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"Influence and Resistance in Post-Independence Egyptian Architecture is rich survey of the intentions that informed the development of Egyptian architecture in the late modern era. The book provides an analysis of the rationale of the local architectural discourse and its relationship to the global modern discourse at the time, and in the process offers us a deeper understanding not only of architecture but of modern Egypt itself. Constituted of critical chapters, it interrogates the impacts of colonialism, the Western Canon, architectural journalism, the different awards programs on the emerging architecture in Egypt. It concludes by emphasizing that modern architecture in Egypt is the result of a complex process of both forces of ‘influence’ and ‘resistance,’ and it predicts the emergence of a decolonized discourse around architecture in the country."

- Nezar AlSayyad, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

"Expanding upon El-Ashmouni’s original research on late twentieth century architectural discourse in Egypt, the authors offer a critically nuanced reflection on the counterpoint between the changing ideas and forms of architecture that straddled the half-century from the rise of modern Egyptian nationalism to the Arab Spring, and broader currents in contemporary Arab thought and culture. In light of the political upheaval that arose in the course of its research, the study underscores the critical significance of the ideological resistance that found form and structure in the radical ‘return’ in architectural design-thinking in Egypt over three decades earlier."

-Peter Scriver, PhD A/Professor and Director (South and SE Asia) Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture (CAMEA), The University of Adelaide, Australia

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