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Joel Abdelmoez, PhD Student

Joel Wiklund Abdelmoez Ahmed

Affiliated researcher

Joel Abdelmoez, PhD Student

Time, Difference, and the Transnational : Feminist Activism and Solidarities in Egypt and Tunisia

Tid, differens och det transnationella : Feministisk aktivism och solidariteter i Egypten och Tunisien

Author

  • Joel W. Abdelmoez

Summary, in English

This dissertation explores possibilities and challenges to the formation of transnational feminist solidarity in the Middle Eastern context, focusing on Egypt and Tunisia. In particular, it asks how feminist organisations balance the work towards building transnational alliances and support networks with the imperative to remain grounded at the local level and centre local communities in their work, while simultaneously shedding perceptions of feminism as a globalising, Westernising, or neo-colonial movement seeking to dismantle existing value-systems and norms related to gender, sexuality, and family. The concept of solidarity is investigated in relation to three “challenges”: the challenge of difference, challenge of time, and challenge of the transnational. The dissertation posits that these challenges give rise to tensions—which may be productive, constituting opportunity rather than risk—such as emergent black and Nubian feminist groups shedding light on the marginalisation of racialised women within the feminist movement, or fragmentation stemming from a loss of intergenerational knowledge-exchange. Furthermore, a lack of explicit engagement with these tensions constitute a risk which may hinder feminists’ ability to mobilize across borders and ensure movement cohesion and longevity. Using a triangulation of fieldwork, textual analysis, and digital fieldwork, the dissertation uncovers how feminist groups’ engagement with issues of difference, their temporal practices and temporal perspectives, and their transnational interactions comes to shape their work.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science
  • Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
  • MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World

Publishing year

2025-11

Language

English

Publication/Series

Lund Political Studies

Volume

229

Document type

Dissertation

Publisher

Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Lunds universitet

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • feminism
  • solidarity
  • temporality
  • chronopolitics
  • gender
  • contentious politics
  • feminism
  • solidaritet
  • temporalitet
  • tidspolitik
  • genus
  • konfrontativ politik

Status

Published

Project

  • The Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) 2.0
  • Feminist Activism in the Contemporary Middle East: Transnationalism, performances and repertoires of contention

Supervisor

  • Karin Aggestam
  • Rola El-Husseini Dean

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0460-0037
  • ISSN: 0460-0037
  • ISBN: 978-91-8104-758-5
  • ISBN: 978-91-8104-757-8

Defence date

19 December 2025

Defence time

10:15

Defence place

Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund

Opponent

  • Laleh Khalili (Professor)