In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates

In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on contentious student activism in post-2011 Egypt, this paper contrasts the manifestations of the “feeling” of marginality with reference to Cairo’s centrality between Alexandrian student activists and their other non-Cairene counterparts. Approaching marginality a...

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Auteur principal: Ramzy, Farah
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Langue:Anglais
Publié: Égypte/Monde arabe 2018
Accès en ligne:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:ema_3821 https://doi.org/10.4000/ema.3821 urn:doi:10.4000/ema.3821 en https://journals.openedition.org/ema/3821 2018-03-07T18:55:34Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/fpkb https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates Égypte/Monde arabe CEDEJ - Centre d’études et de documentation économiques juridiques et sociales info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2090-7273 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1110-5097 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ema Ramzy, Farah Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on contentious student activism in post-2011 Egypt, this paper contrasts the manifestations of the “feeling” of marginality with reference to Cairo’s centrality between Alexandrian student activists and their other non-Cairene counterparts. Approaching marginality as a perceived problem, this study nuances the image of the governorates as equally disadvantaged and similarly excluded from the mainstream of power as Cairo supposedly is. Moreover, by looking at the activists’ strategies for dealing with the “problem” of Cairo’s centrality, this paper demonstrates that while Alexandrians employ strategies that assert their autonomy and portray them as a competing site of power, other non-Cairene activists feel the need to resort to various tactics to ensure the visibility and validation of their collective action. These tactics (and the lack thereof among Alexandrians) reveal that dependency and local identity are not markers of a condition of marginality as much as strategies that actors come up with to deal with their “problem” of marginality versus a perceived center. À partir d’une enquête ethnographique parmi des groupes de militants étudiants dans l’Égypte post-2011, cet article compare les manifestations du « sentiment » de marginalité chez les militants alexandrins et chez ceux venant d’autres gouvernorats égyptiens. En abordant la marginalité avant tout comme un problème perçu, cet article nuance l’image de gouvernorats uniformément désavantagés et éloignés du pouvoir face à une capitale cairote toute puissante. L’observation des stratégies employées par les militants étudiants révèle que les militants alexandrins affirment leur autonomie en contrepoint de la centralité cairote et se dépeignent comme un centre de pouvoir concurrent. À l’inverse, les militants des autres gouvernorats multiplient les tactiques pour s’assurer de la visibilité de leur action collective, confortant ainsi leur dépendance vis-à-vis du centre politique. Cette étude suggère que la « dépendance » et l’« identité locale », généralement considérées comme indicateurs d’une condition de marginalité, sont plutôt des stratégies militantes pour gérer le problème perçu de marginalité.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
description Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on contentious student activism in post-2011 Egypt, this paper contrasts the manifestations of the “feeling” of marginality with reference to Cairo’s centrality between Alexandrian student activists and their other non-Cairene counterparts. Approaching marginality as a perceived problem, this study nuances the image of the governorates as equally disadvantaged and similarly excluded from the mainstream of power as Cairo supposedly is. Moreover, by looking at the activists’ strategies for dealing with the “problem” of Cairo’s centrality, this paper demonstrates that while Alexandrians employ strategies that assert their autonomy and portray them as a competing site of power, other non-Cairene activists feel the need to resort to various tactics to ensure the visibility and validation of their collective action. These tactics (and the lack thereof among Alexandrians) reveal that dependency and local identity are not markers of a condition of marginality as much as strategies that actors come up with to deal with their “problem” of marginality versus a perceived center.
author Ramzy, Farah
spellingShingle Ramzy, Farah
In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
author_facet Ramzy, Farah
author_sort Ramzy, Farah
title In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
title_short In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
title_full In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
title_fullStr In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
title_full_unstemmed In Cairo’s shadow? Student activists in Egypt’s second capital and its governorates
title_sort in cairo’s shadow? student activists in egypt’s second capital and its governorates
publisher Égypte/Monde arabe
publishDate 2018
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ema
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/ema.3821
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/ema/3821
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