CDGG alum, Rusha Latif, held a book talk and discussion on November 3, 2022 on the UC Davis campus. 

From UC Davis alum Rusha Latif comes the story of the organized youth behind the mass uprising in Egypt that brought about the spectacular collapse of the Mubarak regime in 2011. In Tahrir’s Youth, Latif follows the trajectory of the movement from the perspective of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition (RYC), a key front forged in Tahrir Square during the early days of the revolt. Drawing on firsthand testimonies and her own direct experience, she offers insight into the motives, hopes, strategies, successes, failures, and disillusionments of the movement's leaders. Her book has been described by reviewer Gilbert Achcar, author of The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprisings, as “a much-needed contribution to the twenty-first century’s pattern of uprisings.”

Rusha Latif is a researcher and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A first-generation Egyptian American, she traveled to Cairo in 2011 to conduct ethnographic research on the uprising. Her interests include social movements and revolutions; the study of gender, class, and race/ethnicity; Islamic studies; and Middle Eastern studies. She is a 2013 graduate of the UC Davis Community Development Graduate Group.