Conference: The Egyptian Revolution, One Year On
University of Oxford, 18-19 May 2012
You are warmly invited to register for the forthcoming international conference on The Egyptian Revolution, One Year On: Causes, Characteristics and Fortunes. The conference will be held on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 May 2012 at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University. It is co-sponsored by the DPIR and John Fell OUP Research Fund, University of Oxford, with the generous support of the Middle East Centre at St Antony`s College. It is convened by Reem Abou-El-Fadl of the DPIR and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
Amidst the wave of scholarly interest this year in the Arab uprisings as a whole, this conference offers a critical and in-depth focus on one country case. Egypt is worthy of particular attention in its own right, but also as it has long been a touchstone for change in the Arab world. This conference will bring together scholars from inside and outside the Arab world, with the particular participation of colleagues based in Egypt. Moreover, we will be hosting a meeting of revolutionary activists, to help answer important questions about the nature of revolutionary political work, and to devote a space to their voices, too often sidelined in certain fora of political and scholarly debate. We hope this conference will form the basis for a new scholarly network whose strength lies in its ties with its activist counterparts, and which will engage in continued collaboration on emerging themes. Together, we hope to work towards the longer term project of writing ‘anniversary histories’ of Egypt’s January Revolution.
The conference proceedings will be video-recorded and placed online in due course. Further details and the link for registration can also be found at the conference website: oxfordegyptconference.wordpress.com.
Programme
Friday 18 May 2012
9.00 Registration
10.00-10.15 | Welcome and Introductory Remarks
- Stephen Whitefield, Head of Department (University of Oxford)
- Reem Abou-El-Fadl, Conference Convener (University of Oxford)
10.15-11.45 | Panel 1 | Preludes and Explanations
- Chair: Louise Fawcett (University of Oxford)
- Marie Duboc (American University in Cairo): The Egyptian Labour Movement and the Politics of Visibility
- Amr Osman (Gulf University of Science and Technology): What Did Mubarak Actually Do: The Causes of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution According to Egyptian Intellectuals
- Adam Hanieh (School of Oriental and African Studies): Re-scaling Egypt’s Political Economy: Neoliberalism and the Transformation of the Regional Space
11.45-12.00 | Coffee
12.00-13.30 | Panel 2 | Movements and Mobilisation
- Chair: Charles Tripp (School of Oriental and African Studies)
- John Chalcraft (London School of Economics): Horizontalism on the Nile: what does it mean to say that the Egyptian uprising of 2011 was leaderless/or leaderful? And does it matter?
- Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid (Cairo University): Managing the Transition in the Arab Spring: A Comparative Perspective
- Robbert Woltering (University of Amsterdam): Unusual suspects: “Ultra’s” as Political Actors in the Revolution
13.30-14.45 | Lunch: Common Room, DPIR
14.45 – 16.15 | Panel 3 | The Language of Revolution
- Chair: Reem Abou-El-Fadl (University of Oxford)
- Hebatallah Salem (American University in Cairo): Narrating the Egyptian Revolution through Jokes: Is it Still a Laughing Revolution?
- Tahia Abdel Nasser (American University in Cairo): Poetry as Archive: Egypt’s Revolution and Archival Poetics
- Randa Kaldas (American University in Cairo): University on the Square Documentation Project: A Glimpse into the Economic and Business History Research Center’s Contribution
16.15-16.30 | Coffee
16.30-18.00 | ‘The Revolution Continues’: A Conversation
- Zyad El-Elaimy MP (Revolutionary Youth Coalition and Egyptian Parliament)
- Heba Raouf Ezzat (University of Cairo and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies)
- Marwa Sharafeldin (University of Oxford and Musawah)
- Mezna Qato (University of Oxford and US Palestine Community Network)
Saturday 19 May 2012
10.00 – 12.00 | Panel 4 | Old State, New Rules
- Chair: Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid (Cairo University)
- Paul Amar (University of California, Santa Barbara): From State Security Enforcers to Violence Entrepreneurs in Egypt’s Emerging Democracy
- Amr Shalakany (American University in Cairo): Law and Revolution Revisited
- Alex Kazamias (University of Coventry): Towards Praetorian Parliamentarism: The Deforming Effects of the January Revolution on the Egyptian state
- Nicola Pratt (University of Warwick): From War of Manoeuvre to War of Position
12.00-12.15 | Coffee
12.15 – 13.45 | Panel 5 | Competing Visions of Tahrir
- Chair: Tarik Sabry (University of Westminster)
- Aya Nassar (Cairo University): Contesting Visions and Public Spaces in Cairo
- Mark Peterson (Miami University): In Search of Antistructure: The Meaning of Tahrir Square in Egypt’s Ongoing Social Drama
- Walter Armbrust (University of Oxford): Trickster: Taufiq ‘Ukasha, the Perpetuation of Liminal Crisis, and the Shaping of Counter-revolutionary Discourse
13.45 – 14.45 | Lunch, DPIR Common Room
14.45 – 16.45 | Panel 6 | Beyond Egypt
- Chair: Corinna Mullin (School of Oriental and African Studies)
- Fred Lawson (Mills College): Revolutionary Egypt’s Relations with Surrounding States: Internal Transformation, External Realignment and Regional Security
- Andrea Teti (University of Aberdeen): Contesting Democracy: Discursive Patterns Before and After the Egyptian Uprising
- Kerem Öktem (University of Oxford): Fear of Tahrir: US-Turkish Projects for a New Middle East
- Miriyam Aouragh (University of Oxford): Facebook Revolution? Social Media as Orientalist Mediation
16.45 – 17.00 | Concluding Remarks: Towards a research agenda: ‘Anniversary Histories’
17.00 – 17.15 | Coffee