Events

Franz Boas seminar delivered by Jessica Winegar. What kept millions of people in Tahrir Square in 2011 until Mubarak fell? Why did so many of them, just a couple of years later, cheer on the new authoritarian ruler, al-Sisi?

Love, Disgust, and Struggles for Sovereignty in Egypt

What kept millions of people in Tahrir Square in 2011 until Mubarak fell? Why did so many of them, just a couple of years later, cheer on the new authoritarian ruler, al-Sisi? To shed light on these questions, this presentation explores embodied, material, and discursive expressions of love and disgust from the 2011 uprisings through the rise of authoritarian populism in Egypt. It suggests that love and disgust are key affects that sustain and suppress sovereignty struggles in times of intense upheaval, when both popular sovereignty and the sovereign power of the state are deeply unstable.