Prof Fadwa El-Guindi

University of Southern California, USA

Muslim American Experience

Bio

Egyptian-born, Fadwa El Guindi obtained a BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo. She was subsequently employed at the Social Research Center. This led to her participation in the first full-scale ethnographic project to study the way of life of the Nubians of Egypt prior to the government-sponsored relocation considered necessary as the Nubian homeland was to be affected by the national project -- building the Aswan Dam to harness energy for development.

The Nubian project defined El Guindi's career course. Fieldwork and direct field contact resulted in her professional interest in anthropology. Her analysis of field data earned her a scholarship to the United States to obtain a Ph.D. in anthropology in a university of her choice. El Guindi wanted an area for her doctoral research culturally connected to the Arab East, yet different enough for achieving the externality methodologically needed in anthropology for sound analytic observations. The field site of her choice was Latin America and the institution most suited was the University of Texas in Austin, with its traditional scholarly renown in the area of Latin America. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1972.