Elliott Colla
Biographic Data
| ID | 3880981 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elliott Colla |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elliott |
| FAMILY NAME | Colla |
| SIGNATURE | COLLA E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgetown University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Prison Poetry
The Egyptian movement poet Ahmed Fouad Negm was imprisoned multiple times over the course of his career, both as a petty criminal and, later, as a prisoner of conscience. This experience was formative: The injustice and abuse inside the Egyptian carceral system sharpened his sense of right and wrong and his understanding of state power, just as contact with Communist political prisoners gave him new tools to view everyday life. It was in prison t…
Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals
Egyptian Movement Poetry
Poetry has long had a central place in the repertoires of modern Egyptian protest movements, but just as social science accounts of these movements downplay the role of expressive arts (such as poetry), literary studies of colloquial Egyptian poetry have downplayed the performative dynamic of this poetry, as well as its role within social movements. This essay develops the concept of “movement poetry” within the Egyptian social movements, with a …
Revisiting the Question of the Novel/Nation
In this essay, Arabic literature specialist and Arabic-English translator Elliott Colla explores the relationship between the novel and the nation, and reviews Bashir Abu-Manneh's ambitious and original contribution to the study of Palestinian literature
In Praise of Insult
I have been thinking about Egyptian protest culture for a number of years, although not always as a scholar. For the bulk of that time, much of this protest culture was largely confined to particular segments of Egyptian society, activists, intellectuals and students. The major icon of this culture, Sheikh Imam, was clearly more revered outside of Egypt than at home. However, with the January 25 uprising, what was marginal became a dominant stran…
The dawn of the Arab uprisings
Field Construction
By every indicator—methodology, citations, paper titles—students of Arabic literature have been courting “theory” for decades. From the 1970s on, scholars have approached classical and modern Arabic literature with theoretical models that draw explicitly on structuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism, semiotics, performance studies, and so on. That said, until recently the mainstream of modern Arabic studies continued to use …
How Zaynab Became the First Arabic Novel
This paper is part of a History Compass conference cluster tracing the formation of national culture in Egypt. Guest edited by Walter Armbrust, this cluster of articles was originally part of a conference in Oxford on January 12–13, 2007, organized by Walter Armbrust, Ronald Nettler, and Lucie Ryzova, and funded by the Middle East Centre (St. Antony's), The Faculty of Oriental Studies, The Khalid bin ‘Abdullah Al‐Sa’ud Professorship (Professor Cl…
Conflicted Antiquities
Conflicted Antiquities is a rich cultural history of European and Egyptian interest in ancient Egypt and its material culture, from the early nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth. Consulting the relevant Arabic archives, Elliott Colla demonstrates that the emergence of Egyptology—the study of ancient Egypt and its material legacy—was as consequential for modern Egyptians as it was for Europeans. The values and practices introduced by the ne…
Sentimentality and Redemption
Anxious Advocacy
Elliott Colla teaches comparative literature at Brown University. He recently completed a book manuscript entitled "Conflicted Antiquities," which is a study of the figures of Egyptian antiquities in classical Arabic literature, European travel writing, legal discourses, and modern Egyptian literature. He also serves on the editorial committee ofMiddle East Report
The measure of Egypt
Power, knowledge, and investment
Solidarity in the Time of Anti-Normalization
Le lute de Bagdad
A New World Order, a New Marcel Khalife
"Silencing is at the Heart of My Case"
How Zaynab Became the First Arabic Novel
This paper is part of a History Compass conference cluster tracing the formation of national culture in Egypt. Guest edited by Walter Armbrust, this cluster of articles was originally part of a conference in Oxford on January 12–13, 2007, organized by Walter Armbrust, Ronald Nettler, and Lucie Ryzova, and funded by the Middle East Centre (St. Antony's), The Faculty of Oriental Studies, The Khalid bin ‘Abdullah Al‐Sa’ud Professorship (Professor Cl…
Anxious Advocacy
Elliott Colla teaches comparative literature at Brown University. He recently completed a book manuscript entitled "Conflicted Antiquities," which is a study of the figures of Egyptian antiquities in classical Arabic literature, European travel writing, legal discourses, and modern Egyptian literature. He also serves on the editorial committee ofMiddle East Report
Egyptian Movement Poetry
Poetry has long had a central place in the repertoires of modern Egyptian protest movements, but just as social science accounts of these movements downplay the role of expressive arts (such as poetry), literary studies of colloquial Egyptian poetry have downplayed the performative dynamic of this poetry, as well as its role within social movements. This essay develops the concept of “movement poetry” within the Egyptian social movements, with a …
The measure of Egypt
Power, knowledge, and investment
"Silencing is at the Heart of My Case"
A New World Order, a New Marcel Khalife
Le lute de Bagdad
Solidarity in the Time of Anti-Normalization
Power, knowledge, and investment
The measure of Egypt
Sentimentality and Redemption
Anxious Advocacy
Elliott Colla teaches comparative literature at Brown University. He recently completed a book manuscript entitled "Conflicted Antiquities," which is a study of the figures of Egyptian antiquities in classical Arabic literature, European travel writing, legal discourses, and modern Egyptian literature. He also serves on the editorial committee ofMiddle East Report
Conflicted Antiquities
Conflicted Antiquities is a rich cultural history of European and Egyptian interest in ancient Egypt and its material culture, from the early nineteenth century until the mid-twentieth. Consulting the relevant Arabic archives, Elliott Colla demonstrates that the emergence of Egyptology—the study of ancient Egypt and its material legacy—was as consequential for modern Egyptians as it was for Europeans. The values and practices introduced by the ne…
How Zaynab Became the First Arabic Novel
This paper is part of a History Compass conference cluster tracing the formation of national culture in Egypt. Guest edited by Walter Armbrust, this cluster of articles was originally part of a conference in Oxford on January 12–13, 2007, organized by Walter Armbrust, Ronald Nettler, and Lucie Ryzova, and funded by the Middle East Centre (St. Antony's), The Faculty of Oriental Studies, The Khalid bin ‘Abdullah Al‐Sa’ud Professorship (Professor Cl…
Field Construction
By every indicator—methodology, citations, paper titles—students of Arabic literature have been courting “theory” for decades. From the 1970s on, scholars have approached classical and modern Arabic literature with theoretical models that draw explicitly on structuralism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism, semiotics, performance studies, and so on. That said, until recently the mainstream of modern Arabic studies continued to use …
The dawn of the Arab uprisings
In Praise of Insult
I have been thinking about Egyptian protest culture for a number of years, although not always as a scholar. For the bulk of that time, much of this protest culture was largely confined to particular segments of Egyptian society, activists, intellectuals and students. The major icon of this culture, Sheikh Imam, was clearly more revered outside of Egypt than at home. However, with the January 25 uprising, what was marginal became a dominant stran…
Revisiting the Question of the Novel/Nation
In this essay, Arabic literature specialist and Arabic-English translator Elliott Colla explores the relationship between the novel and the nation, and reviews Bashir Abu-Manneh's ambitious and original contribution to the study of Palestinian literature
Egyptian Movement Poetry
Poetry has long had a central place in the repertoires of modern Egyptian protest movements, but just as social science accounts of these movements downplay the role of expressive arts (such as poetry), literary studies of colloquial Egyptian poetry have downplayed the performative dynamic of this poetry, as well as its role within social movements. This essay develops the concept of “movement poetry” within the Egyptian social movements, with a …
Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals
Prison Poetry
The Egyptian movement poet Ahmed Fouad Negm was imprisoned multiple times over the course of his career, both as a petty criminal and, later, as a prisoner of conscience. This experience was formative: The injustice and abuse inside the Egyptian carceral system sharpened his sense of right and wrong and his understanding of state power, just as contact with Communist political prisoners gave him new tools to view everyday life. It was in prison t…
History (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Art (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Islamic Studies and History (6 works) · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Literature (5 works) · Middle East Politics and Society (5 works)