Archival critique and activism: memory, preservation, and digital visual cultures in post-revolutionary Egyptian heterotopias. Issue 3 (2nd September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Demerdash, Nancy
• Is Part Of: Journal of the African Literature Association. Volume 15:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 446
• Page End: 466
• Publication Date: 2021-09-02
• Subjects: revolution -- Egypt -- Arab Spring -- digital media -- visual art; African literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; African literature; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 809.896
• DOI: 10.1080/21674736.2021.1935061
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2167-4736

Abstract

Abstract: Many might argue that the prospects of a progressive politics and democratic governance that the 2011 Egyptian revolution sought to realize have completely vanished. Those revolutionary aspirations for social change, political justice, economic opportunity, or civic equality have disintegrated, for some, into disillusioned desperations. In turn, recent cultural discourse about Egypt's post-revolutionary malaise has often been couched in terms of "dystopia." However, this paper posits that Egyptian artists are testing the limits of their creative expression, experimenting to give rise to alternative heterotopias. Specifically, this paper examines how two contemporary artists, Lara Baladi and Ganzeer, wrestle with the archives and memories of the 2011 Egyptian revolution to visually, digitally theorize and reconstitute its political resonance, salience and urgency. Through digital and graphic media, Cairo-based and diasporic Egyptian artists alike continue to ruminate on the country's present stagnation all while keeping a pulse on the potential for a future revolutionary resurgence.