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The Muslim Brothers in Society
Everyday Politics, Social Action, and Islamism in Mubarak’s Egypt
Translated by David Tresilian
312 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
- Hardback
- 9789774169625
- December 2020
- Region: US & Canada, UK, Europe & Rest of World
£39.99
$49.95
- EPUB
- 9781649030238
- December 2020
- Region: Worldwide
$48.99
- 9781649030245
- December 2020
- Region: Worldwide
$48.99
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A groundbreaking ethnography of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
The Islamists’ political rise in Arab countries has often been explained by their capacity to provide social services, representing a challenge to the legitimacy of neoliberal states. Few studies, however, have addressed how this social action was provided, and how it engendered popular political support for Islamist organizations. Most of the time the links between social services and Islamist groups have been taken as given, rather than empirically examined, with studies of specific Islamist organizations tending to focus on their internal patterns of sectarian mobilization and the ideological indoctrination of committed members. Taking the case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), this book offers a groundbreaking ethnography of Islamist everyday politics and social action in three districts of Greater Cairo.
Based on long-term fieldwork among grassroots networks and on interviews with MB deputies, members, and beneficiaries, it shows how the MB operated on a day-to-day basis in society, through social brokering, constituent relations, and popular outreach. How did ordinary MB members concretely relate to local populations in the neighborhoods where they lived? What kinds of social services did they deliver? How did they experience belonging to the Brotherhood and how this membership fit in with their other social identities? Finally, what political effects did their social action entail, both in terms of popular support and of contestation or cooperation with the state?
Nuanced, theoretically eclectic, and empirically rich, The Muslim Brothers in Society reveals the fragile balances on which the Muslim Brotherhood’s political and social action was based and shows how these balances were disrupted after the January 2011 uprising. It provides an alternative way of understanding their historical failure in 2013.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Encountering the Brothers
A Public Secret 2
--Mosalsal 2
--Al-Mahzura 4
--Open Secrecy, Informality, and the State 5
The Gama‘a and Society 7
--The Debate 7
--The Purpose of This Book 9
Investigating Open Secrecy 12
--The Local Offices of Brotherhood MPs 12
--Ethnography and the Evidential Paradigm 13
--The Role of the Researcher 16
The Structure of the Study 19
1. (In)formal Politics
The Brotherhood and the Local Road to Parliament 22
--Rebuilding an Undefined Organization 23
--Electoral Politics and Social Embedding 28
--The Brotherhood as an Informal Player 35
The 2005 Elections: Knowing the Brothers 42
--Brotherhood Candidates: Non-professional Participants 42
--A Local Public–Work Elite 47
Conclusion 51
2. Mobilizing Disinterestedness
Statesmen, Businessmen, and Men of God? 54
--Patterns of Eligibility 55
--Serving Society and Serving God 68
“A House Does Not Only Have Foundations” 79
--Producing Voters 80
--External Networks: The ‘Izba Politics 87
Conclusion 92
3. Banned MPs
Dealing with the Tanzim 98
--Internal Positioning of the MPs 98
--Local Variations in MP Staff 103
Dealing with the Everyday State 115
--Three Models of Negotiating Access to Resources 115
--Meeting Individual Requests: Mediation, Instruction, and Ascription 125
Conclusion 136
4. The Politics of Goodness
The Social Spread of the Gama‘a: The Networks of Khayr 143
--Brotherhood Networks: Activist Groups and Extensions 143
--Semi-Brotherhood Networks: Local Partner Institutions 148
--Neighborhood Social Networks and Associated Personalities 155
The Social Construction of Ethical Conduct 164
--Charity Days: Doing and Ways of Doing 165
--Conducts of the Exemplary Self 174
Conclusion 186
5. The Double-edged Sword of Brotherhood
Becoming a Brother: The Embodiment of Ethical Conduct 191
--Methodological Remarks 191
--Shaping Orthopraxy: Islam, Tarbiyya, and Discipline 192
Socializing the Brothers: The Centrality of Margins 197
--Locating the Ikhwani Self 197
--To Be or Not to Be Ikhwani—Is That the Question? 203
--Brothers and Others: When Tarbiyya Encourages
--Social Interaction 208
When ‘Good’ Is Not ‘Right’: ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’ 212
--The Emergence of Public Dissent: Listening to the Bloggers 213
--Ideological Defection and Emotional (Dis)affection 216
--The Ambivalence of Virtue 226
Conclusion 242
6. Goodness in Dire Straits
The Politics of Conflictual Consensus 245
--Authoritarian Co-production and Latent Conflict 246
--Mazlumin and Virtuous Neighbors: Activating
--Political Divisions 255
Breaking Down and Falling Out: The Radicalization of Conflict 263
--Mansour, a Low-ranking Feloul in the Breakdown of Local Politics 264
--How Not to Get Out from Secrecy 268
--Exiles and Exits 276
Conclusion 282
Notes 284
Bibliography 304
Index 316
Figures
1. Leaflets of MB candidates in Helwan, 1995. 39
2-4. Leafl from ‘Ali Fath al-Bab, MB candidate in Tibbin/15 Mayo. 39
5-8. Sheikh al-Muhammadi’s electoral leaflet, Helwan, 2005. 73-74, 81
9. ‘Isam Mukhtar’s electoral leaflet, Madinat Nasr, 2005. 84
10. Photo of the Parliamentary Bloc of the MB. 97
11. Examples of Mukhtar’s parliamentary interventions. 117
12. Sheikh al-Muhammadi’s publication. 121
13. Publication from Fath al-Bab’s office. 124
14. Mukhtar’s leaflet of celebrations and services. 140
15. Some examples of services in Sheikh al-Muhammadi’s publication. 141
16. Diagram of Madame Wafa’s Network. 162
17. Postcard published by Fath al-Bab’s office. 172
Tables
1. Participation in Egyptian Legislative Elections, 1984–2005. 33
2. Results of Egyptian Legislative Elections, 1976–2010. 34
3. The Educational Backgrounds of MB Candidates in the 2005 Elections. 43
4. Professionals and Others: The Occupations of MB Candidates in 2005. 45
5. Public Work Activities of MB Candidates in 2005. 47-48
6. Main Candidates in Tibbin/15 Mayo. 58
7. Main Candidates in Helwan. 60
8. Main Candidates in Madinat Nasr. 64
9. Six Aspects of the Symbolic Economy of Disinterestedness. 77
10. Profiles of Brotherhood MP Staff in Helwan, 2005-2010. 105
Maps
1. Electoral constituencies of Helwan, Tibbin/15 Mayo and Madinat Nasr, 2005-2010. 66
2. Demographic disparities between subdistricts. 67
3. Craft and industrial workers by subdistrict. 67
4. Services and sales workers by subdistrict. 68
5. Technicians and clerks by subdistrict. 68
6. Professionals in technical and scientifi occupations by subdistrict. 69
7. Employees in the public sector by subdistrict. 69
Marie Vannetzel is a CNRS fellow at the Center for Economic, Legal and Social Studies (CEDEJ) in Cairo, and currently a visiting teacher at the University of Cairo, Faculty of Economics and Political Science (FESP). She received her PhD with distinction from Sciences Po Paris in 2012. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining political science, sociology and anthropology, she has been studying Egypt through the past fifteen years. Her research interest focuses on the politics of social action and redistribution.
"Ground-breaking . . . . seminal reading for anyone interested in the Brotherhood and also for those looking to understand the complicated balance between Islamist groups’ politicization and their social networks on the ground."—International Journal of Middle East Studies
"[P]rovides insights that even specialists and longtime observers of Egyptian politics will appreciate. . . . The Muslim Brothers in Society is a groundbreaking examination of how the Muslim Brotherhood created, inhabited, and expanded existing networks of social capital and neighbourhood relations to be seen by the residents as 'virtuous neighbors.'"—Middle East Journal
"Drawing on several years of ethnographic fieldwork, Marie Vannetzel takes us into the streets of Mubarak-era Cairo to explain how the Muslim Brotherhood was able to build popular support in a context of semi-legality and how this support was lost in the aftermath of the 25 January Egyptian Revolution. Thoroughly evidenced and elegantly crafted, Vannetzel’s acute analysis of the day-to-day workings of Brotherhood MPs and activists provides fresh and important new insights into the rise and fall of the movement. A rich and impressive book."—Neil Ketchley, author of Egypt in a Time of Revolution
"This is a highly insightful study that is conducted with rigor and written with flair. It shows ethnographic research at its best by offering a new analysis of a deeply controversial topic and political organization. The book offers intricate social and political analysis to shed new light on the overlooked relationship between civic and religious identity in Muslim-populated countries."—Rana Jawad, University of Bath
"Vannetzel delves deeply into the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood to show how the organization maneuvered as an illegal but tolerated organization in Mubarak’s Egypt. Rather than operating in a 'parallel Islamic sector,' she argues, the group occupied an ambiguous space in which it was at once socially embedded and not clearly identifiable, all while maintaining a tight internal organizational structure. Her meticulous ethnographic research underscores how the organization’s political success in the years leading up to the 2011 uprising lay in its depoliticization and its efforts to distinguish itself and its members as more ethical than their competitors."—Melani Cammett, Harvard University
"A masterpiece of meticulous scholarship throughout"—Midwest Book Review
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