Afterlives of Revolution: Everyday Counterhistories in Southern Oman

The Dhufar Revolution was a fight in Oman between 1965 and 1976 to overthrow the British-backed Sultan and promote social equality and egalitarianism. Despite winning the counterinsurgency war, the Omani government erased the revolution from official historical accounts. Alice Wilson's book Afterlives of Revolution explores how the revolution's ideals and networks have persisted and influenced progressive politics in the face of disappointment, defeat, and repression. It demonstrates how veteran militants have reproduced social egalitarianism networks and commemorated the revolution in unofficial ways, challenging conventional wartime and postwar histories.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 03 July 2023
Publisher: Stanford University Press

The Dhufar Revolution, spanning from 1965 to 1976, aimed to overthrow Oman's British-backed Sultan and promote social ideals of egalitarianism and gender equality. Dhufar, the southernmost governorate in present-day Oman, gained international attention for its revolutionaries and their Marxist-inspired social change movement. However, following a counterinsurgency victory, Oman's government erased the revolution from official historical narratives.

In her book, Afterlives of Revolution, Alice Wilson delves into the enduring legacies of the revolutionaries who were officially silenced. She explores how their core convictions persist and continue to inspire progressive political platforms in the face of disappointment, defeat, and repression. Wilson examines the social afterlives of revolutionary values and networks, focusing on the experiences of veteran militants who have used kinship and daily socializing to reproduce networks of social egalitarianism and commemorate the revolution in unofficial ways. These afterlives challenge conventional narratives of wartime and postwar history, highlighting the lasting engagement with revolutionary values, the agency of former militants in postwar modernization, and the limitations of government patronage in eliciting conformity.

Recognizing that those often portrayed as coopted can still reproduce counterhegemonic values, this book sheds light on a phenomenon prevalent across Southwest Asia and North Africa: defeated revolutionaries living under the authoritarian state they once contested. By examining the experiences of these revolutionaries, Afterlives of Revolution offers valuable insights into the complexities of revolutionary movements, the enduring power of social ideals, and the challenges faced by those who seek to transform societies.

Weight: 666g
Dimension: 158 x 237 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503634572