What We Can Learn From Political Defeat in Egypt | Atef Said (Copy)
Life as a human rights attorney in Egypt. Tahrir Square in 2011. How protests transform into revolutions. It's all in this episode of the afikra podcast with professor Atef Said from the University of Illinois Chicago. He talks about law, liberalism, and what revolutions really mean in the Arab world, challenging its common definitions in reference to (de)coloniality, and offering an understanding that sees "revolution" as a coming together of dreams and reality. Atef also speaks about the symbolism that Tahrir Square gained as a site of revolution, life, death and spectacle versus the realities on the ground. Finally, he touches on the role that digital technologies have in shaping society, advocacy and repression and what the future of revolution might look like.
Atef Said is an associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, and a sociologist who's passionate about politics, revolutions and social change. His scholarship engages with the fields of sociological theory, political sociology, historical sociology, sociology of the Middle East, and global sociology. His book "Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities & Counterrevolution in Egypt" examines the 2011 Egyptian Revolution to trace the expansive range of liberatory possibilities and containment at the heart of every revolution.
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The Afikra Podcast
The afikra Podcast is our flagship series featuring experts from academia, art, media, urban planning, and beyond, who are helping document and shape the histories and cultures of the Arab world through their work.
