THE ARAB SPRING PROTESTS that erupted in Egypt in 2011 and their aftermath were part of longer term trends in Egyptian religious and political life, trends which were in turn affected by the tumultuous period that followed. Dr. HISHAM A. HELLYER will discuss the rise and fall of popular support for political Islam from 2005 to 2015, especially that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Dr. AMIRA MITTERMAIER will discuss trends of interiorized faith and societal change among Muslim Egyptian youth in the wake of the 2011 uprising. The discussion will be moderated by Mitchell Center Postdoctoral Fellow NAREMAN AMIN.

Dr. Hisham A Hellyer is a fellow at Cambridge University, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, and a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on international relations, security, and belief in the Middle East, the West, and Southeast Asia. His books include Muslims of Europe: the ‘Other’ Europeans, A Revolution Undone: Egypt’s Road Beyond Revolt, A Sublime Path: the Sufi Way of the Makkan Sages (co-author), and The Islamic Tradition and the Human Rights Discourse (editor).

Dr. Amira Mittermaier is Professor of Religion and Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on modern Islam in Egypt. Her books include Dreams that Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination and Giving to God: Islamic Charity in Revolutionary Times. Her current research works toward what she calls an “ethnography of God.”