Egyptian author wins two American Awards

Cairo-August 26-2017: Egyptian/ American writer Hanan Hamad assistant professor of Middle Eastern history in Texas University won two American awards for her recent book titled ‘’ Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and social transformations in Egypt’’ earlier this week.

The first prize is from the Arab American Book Awards while the second is from National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA).

"I am overwhelmed that my first book won two important prizes. The first honour was from the Arab American Book Awards. The entity I work for is mainly concerned with celebrating the cultural and intellectual production of the Arab Americans, which is very important now because of the rise of racism in the American society against minorities and immigrants like Muslims and Arabs in particular’’ recounted Hamad according to state-owned Ahram.

Pertaining her second prize Hamad explained that the competition made by this institution is one of the most important competitions of women's studies in the American academic community.

‘’My happiness lies in the fact that the award is considered as a recognition from a high academic organization with the quality of the book as it was chosen to win first place among many important books that vary in their scientific fields from history, sociology and anthropology’’ Hamad added.

In her book, Hamad relied on archival sources not previously used by researchers. She described the forced industrial organization and the social hierarchy that led thousands of men, women and children to work under the authority of male-dominated era.

The book further explains creating unusual practices such as sexual harassment, child molestation, as well as the public exposure to gender sexual relations and homeopathy issues as a result of this prevailed domination.

Hammad is an American of Egyptian origin holding a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Texas in 2004.

She also attained a PhD in History from the same university in 2009. She is an assistant professor of Middle East history at Texas University. She teaches Social and Political transformation in the Middle East and Iran and its impact on women status.