Amro Ali

 Amro Ali
  • Sociology,
  • Philosophy

Areas of Expertise:
Political sociology and philosophy; Public spheres; Social movements; Spaces of exile (Europe); Egypt, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean Basin

Membership:
since 2019

Contact

The American University in Cairo, Egypt

AUC Avenue Road
New Cairo, 11835
Egypt

amro(at)amroali.com
Visit research profile

About me

My research explores the human condition under assault from the forces of global consumption, material culture and digital technology, with a particular focus on how these forces shape identity, cities, modernity, and citizenship. At AGYA, I am currently co-running the ‘Salon Thaqafy’ project, which brings Arab exiles into rich discussion on a variety of topics around the occasion of the Arab Spring’s 10-year anniversary. I have also contributed two chapters to AGYA book projects: ‘Approaching the Islamic Prayer through Han, Nietzsche, and Heidegger’ in the book Faith Travels (2021), as well as ‘Walter Benjamin’s Ruins and the Disruption of Progress’ in the book Thinking with Ruins: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Functions, Interpretations, and (Mis-)uses of Remnants of the Past (2021). In 2021, I will work on the AGYA project ‘Critical Transformations in Germany: Turning the Arab Gaze on Germany’, and will take advantage of an AGYA research mobility grant to finish a book project that offers interdisciplinary perspectives on ‘second cities’.

I joined AGYA as I strongly value the interdisciplinary and bridge-building nature of its mandate.

It is rare to find an organization that enables one to work in the grey areas between academia and the public sphere, giving license to unleash one’s intellectual impetus and creative imagination to develop projects along with colleagues that shed light on the blind spots missed by conventional university research. In this regard, AGYA contributes to the public good in novel ways and, in the process, also creates small new communities of thought of practice.


Academic career
2018 - todayAndrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, American University in Cairo
2016 - 2018Director of the ‘Theatre of Thought’ Project in Cairo, Goethe Institut Egypt
2016 - 2017Adjunct Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, American University in Cairo, Egypt
2015Visiting Research Fellow, Global Governance Unit, Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), Germany
2012 - 2016Ph.D. Researcher, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Australia

 

My Commitment to AGYA
AGYA Co-President 2021-2022
Member of the AGYA Steering Committee 2020-21
Member in Charge of the Working Group 'Dynamics of Transformation'
Nomination Committee 'New AGYA Members' 2021, 2022
Participation in 'Salon Sophie Charlotte' 2020, 2022, 2023

On a personal note

Must read in my discipline:
The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

Favourite novel:
Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz