Can Freedom Be Unlimited?

This volume of edited articles presents the scholarly results of a German-Arab partnership project, funded for a two-year period by the German Academic Exchange Service (2013–2014). The idea was to establish a working relationship between the Higher Institute for Arts Criticism at the Academy of Arts in Egypt (later: the Centre for Civilization Studies and Dialogue of Cultures at Cairo University) and the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Bonn University. The scientific focus was on the dynamics of dissidence and censorship in Egypt from the Nahda to the Arab Spring. Under the leadership of Dr. Haggag Ali (Cairo) and Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann (and later Prof. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher as well) (Bonn), an interdisciplinary group of young researchers was established. These scholars presented and discussed individual projects and relevant topics during three productive and successful workshops. It was these workshops that eventually led to this joint publication.