My friend Amal Treacher Kabesh, who has died aged 67 of multiple causes including diabetes, was a scholar and lecturer whose roots in Egypt informed much of her psychosocial studies research – including two books, Postcolonial Masculinities (2013) and Egyptian Revolutions (2017), which brought together postcolonial, psychoanalytic and feminist theories to insightful effect.
Amal was born in London, where her father, Ahmed Kabesh, an Egyptian national, had studied for a PhD. Her mother, Anne (nee Chippington), was the daughter of the caretaker at the Egyptian embassy. Amal’s early years were lived in comfortable surroundings in Cairo, where her father became a minister in Nasser’s government; there were ballet classes, an excellent school and visits to Groppi’s cafe. But in 1964, after her parents divorced, she moved back to London with her mother and sister, Amany.
