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- Convenors:
-
Ewa K. Strzelecka
(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Marina de Regt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Marieke Brandt (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Peter Froggatt Centre (PFC), 02/013
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 27 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel will examine changes and challenges related to activism and social movements in the post-Arab Spring era. We invite papers that explore the concepts of oppression and resistance, transformation and change, marginalization and social justice within the Anthropology of the Middle East.
Long Abstract:
The so-called Arab Spring was a wave of pro-democracy protests and uprisings that spread across many of the Middle East and North Africa countries in late 2010 and early 2011. It presented an opportunity for youth, women’s rights activists and other marginalized groups and social movements to speak up and raise the question of discrimination and justice. The uprisings left a mixed legacy. Eleven years after, the lives of most people in the MENA countries have not improved but have gotten worse due to civil wars, the upgrading of authoritarian regimes, repression and violence, sectarian and regional divisions and the coronavirus pandemic. However, recent studies show that civil resistance has not disappeared. It has adapted to the new circumstances and has resurgent in new forms.
This panel will examine changes and challenges related to the emergence and evolution of activism, resistance and social movements in the post-Arab Spring era. We invite papers that discuss marginalization and resilience through ethnographic case studies around gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, and other social stratifications, to explore how different groups have endured growing challenges, articulated demands and engaged in practices for greater civil and political rights, justice and equality. How has social transformation been conceptualized, produced, resisted, negotiated and experienced in different Middle Eastern contexts over the last years? How do ordinary people resist marginalization and mobilize power in times of war and conflict? And how do activists deal with the political, economic, environmental and social predicaments in which they currently find themselves?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 27 July, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
This paper intends to outline the negotiation frameworks of young people in post-Arab uprising' Morocco vis-à-vis the ruling elite. It argues that the specific structures of rentier economies are crucial to better understand Maghrebi societal dynamics and the youth's role within.
Paper long abstract:
The Arab uprisings mark a turning point in media's and academia's reflection on how ordinary people provoke change within authoritarian states. Especially youth were framed as driving force behind these protests and as hope for democratization of an entire region. However, the literature on young people's roles and agencies during the Arab uprisings seems to be lacking a discussion on the specific dynamics created by the regions' characteristic rentier economies.
In this regard, the case of Morocco is particularly interesting: Marginalized Moroccan youth, despite high youth unemployment rates and unfavourable socio-economic conditions, remain particularly silent, avoiding conflict with the ruling elite.
This paper is an explorative venue seeking to investigate the role of young people in the post-Arab uprisings' era. It aims at exploring inductively the interest dynamics between youth and the ruling elite, discussing young people's resilience vis-à-vis poor socio-economic conditions. The paper argues, that there are explicit and implicit links between relatively high regime stability and the inclusion of youth interests concerning the politics of rents distribution and their opportunities for economic participation. Using qualitative data and connecting literature discussions that remain quite separate until now, the goal is to outline the complex relationship between rents distribution, regime stability and youth that is key for better understanding the societal dynamics within rentier economies.
Paper short abstract:
HeforShe, a youth-led movement calling young boys and girls to end gender-based violence in Jordan, shows how, despite de-centralized by their core area, today’s activism and practices of resistance in the country are not marginalized and still influenced by the events of 2011.
Paper long abstract:
Despite not marked by 2011 Arab Spring wave in the same way as its neighboring countries in the region, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is not as static as it seems when it comes to grassroots mobilizations, activism and demands for social reforms. Responsive to that spark of popular initiatives which challenged MENA governments’ status quo, Jordan as well was crossed by several youth-led movements in the immediate aftermath of 2011 upheavals. Bound to the democratic instances advanced by their peers and influenced by a new awareness of social justice, end of corruption and a sharp break with older generations, youth firmly replied to this broader call-to-action in different ways. It is in this context of regional transformation that HeforShe Jordan has appeared: born in 2015 thanks to 24 years old student Laith Abu-Taleb, is the local branch of a UN Women movement for gender equality. HeforShe works for a decisive alignment of the Kingdom with global equality achievements, calling young boys and girls to commit against the persisting gender-based violence and discrimination, nowadays exacerbated by an economic crisis further aggravated by Covid19 pandemic. Starting from the case study of HeforShe as examined during two ethnographic field researches conducted in 2021 and 2022, the paper aims at describing youth activism and practices of resistance eleven years from its quiet revolution within Jordan, a country which despite being de-centralized by the Arab Springs’ core area, is still profoundly influenced by the events of 2011.
Paper short abstract:
Often repressed, marginalised and considered as anti-women parties, Islamist organisations witnessed women participation for decades. This paper delves into women participation within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (2011-) focusing on their conceptualisation of leadership, power and emancipation.
Paper long abstract:
Over the years, the study of the Muslim Brotherhood – the most relevant Islamist transnational organisation – has attracted conspicuous scholarly interest. In particular, in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings (2011-), the academic output augmented due to the relevant role Islamists played in the transitional experiments (Egypt, Tunisia) or civil wars (Yemen, Libya, Syria). Traditionally considered as the main opposition party in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood still represent one of the main political forces having an on-and-off relationship with the Crown ending up often in dynamics of marginalisation within the already distrusted political spectrum. The aim of this paper is to decipher female participation within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (JMB) after 2011. Historically involved in the JMB party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), women’s presence counts as one of the highest in the region with women-candidate at the parliament since 2003. The paper delves into how women conceive their role within the organisation, their understanding of leadership, power and future opportunities. Islamist women not only challenge the idea that Islamist groups are anti-women, but also that Islam itself has a problem with women. Nonetheless, Islamist women are very vocal on matters concerning their role in society and view themselves as a resisting force. As such, it is necessary to contextualise their participation in a broader discussion of Orientalism, minority emancipation and political party strategies. This research is based on in-depth interviews with some of the main female leaders of the political party branch.
Paper short abstract:
Based on ethnographic experiences with youth groups in Cairo since 1999, the presentation is an anthropological-historical essay to understand, the power relations established in the Egyptian social structure. The aim is to reveal how coloniality founds an imposition of a social classification.
Paper long abstract:
This paper will offer an alternative approach to analyze social, political and cultural experiences located in historically constructed asymmetric power structures such as Mahragan, beyond the epistemologically dominant dichotomies that contrast between Islam and modernity. I therefore propose, based on ethnographic experiences with youth groups in the city of Cairo since 1999, an anthropological-historical essay that will allow us to understand, in addition to the marginalization of the Shabi cultural universe, the power relations established in the Egyptian social structure. These starting points make the Mahragan appear as a historical encounter, a response of young Egyptian who have roots in past musical traditions, to transcend what we identify as colonial modernity, within Islamic contexts. Through the analysis of Mahragan music, we will analyze the dynamics of the colonization-decolonization dialectic to deepen the understanding of the symbolic spaces of the border as those created in the Cairot peripheries.