Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot (born 1933) is an Egyptian-born historian, professor of history at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

, who has written on the

history of Egypt The history of Egypt has been long and wealthy, due to the flow of the Nile River with its fertile banks and delta, as well as the accomplishments of Egypt's native inhabitants and outside influence. Much of Egypt's ancient history was a myste ...

since the eighteenth century.Interview with Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot
''

The Historian ''The Historian'' is the 2005 debut novel of American author Elizabeth Kostova. The plot blends the history and folklore of Vlad Țepeș and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula. Kostova's father told her stories about Dracula when she was a ...

'', Vol. 54, Issue 2 (1992), pp. 225-42.

Life

Born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid was conversant in politics since her childhood. Her father was an undersecretary of state for social affairs in the Egyptian government. She gained a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in sociology from the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning progra ...

in 1952, an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in political science from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. She taught for some time at the American University in Cairo and then earned a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in oriental studies from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

studying with Albert Hourani in 1963. She was the first Egyptian woman to earn a doctoral degree from Oxford University. She became professor in history at UCLA in 1968. She married Alain Marsot, also an academic and professor of political science. Dr. al-Sayyid Marsot held various visiting positions and was awarded academic honors including: - Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University, Cairo, 1976 -George Antonius Distinguished Lecture, St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1980 -Distinguished Lecturer at Georgetown University, 1988 -Woman of the Year Award by the Arab- American Press Guild, Los Angeles, 1988 -Arab-American Muslim Achievement Award, Los Angeles, 1992 -Middle East Studies Association Mentoring Award, 2000 -Doctor of Humane Letters conferred by the American University in Cairo, 2001 -Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University, Cairo 2009http://www.aucegypt.edu/alumni/chapters/.../ProfileDrAfafMarsot.doc

Works

* ''Egypt and Cromer: a study in Anglo-Egyptian relations'', 1968 * ''Egypt's liberal experiment, 1922-1936'', 1977 * ''Society and the sexes in medieval Islam'', 1979 * ''Egypt in the reign of Muhammed Ali'', 1983 * ''Protest movements and religious undercurrents in Egypt, past and present'', 1984 * ''A short history of modern Egypt'', 1985 * ''Women and men in late eighteenth-century Egypt'', 1995 * ''A history of Egypt: from the Arab conquest to the present'', 2007

References

1933 births Living people Academics from Cairo 20th-century Egyptian historians 20th-century American historians American women historians 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers The American University in Cairo alumni {{Egypt-historian-stub