The people’s wisdom” and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution

Folklore, colloquial poetry, and subalternity in Shaima’ al-Sabbagh’s praxis

Bibliographic Data

ID13048716
AuthorsHala Halim (New York University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume15
Issue3
Pages394-412
Publication date2021-07-26
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the African Literature Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-4736 • E-ISSN: 2167-4744
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21674736.2021.1886719
OpenAlexW3186982602
LanguageEN
References cited8

This virtually inaugural scholarly study of the activist Shaima’ al-Sabbagh (1983–2015) documents and analyzes three areas of her production in relation to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. The argument is made that her colloquial poetry, folklore research and support of subalternity worked in synergy together. Foregrounding the folk imaginaries that the revolution drew on, al-Sabbagh identified a fundamental gap in that event between bourgeois intellectuals/activists and subalterns. Seminal pedagogies she was in the process of devising to close that gap and creative projects to empower labor actors are analyzed in relation to Antonio Gramsci’s views on folklore and his “philosophy of praxis.” These projects benefited from al-Sabbagh’s apprenticeship in the popular, at both the grassroots and academic levels, including her involvement in aragoz (hand-held puppet theater). Al-Sabbagh’s texts, among them manuscripts, as well as video and audio recordings of her, are cited; additionally, interviews about her have been conducted

Aesthetics · Apprenticeship · Art · Bourgeoisie · Craft · Folklore · Foregrounding · Grassroots · Literature · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Praxis · Relation (database · Sociology · Visual arts · African history and culture analysis · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Political theory and Gramsci