In a Chats in the Stacks book talk in the Libe Cafe, Cornell University assistant professor of Near Eastern studies Ziad Fahmy will highlight research presented in his new book "Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation Through Popular Culture" (Stanford University Press, 2011).

Professor Fahmy received his History Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of Arizona, and his dissertation "Popularizing Egyptian Nationalism" was awarded the Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award (2008) from the Middle East Studies Association. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies and in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

His book examines how popular media and culture provided ordinary Egyptians with a framework to construct and negotiate a modern national identity, from the 1870s until the eve of the 1919 revolution. "Ordinary Egyptians" shifts the typical focus of study away from the intellectual elite and introduces the concept of “media-capitalism.”

A reception and book signing will follow. For more information, please call 255-3393.