Students,

Hi.  Thanks to all of you who came out to our first info session for the 2012 trip to Egypt.

In case you lost your copy of the brochure or just want to share the program brochure with you family… here it is (Adobe PDF file):

HWS_Egypt Prospectus 2012

And to help you get excited about the trip, here  is a little promotional video from the 2009 HWS trip …

1. The social dynamics of race, class, and gender in contemporary Egypt.
2. The relationship between state and non-state actors in the promotion of development in Egypt.
3. The political economy of tourism.

Students have already articulated and workshopped their thesis statements while in Egypt and should be proceeding to the writing stage.

Papers should be 10 pages in length, no more and no less.  An appendix with photographs may be added at the end as long as the images are labelled and discussed within the main text.  The appendix is in addition to the required 10 pages.   The paper should be double-spaced in a standard 12-point font, with standard margins and page numbers. Students may not use a title page, but should simply write their name, skip a line, and start writing.

Since no outside research should be included in this paper, simple paranthetical citations to assigned texts will suffice. Such citations should include the author’s last name and the page number in question. References to student journal entries should be treated like fieldnotes, with the reference indicating the date of the entry (fieldnotes, 6/12/09). Students requiring electronic copies of any of the assigned materials should contact Stacey or Vikash directly.

Papers and final journals should be mailed to the appropriate grader (either Stacey Philbrick Yadav or Vikash Yadav) with a postmark no later than July 1, 2009 at the address below. Late materials will be penalized 5% per day late (by postmark).

Stacey Philbrick Yadav OR Vikash Yadav
Department of Political Science
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
300 Pulteney Street, Stern Hall
Geneva, NY 14456

Papers and Journals must be post-marked by July 1st.  We will post more details on the paper format soon.

In preparation for a very long trip home, students were treated to a relaxing sailboat ride around Elephantine Island in Aswan.  Students were also given an opportunity to make sand angels in the Sahara desert.

The Sahara looms as a man rows his boat in Aswan.

Perhaps nothing in the world is as relaxing as cruising the Nile river.  I made the short video above using my digital camera.  It does not quite capture the beauty, but hopefully you get the gist of it.

Sailing to Esna.

We are sailing up the Nile at a fast pace.  Today we visited the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Queen Hatchepsut, and the Valley of the Queens.  It was quite hot out at the tombs, but students are relaxing on the boat for the rest of the day.

One of the many locks on the Nile our boat passed through en route to Luxor.

Gary picks the perfect mish-mish (apricot) at the Desert Development Center's orchard.

We are keeping busy at the American University in Cairo’s Desert Development Center (AUC-DDC) in South Tahrir.  Students have taken tours of the facilities here as well as local efforts to tranform the desert into forest and agricultural land.  As we have limited access to the Internet out here, we will post photos when we return.  The students are happy and off playing soccer in the evening.  We head off to Luxor tomorrow.

HWS students visit a man made forest in the desert at the Desert Development Center in South Tahrir.

Dalia, Abu Basha, and Reem talk to HWS students about different aspects of economic development in Egypt.

Three of my former AUC students met with our group to discuss the challenges to economic development in Egypt.

David Faris discusses the political uses of social networking sites in Egypt.

David Faris, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his article on the use of Facebook and Twitter to organize protests in Egypt.

Here is a copy of the English version of the speech delivered at Cairo University.

Dr. Richard Gauvain speaks to HWS students.

Dr. Richard Gauvain, the Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the American University in Cairo, provides a lecture on the wide range of Islamist and pietist groups in contemporary Egypt. 

Later that evening, Professor Gauvain and Ustaza Rania joined the students for dinner at Al-Azhar Garden which looks out on the Citadel.

HWS students enjoy a relaxing dinner at Al-Azhar Garden in Cairo.