Keynote Address: Some Reflections on the Role of Media in Egypt’s January 25th Revolution

 
[Walter Armbrust delivering the Keynote Address at the Westminster Conference]

This lecture delves into the situational and historic dynamics that undergirded the media practices surrounding the January 25 revolution in Egypt. The notion of social revolution is unpacked to evaluate its application to the Egyptian revolutionary context. By looking at the cultural production of revolution–from rap songs against Mubarak to online memes against the Morsi government–the social mobilization is seen as more than just bodies in the street. Confrontations against the architecture of the state, particularly the attacks on police stations across the country, are addressed to critique the prevailing simplified representation of revolutionary action. Furthermore, the problematics of technological determinism are unpacked to reveal the researcher`s role in unwittingly reproducing Orientalism. 

Referenced Videos

Sout El-Horeya music video by Cairokee.

#Jan25 music video by Freeway, The Narcicyst, Omar Offendum, Ayah, and Amir Sulaiman.

Erkab Sawra Style ("Ride the Revolution Style") music video by Mado (Gangnam Style cover).

Referenced Images

[Tahrir Square on 4 March 2011]

[Protestor in Tahrir Square on 28 January 2012, just after the first anniversary of the revolution.
Shortly after the picture was taken, he was roughed up by Muslim Brotherhood enforcers (below)] 

[Muslim Brotherhood enforcers in Tahrir Square on the first anniversary of the January 25 Revolution]

[“The Ikhwan are the natural development of the NDP.” Grafitti on the wall behind the burned out NDP
(Mubarak’s National Democratic Party) headquarters].
 

[President Morsy receiving an honorary university degree in Pakistan]

[Logo of the Muslim Brotherhood]

[We are Ikhwan; we are khirfan (sheep)]

 

[Love is forbidden the Ikhwan and the (Ministry of) Interior]

Some of the police stations that were burned during the January 25 Revolution

   
[Al-Khalifa Station near the citadel and Bab al-Sharq station in Alexandria next to the Police Officers` Club]

 
[Matariya (left) and Sayyida Zaynab (right) police stations burned]

  
[Tanta Station (left) and Alexandria Governorate (right) after having been burned out]