Dialogue Across Borders is pleased to announce the publication of two new research articles from recent interns. Saskia Heisterborg’s essay, “Cut from the Same Cloth: Marriage and Divorce Traditions Among Coptic Christians and Muslims in Villages in Lower Egypt,” explores marriage, divorce, and related subjects in the village of Isnīt about an hour north of Cairo. The study is based primarily on Saskia’s considerable fieldwork in the village. Sarah Heeling’s essay, "Non-Hegemonic Agency in the Changing World Order: Egypt's Stability Framing," turns toward questions of international relations and probes the economic and political significance of Egypt’s positioning as a source of stability in an often chaotic region. In particular, Sarah’s study explores how this “stability framing” factors into Egypt’s relationships with the European Union and the BRICS network, which has worked in recent decades to promote the economic influence of the East and Global South. Both Saskia and Sarah are recent M.A. graduates from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and exemplify the excellent student researchers that are drawn to our center and its work. 

(Friends and family move household items to set up a new home before a wedding in the village of Isnīt.

Photo Credit: Saskia Heisterborg)

At present, we have talented interns conducting research on interfaith solidarity in Lebanon during the recent Israel-Hezbollah war, the place of music in the Islamic tradition, the reception of Darwinian theory among Egyptian Muslim scholars, refugee education in Egypt, and Coptic monasticism. If you are working with students, whether undergraduate or graduate, please consider informing them about the exciting opportunities open to them here in Cairo.

Matthew Anderson

Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding

Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (Brill)

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April 6, 2025