Young Egyptians' Quest for Jobs and Justice

Youth in Egypt and throughout the Muslim Middle East are the most educated and globalized generation in history. Yet they are coming of age in a climate of unemployment, repressive regimes, a youth bulge, moral panics about radicalization, and an escalation of regional geopolitical conflicts with no resolution in sight. Despite their centrality to reforms for economic and political development, we tend to know little about youth lives, lifestyles, opinions, and visions for societal change. This chapter uses the life history method to understand the trajectories of young lives and to know from the young themselves about how they relate to politics, the economy, education, and citizenship. Their stories testify that youth may not be so much preoccupied with religious politics as they are with jobs and justice, arguably the defining issues of this youthful generation.