Accommodating fieldwork to irreconcilable equations of citizenship, authoritarianism, poverty and fear in Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACTPost-Mubarak Egypt witnessed major shifts in the elaboration of inclusive citizenship that came to halt after the abandonment of the democratic experiment. This period offered insights on the abruption of a process of citizenship building, especially in poor urban dwellings, where narratives of everyday violence shape the way citizenship is conceived. As I carried out fieldwork in an urban settlement in Cairo to address these issues following the 2013 military coup, I was forced to end my project in order to avoid risk to myself or to my respondents. This article demonstrates how fieldwork, even in unfavourable conditions, could be contextualised to redesign the research and theories guiding it. Through examining some of the dynamics of my fieldwork and positionality as a native female researcher, I demonstrate alternative methods of narrating the complex interactions of citizenship variables, poverty and fear in police-state-like conditions in Egypt.