Alia Mossallam

Alia Mossallam has two passions. One is working with children using colors and the other is listening to people tell stories. Alia has recently completed a PhD that explores a popular history of Nasserist Egypt, through the stories told, and songs sung by the people behind the 1952 revolution, namely the workers who built the Aswan High Dam, the Nubians displaced by it, and the members of the resistance in Port Said and Suez, in 1956 and 1967 respectively. This is part of her continued research and interest in the stories behind the popular movements and revolutions that make Egyptian history but are seldom told. She is now engaged in a number of projects teaching youth inside and outside of academic institutions all over Egypt - and occasionally beyond - to dig deeper into their own personal and communal histories and explore ways to re-tell them creatively. She continues to look for these stories, and songs, in an attempt to recover a lost history of popular movements; and in hopes that one day, we may write our own.