Exporting Education: The Case of the American University in Cairo
Date
2001-08
Authors
Lash, Jeffrey W.
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Abstract
In this dissertation I review the debate on cultural globalization and discuss the concept of hybridity within the context of the American University in Cairo (AUC). The broad research goal has been to document and interpret the everyday lives of AUCians in the context of place and scale. Data collection took the form of both quantitative (e.g., surveys) and qualitative (e.g., participant observations, unstructured interviews, archival research) methodologies. The data presented here offers a glimpse into the process of hybridity in a Thirdspace. I argue that AUC functions as a place through which an array of discourses and material practices intersect, are translated, and transformed. As a hybrid institution, AUC functions as a cultural broker mediating between Egypt's wealthy educated class, and broader national and international societies. In this context, a physical and psychological Thirdspace emerges as a place where AUCians translate competing cultural orientations to power, thinking, and space. Through the process of education, social and cultural knowledge is both reinforced and transformed as Egyptian students confront the ideology of the "other" embedded in the policies and curriculum of an American liberal arts university.
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Keywords
American University in Cairo, geography, Thirdspace, higher education
Citation
Lash, J.W. (2001). Exporting education: The case of the American University in Cairo (Unpublished dissertation). Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.