Amina Rachid 1938 - 2021 was an Egyptian critic, university professor and writer.
The granddaughter of Ismail Sidqi, Egypt’s prime minister during the monarchical era, she was linked to the underground leftist movement since she was 17.
Rachid graduated from the French Department of Cairo University’s Faculty of Arts in 1958. Between 1962 and 1968, she held a scholarship to complete her PhD at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Between 1970 and 1978, she was appointed to one of the most skilled scientific positions in France’s National Center for Scientific Research. In the same year, however, Rachid decided to return to Egypt to work as a teacher in the French Department at Cairo University.
She was a member of the Committee for the Defense of National Culture from 1978 until her detention in September 1981 when president Sadat carried out an arrest campaign that targeted Egypt’s intellectuals. In the same year, Rachid co-founded a magazine called Khatwa. She also married Sayyed El Bahrawy in 1981, after they were engaged in prison following her arrest.
