John Chalcraft: Egypt’s 2011 Uprising, Subaltern Cultural Politics, and Revolutionary Weakness (via Zoom)

Centre of Islamic Studies Public Talks

Speaker: Prof. John Chalcraft (Professor of Middle East History and Politics at the L.S.E.) 

Explanations for the weakness and failure of the uprisings in the Arab world of 2011 range from the hard-power and structure-centred accounts of conventional political science to interactionist studies emphasizing micro-dynamics and relational mechanisms. Drawing on Gramscian perspectives, and fieldwork in Egypt, this paper aims to open up an occluded line of investigation into the subaltern cultural politics of the uprising in Egypt as a way to make sense of revolutionary weaknesses and limits. While critical researchers have studied the political economy of the revolutionary process and the counter-revolution, considered activist organizational and strategic deficits, and studied the limits on the political vision of middle class revolutionaries, less attention has been paid to subaltern cultural politics. This paper argues that the study of popular good sense against the regime and common sense supporting the army can help explain revolutionary weakness in Egypt during 2011-13.  

John Chalcraft took his degree in history (M.A. Hons) from Gonville and Caius College Cambridge and then post-graduate work at Harvard, Oxford and New York University, from where he received his doctorate with distinction in the modern history of the Middle East in January 2001. He held a Research Fellowship at Caius College (1999-2000) and was a Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Edinburgh University from 2000-05. 
He works on history and politics ‘from below’ in the modern Middle East and North Africa and is currently working on transnational advocacy and activism with reference to migrant labour rights in the GCC, Palestinian rights in Israel/Palestine, and civil and political rights in Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia. 

The talk will be via Zoom and you will need to register in advance.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. 

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