Abstract
After decades of stagnancy, the people’s moment defined by the Arab Spring gave “Arab masses” the chance to liberate the current of history and make it into a lived experience. In this moment, a pressing need for immediate, contemporary history scholarship brought together historians along with activists and political operatives. It underscored the value of a historiography of the present moment as an approach toward social “reality.” In this sense, however, “reality” is defined as the opposite of falsehood and distortion, and not necessarily an attempt to monopolize truth or to dictate the historical record. This vision of reality motivated an initiative by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) to chronicle and study the popular rebellions of the Arab Spring. The project, while committed to academic impartiality, is inseparable from larger efforts to defend democracy led by ACRPS’ attempt to develop an ongoing historical record of the popular revolts of the Arab Spring. Given that state repression distorts people’s aspirations, ACRPS has embarked on an effort that will illustrate the desire of Arab societies to establish democracies and illuminate the original ideological basis of revolts, which is an important objective on its own.
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Notes
- 1.
Right after Mubarak’s toppling, a flood of writings trying to explain the enormous event appeared on bookshelves. The majority of these writings were ceremonial, while a minor number of works gave attention to the importance of documenting such an unusual moment. However, documentation was mixed with personal impressions, journalistic and literary style, with less attention given to academic rules of citation and referencing. Notable works in Arabic were Yasser Fathy (editor), We were there: liberal young voices from the Egyptian Revolution (Cairo: Almahrousa for publishing and press services, 2011). This book was part of Friedrich Naumann Stiftung Project for liberal thought in the Arab World; Ahmed Abdelhamid Hussein, Diaries of Egyptian Revolution of January 25th (Beirut: Aldar Al-Arabia, 2011) issued as part of Aljazeera Center Publications, and dominated by young Islamists ideologues; Amr Hashim Rabiea (editor), Documents of a 100 days of the Jan 25th Revolution (Cairo: Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, 2011).
- 2.
Demographic studies give a very important perspective to the social shifts that led to the Arab Spring though they see one aspect called the demographic gift and the failure of society and governments to handle it. On the contrary, they provide no explanation for the escalated anger, its cause and the ways it shaped the moment of the Spring—whether it would lead to democratic change or a series of hunger strikes.
- 3.
For a perspective on the ability to provide an immediate history of the Arab Spring, see (in Arabic) Fathy Laysir, History of the time being: when historian knock the door of now (Safaques: Dar Mohamed Ali Publishers, 2013), pp. 65–70.
- 4.
Jacques Le Goff, La Nouvelle Histoire (translated into Arabic by Mohamed El-Taher El-Mansoury) (Beirut: Arab Organization for Translation, 2007).
- 5.
A good example of the issue was identified by a recently held conference at ACRPS on the 1967 War. The majority of researchers identified a lack of archival material as the one thing hindering their ability to see through the events of May–June 1967. Although half a century has passed, related documents are still sealed or labeled as top secret by governments.
- 6.
Bishara, The Egyptian Revolution, Volume 1, p. 12.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
In this regard, see the work of Francois Dosse in translation, particularly the Arabic translation of L’Histoire en miettes: Des Annales a la nouvelle histoire, translated by Mohammed Taher Mansuri published in Beirut in 2009.
- 9.
See Mansur’s translation of Dosse above.
- 10.
The controversy broke out after journalists reported on a question in which students were asked, in an open-ended essay question, to consider “What if President Sisi had not made the speech of June 30, 2013” (in which he announced the ouster of elected President Morsi). Students whose answers were deemed to have “political connotations” were not given any credit for their answers that year.
- 11.
In contrast to the state’s glacial pace of historical writing when it comes to the January 2011 revolution, there has been no shortage of books printed at government expense which describe the counter-revolutionary coup which brought Sisi to power as necessary for the restoration of state authority. In some narratives, Sisi’s ouster of Morsi was described as a corrective measure to keep the popular momentum of the January revolution on track. A prominent example of this is a book by Aliedine Hilal, along with others, and which are widely available throughout Egypt. See in Arabic: Aliedine Hillal et al., The Return of the State: The Development of the Egyptian Regime After July 30 (Cairo: Aldar Almesriya Allebnaniya, 2015).
- 12.
Azmi Bishara, Arab Revolutions and the time of transition, a lecture delivered during the 2013 Al Jazeera Forum. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFx57jn6A6Y (visited 3/4/2013).
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
The approach the team used followed from theories developed by leading sociologist Karl Mannheim in the 1920s. See Karl Mannheim, “The Problem of Generations,” in P. Kecskemeti (ed.), Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge by Karl Mannheim (New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952).
- 15.
See Bishara in The Egyptian Revolution, Volume II, p. 1.
Bibliography
Bishara, A. (2016). The Egyptian Revolution, Volumes I & II. Beirut: Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
Dosse, F. (2009). L’histoire en miettes: des Annales militantes aux Annales triomphantes (Translated into Arabic by Mohamed El-Taher El-Mansoury). Beirut: Arab Organization for Translation.
Fathy, Y. (Ed.). (2011). We Were There: Liberal Young Voices from the Egyptian Revolution. Cairo: Almahrousa for Publishing and Press Services.
Hillal, A., et al. (2015). The Return of the State: The Development of the Egyptian Regime after July 30 (in Arabic). Cairo: Aldar Almesriya Allebnaniya.
Hussein, A. A. (2011). Diaries of Egyptian Revolution of January 25th. Beirut: Aldar Al-Arabia.
Laysir, F. (2013). History of the Time Being: When Historian Knock the Door of Now (pp. 65–70). Safaques: Dar Mohamed Ali Publishers.
Le Goff, J. (2007). La Nouvelle Histoire (Translated into Arabic by Mohamed El-Taher El-Mansoury). Beirut: Arab Organization for Translation.
Mannheim, K. (1952). The Problem of Generations. In P. Kecskemeti (Ed.), Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge by Karl Mannheim. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Rabiea, A. H. (Ed.). (2011). Documents of a 100 Days of the Jan 25th Revolution. Cairo: Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
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El-Bermawy, A.M. (2020). The Struggle for Revolutionary Memory: Historiography and Documentation of the January 25 Revolution. In: Mohamed, E., Fahmy, D. (eds) Arab Spring. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24758-4_7
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