbying the United States and international bodies, in order to raise international awareness of the Coptic minority status. By using this strategy, it has framed the struggle for Copts’ rights in a manner that contradicts the Egyptian unity narrative, and the strategic choices of those they are struggling for. This paper shows that understanding the limitations of this strategy alongside a change in the structure of opportunities in Egypt has led to a change in the pattern of activity of the diaspora activists. Alongside lobbying for international involvement, they have developed additional strategies, including strengthening their influence in the homeland and even direct action vis-à-vis the Egyptian authorities. This paper, which emphasises the pattern of action of diaspora activists that represent minorities, directs attention to the structure of opportunities in the homeland, the variety of relationships between the diaspora and the homeland, and their effect on the ability of the diaspora activists to become a significant force in shaping the life of the minority.
Copts and the Egyptian Revolution: Christian Identity in the Public Sphere
Gaétan du Roy
THE POLITICIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY IN MODERN EGYPT.pdf
Oksana Nizamutdinova
Journal of the General Union of Arab Archaeologist, (Festschrift dedicated to Prof./Ali Radwan “1941-2020”),
THE REFORM OF POPE CYRIL IV AND ITS INFLUENCE IN THE LIFE OF THE COPTIC COMMUNITY
2021 •
SHERIN S A D E K EL GENDI
During the second half of the nineteenth century AD, the 110th Pope of the See of Saint Mark, Cyril IV, was the leader of a great radical reform program that had its large impacts in the life of the Copts in Egypt. The aim of this paper is to examine the different steps of this social reform, its different and important influences in the life of the Copts in the late nineteenth and during the twentieth centuries AD. It also aims to ellucidate how these reforms influenced public policy in Egypt to achieve large-scale and far-reaching results for the protection of the Coptic families and community. His reforms may best be understood in terms of being an advocacy initiative and a powerful tool to support and unite the Copts against violence and other deep problems, including being marginalized in their own country. This paper will also shed light on how Pope Cyril’s reforms motivated the Copts to claim their rights, enabling them to play a pioneering role in the development of the Egyptian society in so many different domains.
