The
first independent research I conducted at the American University
in Cairo was an Overview of the Problems of Publishing in
English in Egypt, supervised by Dr.
Hussein Amin. During that research, and
throughout the Master of Arts programme, he has provided
help, guidance and focus.
Dr.
Amin's expertise in the fields of freedom of expression
and satellite communications has been invaluable for the
direction and references of this thesis. He has an ability
of making the student get an early understanding of what
needs to be done when, so that surprises late in the research
seldom come. I am deeply grateful for his contribution.
Writing
a thesis can at times be a solitary task, where one can't
see the forest for all the trees. Members of my thesis committee,
Dr. Michael Fowler and
Professor Hanzada Fikry,
pointed out some of the more glaring omissions, as well
as suggesting a number of meaningful additions. I appreciate
your advice.
This
thesis is a culmination of two years of graduate studies
at the American University in Cairo. I am indebted to all
my professors, but to Dr Boylan and Dr. Scotton in particular.
Dr.
Richard Boylan
mediated the eye-widening realisation of how we
name the world. Richard Boylan passed away too
early in 1998, but will live on in the epistemic community
we were lucky to be included in.
One
of Dr. James Scotton's
many qualities was his emphasis on "Show, not
tell". It was difficult to go out on his various
listening, looking and smelling assignments, but in the
end it became apparent that he was simply showing us how
to use our senses. At the age of 26, this was a most interesting
lesson.
Mr.
Hisham Kassem,
publisher of the Cairo Times, has repeatedly
taken the time to give his opinions and answer my sometimes
very detailed questions. I appreciate his insights, and
have the deepest respect for his efforts to make Egypt a
more open society. I am also grateful for the time given
by Mr. Abu Se'da, Mr. Salem,
Mr. Omar and Mr.
Ali for the interviews they gave in this
thesis.
Despite
the criticisms in this thesis on the limited freedom of
speech in Egypt, I have not personally encountered any governmental
obstacles in conducting either this, or previous research.
I acknowledge this lack of interference.
My
"family" in Garden City; Gry,
Tom and Pierre,
have in their own ways helped me along the way, but none
as much as Cynthia.
She has shown me the depths of communication, while at the
same time staying on top of it.
Most
of all I am grateful to my parents, Jane
and Olav, and
my brothers, Jo
and Max, who
supports me in everything I do. This has not always meant
reading my articles, and for that I love them very much.
Ib
_________________________________
This
research is dedicated to my beloved brother
Ian
Knutsen
who
tragically died in a traffic accident on January 14th 2000
|
