As we exit another productive and enriching summer, we write to share some exciting news and organizational updates with our community. We also extend our warmest goodbyes and heartfelt thanks to this summer’s intern cohort. Their hard work contributed greatly to our mission and vision at Egypt Migrations, and we wish them much success in all future endeavors.
Slowing Down
A new academic year is upon us. For the Egypt Migrations team, this means balancing the important work of the organization with our individual responsibilities on university campuses and familial obligations. Egypt Migrations is expanding, our labor increasing, and the organization’s output continuing to exceed expectations. To meet these demands, we are obliged to scale back in some areas to ensure that upcoming initiatives meet the high level of quality that we prize, and that you have come to expect from us.
In recognition of the immense labor required in the months ahead, the Digital Café will be returning to a manageable output of one new article per month. In addition, social media posts will lessen per week, though only slightly. Fun Fact Mondays, much beloved, will continue uninterrupted. However, Throwback Thursdays will be on temporary hiatus and will return in the New Year. In the meantime, we are ever thankful to our engaged audiences for continuing to support Egypt Migrations and look forward to a return to normal operations as new releases, exhibits, and events are completed.
New Horizons
On that note, our summer interns produced a great deal of invaluable resources for knowledge about Egypt and its migrants. Stephanie Amin and Amira El-Masry have together contributed a dozen short articles, a few of which are already on our Digital Café, and more are to come soon. Amira Elwakil embarked on a great effort as part of the Egypt Migrations X Archiving Heliopolis collaboration to document the stories of Heliopolis’ migrants. We are editing the exhibit now and aim to launch it later this fall. In early 2023, we have two oral history collections set for release on Egyptian artists and musicians in Europe, curated by Marie Tuffery and Sophia Frankford respectively. We can’t thank our 2022 Summer Intern cohort enough for their commitment and dedication. The resulting output will be edited and formatted by the Egypt Migrations team and made available to the public in the coming months. As always, our call for Summer Interns will return next spring. Be on the look out and share widely.
We are also delighted to announce that Egypt Migrations’ educational programming is growing. First, we are working with Omar Mansour, a translator in Cairo, to create a bilingual report on our Winter Webinar Series (made possible by a grant from the University of California, Santa Barbara). Equity and accessibility are at the forefront of Egypt Migrations’ mandate, and we will be making the Series inclusive of Arabic audiences. Second, we are in the process of producing an open access E-book for classroom use! The first curated and freely offered edited volume on Egyptian migration experiences, the E-Book is set to release this December and we can’t wait to share more details with you soon – including the one-of-a-kind cover art design.
Collaborations and Commitments
Beyond our archival and educational programming, we have embarked on a new collaboration spearheaded by Diogo Bercito, the first Georgetown X Egypt Migrations Fellow. Diogo, the curator of our Egypt’s Migrants in Brazil collection, is returning to continue his oral history interviews with Jewish, Armenian, Italian, Coptic, and Muslim Egyptians in Latin America. Welcome aboard (once again), Diogo!
We don’t just archive and produce research and educational resources at Egypt Migrations. We are a community engaged outreach organization. To that end, we have established commitments with colleges and universities and are busy working on an exciting lineup of in-person events. It’s still too early to share all the details but be on the lookout for exciting news in the coming weeks about an exhibition in Cairo, a graphic comic showcase, and public history collaborations in Mississauga, ON.
We hope this expansion of our offerings is only a new phase of greater growth yet to come. We still have plans for engaging in the field of civic education and advocacy, developing research tools for encouraging community grass-roots archiving, and we are in talks with government and institutional affiliates all over the world to produce yet more content for preserving and prompting the varied experiences of Egypt’s migrants around the world. The future is indeed bright, and we are ever pressing forward.
With love and gratitude,
Dr. Michael Akladios,
Founder & Executive Director
Egypt Migrations
Preserve. Educate. Empower.
Egypt Migrations 