Contributions toward the remaking of the Arab intellectual scene : informal intellectual collectives in Egypt

Abstract

This thesis is born out of a question was raised by the 2011 revolution in Egypt: ‘why are Egyptian intellectuals silent?’ However, there was a manifest proliferation of cultural and artistic production carried out by a younger generation of artists, journalists, novelists, musicians and others. It was clear that the questions required a methodological lens that was no longer relevant in reading Egypt’s current intellectual milieu. This meant that when we asked: “where are the Egyptian intellectuals?”, we were searching for the now obsolete figure of the Nahdawi intellectual. Instead, this thesis asks a different question: If the figure of the Arab intellectual is absent, where is the debate taking place, who are the agents of these debates – the new intellectuals? What does this new and emerging, intellectual look like? The answers proposed in this thesis were found in three instances of intellectual production: parallel educational initiatives, novels, and political satire shows. This thesis will focus on agents of intellectual critique, who, being under heavy censorship of the state, are turning to the cultural field as an outlet for their intellectual production. First, this thesis traces the social conditions that underlie the genesis of Egyptian intellectual collectives, which are(1) censorship, and (2) critiquing through culture. It will subsequently detail the characteristics of these new intellectuals as (1) belonging to a separate generation, (2) distancing themselves from publicness, and (3) engaging in self-criticism. Lastly, it will explain their social role through (1) carrying out public pedagogy, (2) breaking the fourth wall between audience and politics, and (3) maintaining the revolutionary momentum through structures of abeyance.