Paper short abstract:

Built on an ethnographic research in Cairo, my contribution aims at showing that the concept of “moral economy” enlightens the processes of political subjectivation and renews the anthropology of popular mobilizations.

Paper long abstract:

My contribution aims at showing that the concept of "moral economy" enlightens the processes of political subjectivation and renews the anthropology of popular mobilizations and "social unrest". I use this key-concept in my own research, analyzing the political and social transformations taking place in contemporary Egypt and focusing on the enunciation of violence: the words and categories used to describe it and their performative effects since 2011. The concept of "moral economy" emphasizes attention to the "ordinary" language through which justifications or disapprovals get associated with social actors' experiences. Therefore, "moral economy" allows for a better understanding of the ways violence is framed either as legitimate or illegitimate. Moreover, it brings to light certain perceptions of justice and the way in which they are produced and contested.

My contribution builds upon my PhD research on the transformations of the representations and uses of violence and the reconfigurations of gender and class relations in revolutionary Egypt (through an ethnography of self-defense classes for women in Cairo). In addition, my ongoing post-doctoral research about iconographies and martyrdom in Egypt focuses on the social positions of "martyrs" and on the public representations of their political commitments and performances.

I will discuss my ethnographic results and theoretical assumptions in light of other research, and provide a critical analysis of the concept of "moral economy" that regards recent political upheavals and social movements (Siméant, 2010 ; Hibou, 2011 ; Fassin, 2012).