Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony

This study presents an alternative story of the 2011 Egyptian revolution by revisiting Egypt's moment of decolonisation in the mid-twentieth century. It argues that the enduring afterlives of anticolonial politics are central to understanding political events in Egypt today. Through an imagined conversation between Antonio Gramsci and Frantz Fanon, it explores issues of resistance, revolution, mastery and liberation and suggests that Nasserism was made possible through local, regional and global anticolonial politics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 315 pages
Publication date: 16 June 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

This study presents an alternative narrative of the 2011 Egyptian revolution by revisiting Egypt's moment of decolonization in the mid-twentieth century. Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt delves into the country's inaugural postcolonial endeavor, contending that the enduring legacies of anticolonial politics, intertwined with issues of nationalism, military rule, capitalist development, and violence, hold paramount significance in comprehending political events in Egypt today. Through an imagined dialogue between Antonio Gramsci and Frantz Fanon, two foundational theorists of anti-capitalism and anticolonialism, Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt centers its attention on themes of resistance, revolution, mastery, and liberation to demonstrate how the Nasserist project, established by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers in 1952, remains the sole instance of hegemony in modern Egyptian history. By proposing that Nasserism was made feasible through local, regional, and global anticolonial politics, even as it reproduced colonial modes of governance that continue to resonate in Egypt's present, this interdisciplinary study engages with questions of traveling theory, global politics, and resistance and revolution in the postcolonial world.

Weight: 464g
Dimension: 151 x 227 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108798389