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CMENAS Colloquium Series. Labor of Love: The Poor First Son of Bitches
Hanan Hammad, University of Houston
Between the two world wars, millions of Egyptians experienced industrial work and urban life for the first time, transitioning from rural, handcraft traditions to factory systems.
Industrial Sexuality by Hanan Hammad explores this transformation through the lives of working-class men, women, and children in al-Mahalla al-Kubra, home to Egypt’s largest textile factory. Drawing from previously untapped archival sources, Hammad reveals how industrialization reshaped gender roles, sexuality, and public morality. The factory environment intensified issues like harassment, exploitation, and the public exposure of private relationships. Yet, these workers played an active role in shaping modern Egyptian urban life, challenging elite-centered narratives of modernity.
Hanan Hammad is a social and cultural historian of modern Egypt whose work focuses on gender, sexuality, working classes, and popular culture. She is the author of enormous academic publications, most notably Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and Social Transformation in Egypt from the UT Press 2016 and Unknown Past: Layla Murad, The Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt from Stanford University Press. Her work has won prizes from the National Women's Studies Association, the Association for Middle East Women's Studies, MESA, the Arab American Book Awards, and the Journal of Social History. Hammad is The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History and Director of the AAEF Center of Arab Studies at the University of Houston.
Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Email: -- warsansa@umich.edu
Hanan Hammad is a social and cultural historian of modern Egypt whose work focuses on gender, sexuality, working classes, and popular culture. She is the author of enormous academic publications, most notably Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and Social Transformation in Egypt from the UT Press 2016 and Unknown Past: Layla Murad, The Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt from Stanford University Press. Her work has won prizes from the National Women's Studies Association, the Association for Middle East Women's Studies, MESA, the Arab American Book Awards, and the Journal of Social History. Hammad is The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History and Director of the AAEF Center of Arab Studies at the University of Houston.
Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Email: -- warsansa@umich.edu
| Building: | Weiser Hall |
|---|---|
| Website: | |
| Event Type: | Lecture / Discussion |
| Tags: | center for middle eastern and north african studies, Cmenas Colloquium Series, Discussion, Lecture, Middle East Studies |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, International Institute |
