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The Egyptian Revolution and the Feminist Divide: The Feminist Rhetorics of the Revolution
Abstract by Dr. Samaa Gamie On Session 133  (Left Behind Democracy)

On Monday, November 24 at 8:30 am

2014 Annual Meeting

Abstract
In contrast to the early theorizations of computer-mediated communication as a democratic and inclusive medium, Theodore Roszak, among other theorists, see in information technology the potential to “concentrate political power, to create new forms of social obfuscation and domination” (1986, p. xii), thus presenting opportunities for social control and suppression of freedoms and rights. Undeniably, ethos emerges as a central component in any rhetorical situation, whether we view ethos as one’s credibility displayed by one’s good or moral character, an element of style, a “dwelling place” in which we should consider the situation and context within which rhetoric is applied, a group quality, or a network of communal discursive practices that is ideally “multi-voiced and authentic,” negotiated with social institutions or situated in “one’s locatedness in various social and cultural ‘spaces’”. This presentation explores the complexity of ethos construction in activist and revolutionary digital feminist discourses by analyzing the visual and textual elements employed by two widely known women figures in the 2011 Egyptian revolution who have used cyberspace and social networking for feminist ethos construction, political activism, and revolutionary work. These figures are Asmaa Mahfouz and Alyaa El Mahdy. The presentation will examine the feminist ethos that emerges and the internal and external challenges posed to their emergent ethos in their virtual discourses. The chapter reflects upon the possibilities of cyberspace to promote and sustain the discourses of activism and revolutionary work and to examine the means of subverting the limitations of the virtual domain and uncover opportunities and frameworks through which women’s revolutionary and activist discourses can survive in the new digital era. In their construction of ethos, these female figures combined elements of Western humanism, feminism, secularism, and post-sectarian nationalism. In addition, the role the body plays in the construction of feminist revolutionary ethos is central, whether in the displaying of the head cover as the dominant Islamic signifier combined with Islamic discourse, or in the unabashed posting of nude pictures of the female body—as in the case of Alyaa Mahdy—in a visual attempt to defy the physical limitations placed on the body by a tyrannical patriarchal society and its political regime. Undeniably, the traditional male-female divide in Muslim communities has found its replication in the political and virtual communities these women traversed, as these women's revolutionary efforts have been largely discredited for defying the male-constructed normative code of women’s silence and invisibility.
Discipline
Language
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
Technology