Sara Verderi

Abstract

The aftermath of the eighteen days in Egypt constitutes a moment in which it is possible to study the entanglement between evolving political imaginations, techniques of governability and capital processes of restructuring. Focusing on the stories of activists who took part in the 25th January uprising, this thesis examines the conflicting representations thriving to establish a mnemonic "truth" about a moment of political transformation. In using memory as a methodological lens, this thesis proposes to consider the operational aspect of memory, thinking about memory as a usable knowledge in the present. This approach to memory re-discusses its use as category of experience by putting the accent on the way in which the 'event revolution' prolongs in activists’ lives. By tracing a mnemonic topology, the purpose of this thesis is that of looking at how Tahrir's eighteen days are remembered differently not only among activists in Cairo but also in different socio-geographical contexts. Throughout the stories of interlocutors in Cairo, Aswan in Upper Egypt and Damanhour in the Nile Delta this thesis examines different re-elaborations of temporalities and representational politics, part and parcel of 'revolution' nomenclature and the way in which social change is imagined. This thesis will explore how women activists have been variously thinking about 'revolution' in the light of their experiences in the first phase of the uprising and how the memory of the 'event' is translated and mediated into their everyday lives. In this context, the multiplicities of desires formulated varies according to class and geography. Coming from genuine desire to give a material form to emerging political subjectivities, the textual production of the three feminist NGOs taken into analysis intersects with processes of commercialization of 'trauma' and commodification of the figure of the harassed woman, its production and consumption within neoliberal terms.

Department

Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Women's Studies

Degree Name

MA in Gender & Women's Studies

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

September 2015

First Advisor

Rieker, Martina

Committee Member 1

Sabea, Hanan

Committee Member 2

El-Sadda, Hoda

Extent

104 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Comments

I would like to acknowledge the generous funding of the Cynthia Nelson Fellowship donors and the American University in Cairo, without which this project would not have been possible.

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