Trauma as counter-revolutionary colonisation

Narratives from (post)revolutionary Egypt

Bibliographic Data

ID12923463
AuthorsVivienne Matthies-Boon (0000-0003-4531-6896, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, corresponding author), Naomi Head (0000-0001-6923-003X, University of Glasgow)
Year2017
Volume14
Issue3
Pages258-279
Publication date2017-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of International Political Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-0882 • E-ISSN: 1755-1722
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1755088217748970
OpenAlexW2777157041
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited25

We argue that multiple levels of trauma were present in Egypt before, during and after the 2011 revolution. Individual, social and political trauma constitute a triangle of traumatisation which was strategically employed by the Egyptian counter-revolutionary forces – primarily the army and the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood – to maintain their political and economic power over and above the social, economic and political interests of others. Through the destruction of physical bodies, the fragmentation and polarisation of social relations and the violent closure of the newly emerged political public sphere, these actors actively repressed the potential for creative and revolutionary transformation. To better understand this multi-layered notion of trauma, we turn to Habermas’ ‘colonisation of the lifeworld’ thesis which offers a critical lens through which to examine the wider political and economic structures and context in which trauma occurred as well as its effects on the personal, social and political realms. In doing so, we develop a novel conception of trauma that acknowledges individual, social and political dimensions. We apply this conceptual framing to empirical narratives of trauma in Egypt’s pre- and post-revolutionary phases, thus both developing a non-Western application of Habermas’ framework and revealing ethnographic accounts of the revolution by activists in Cairo

Framing (construction · Lifeworld · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Middle East Politics and Society

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