Nile Delta: my current field site. Nada T.This interview is in a series on the dilemmas and contradictions researchers undertake in conducting research in the Middle East. These conversations attempt to focus on questions of methodology, and the obstacles encountered by researchers when doing fieldwork in enduring political upheavals. In this interview with Nada T., Mona Abaza continues her exploration of how these issues apply within the context of contemporary Egypt.
Mona Abaza (MA): Nada, your experience as a practicing journalist and as a social science researcher over the past couple of years has been directly affected by the transformations in the political environment from 2011 until today. You started your first year of a PhD program two months after Egypt’s military coup in 2013 that resulted in the removal of President Mohamed Morsi from power and the ascent of Field Marshall Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. You spent the summers of 2014 and 2015 undergoing preparatory fieldwork for your dissertation research in a Nile Delta village that you first came to know through your work as a journalist. Tell us more about your research.
Nada T. (NT): My research looks at the role of infrastructure in shaping collective mobilization and issues of sovereignty and rights outside of Egypt’s city centers. My initial research started out by looking at contestations surrounding state infrastructure construction and failures.
