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Areas of interest

The principal focus of Sedra’s research is the social and cultural history of the modern Middle East. In his first book, he examined the connections between education and the rise of the modern state in nineteenth-century Egypt. To this end, the book chronicled moments of contestation as to both the methods and the purposes of education — contestation between Anglican and Presbyterian missionaries, Ottoman and Egyptian officials, Coptic priests and Muslim reformers.

Sedra is now working on a second book – a history of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community in the modern period – that draws upon archives only recently released to the public.

In a different vein, given a longstanding interest in the popular culture of the Nasser era, Sedra is undertaking both teaching and research in the history of Egyptian cinema – specifically, the film culture of the 1950s and 1960s. He is focused on exploring the images of village poverty, colonial violence, family discord, and the subjugation of women that pervade such films. The aim of the project is to pursue the possible links between these images and such state priorities as eradicating 'backwardness' and 'superstition,' pacifying the 'social body,' and consolidating 'modern' forms of subjectivity among them, the companionate spouse, the productive worker, and the patriotic citizen.

Biography

Paul Sedra is a specialist in modern Egyptian history and Christian-Muslim relations. He has taught at Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto, and received his doctorate from New York University in January 2006. His most recent book, "From Mission to Modernity: Evangelicals, Reformers and Education in Nineteenth-Century Egypt", is published by I.B. Tauris.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa in international affairs at Princeton University, Sedra was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship for study towards a Master's degree at Oxford University. His thesis examined the activities of nineteenth-century Anglican missionaries in Cairo. He returned to the United States to pursue his PhD in NYU's pioneering joint program in History and Middle Eastern studies.

Sedra is a prolific commentator on contemporary Egypt, Christian-Muslim relations, Canadian policy in the Middle East, and Middle East politics generally. His op-eds appear regularly in Mada Masr and Jadaliyya, and he has furnished analysis to such media outlets as Al-Jazeera English, CTV, CBC Radio and Television, the Associated Press, and The Globe and Mail.