Informal social networks, civic learning, and young women’s political participation in Egypt A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Hassan H. Mohamed IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dr. Roozbeh Shirazi, Co-Adviser Dr. Joan DeJaeghere, Co-Adviser December 2017 2 © Copyright, Hassan Hussein Mohamed, 2017 i Acknowledgment This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of many people. My deepest gratitude goes to my co-advisers Professor Roozbeh Shirazi and Professor Joan DeJaeghere. Thank you for being an outstanding advisers and mentors throughout the years of my doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. You have guided my intellectual pursuits over the time of my study and while writing this dissertation with an amazing capacity for carefully allowing me to choose my own path. I appreciate the time and effort you have done throughout this period and the advices you have offered me to produce this work. Even though you were in sabbatical and research break, you were always there ready to read and meet to discuss and provide constructive feedback that was always useful to provide me the momentum to keep going. I am also grateful to your constant inspiration and guidance throughout my study time and the dissertation process. In addition, I would like to thank my dissertation committee members. Professor Michael Baizerman and Professor Christopher Johnstone. You dedicated much time to engage in intellectually stimulating academic discussions while also providing guidance in professional and life-related matters. My relationship with you went beyond the scope of the dissertation committee. I greatly appreciate the support you have offered me through this journey. Your time and availability to meet on and off campus to discuss my progress and update me with new research techniques and offering various perspectives of analyzing my data were outstanding and appreciated. In addition, you have generously contributed significantly in filling up my library with free books and publications that you always load me up every time we meet. I am also grateful to my colleagues and cohort at the University of Minnesota for reading my early work, provide insightful comments, and helping me develop as a scholar. Thank you for the fun time and for the scholarly community you have built: it was immensely inspiring to remain linked with your intellectual discussions. ii Special thank you is directed to the Population Council, Cairo Office for their support during my field research and during the preparation for the interviews. The appreciation extends to my research assistants in Fayoum and to their NGOs for the outstanding support and friendship while in the field. I humbly thank the participants of this study in the three villages in Fayoum for their time and willingness to share their stories with me; without their stories, this dissertation would not have been possible. I am indebted to my family for their never-ending care and support. You were very supportive throughout this journey and even before the journey has started. You instilled in me the passion to pursue knowledge and always encouraged me to fulfill my academic, career, and intellectual curiosity. iii Abstract When traditional avenues for learning and participation become inaccessible for marginalized people to learn and participate, people tend to develop other unconventional avenues to learn and participate in decisions that affect their lives. This dissertation examines how rural young women in Egypt utilize self-created social networks as unconventional avenues to learn and advance their civic and political participation. It turns the focus of public participation away from classical, formal Tocquevillian understandings to the unconventional avenues of participation that have remained outside of the scope of much research. It uniquely places the question of the pedagogical and political consequences of social capital into an analysis of women’s social interactions within social networks. The Study adopts constructivist qualitative approach to penetrate women’s realities and capture their unique forms of participation. 49 participants were interviewed through 36 individual in-depth semi-structured interviews and 3 focus group discussions to collect the primary data for this research. The findings reveal that self- created social networks create a space that is not found in other areas of marginalized rural young women’s lives; and that create a unique space for these young women to learn and participate in different civic activities in private and public political domains in Egypt in unconventional ways. Finally, this dissertation sets the groundwork for future study to examine political participation beyond the conventional civic and political activities aimed at marginalized groups in developing democracies around the globe. It also provides policy recommendations for education and international development. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vii Abbreviations and Acronyms ....................................................................................................... viii Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement ................................................................................................................. 3 Study Purpose ...................................................................................................................... 10 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................ 11 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 17 Origin of the Problem........................................................................................................... 19 Context of the Study............................................................................................................. 24 Historical Review of Education, Development, and Public Participation in Egypt ............. 28 The Neqdar Nesharek Program ............................................................................................ 38 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................................... 40 Organization of the study ..................................................................................................... 43 Chapter Two: Literature review ............................................................................................... 47 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 47 Civic Engagement and Social Capital .................................................................................. 48 Limits of Participation in Civil Society................................................................................ 60 Informal Learning and Civic Knowledge ............................................................................. 71 Informal Participation in the Middle East ............................................................................ 84 Gaps in literature and further research ................................................................................. 94 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 97 Chapter Three: Methodology and methods ............................................................................. 99 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 99 Study design and methodological consideration ................................................................ 100 Selecting research sites ...................................................................................................... 104 Sampling and recruitment of participants .......................................................................... 106 Research methods .............................................................................................................. 114 Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 120 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 123 Validity ............................................................................................................................... 128 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 130 Chapter Four: Paradoxical discourses ................................................................................... 132 Constraining discourses ..................................................................................................... 135 Encouraging discourses .....................................................................................................