The postcolonial politics of dignity: From the 1956 Suez nationalization to the 2011 Revolution in Egypt

Abstract

This article is a study on dignity and the politics of dignity in postcolonial Egypt, and focuses on the historicity and socioeconomic background of two events: the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis during the rise of post-independence nationalism and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution during the Arab Spring. This study reviews the importance of the concept of dignity in philosophy and the social sciences, specifically pertaining to the development and postcolonial need for dignity and recognition, which the author terms 'dignition.' The central question here is how the conception of dignity has evolved between the two events and what the implications are for the consequent understanding of dignity.

(Im)moral Borders in Practice

“…To give an example, Nora El Qadim (2018) identifies conceptions of dignity as an essential part of the Moroccan position in negotiations on migration with the EU. In Western contexts, ambiguous understandings of dignity feature a strong connection to a tradition of "humanism" and human rights (Squire 2017, 515, 526); however, postcolonial usages of dignity might be understood differently (El Bernoussi 2015). In the Moroccan context, dignity is not defined in reference to the universalist language of human rights, but rather its understanding is rooted in local and transnational political references tying it to anticolonial struggles as well as to post-colonial contestations of authoritarian governments.…”

Empire’s h(a)unting grounds: Theorising violence and resistance in Egypt and Afghanistan

“…Sisi had clearly hoped that the expansion would help him build a project of national legitimacy, as by that point -2014 -his popularity was somewhat on the decline after the high levels of support the military enjoyed in 2013. And yet the project did not do the political work he had expected it to -an expectation not wholly unwarranted given that Nasser had been extremely successful in gaining political support through his political mobilisation of the Canal, which, as noted, mobilised a material politics of national dignity (El Bernoussi, 2015). Where Nasser was able to mobilise the Suez Canal -and a second infrastructural project, the High Dam in Aswan -to produce a powerful hegemonic project that ensured his control over Egypt's ruling elite (El Bernoussi, 2015), Sisi largely failed to employ the Canal in a similar way.…”

A civilized revolution: Aesthetics and political action in Egypt

“…The word dignity ( karāma ) came to symbolize all they felt they had lost (or never had) and all they were fighting for. Karāma was a locus for the central chant ringing out in Tahrir: “Bread, freedom, human dignity!” To have karāma meant being treated as worthy of respect, honor, and basic bodily and material rights (Bernoussi ; Singerman ). That karāma became such a central trope should lead us to foreground the aesthetics of political movements in our analyses, because karāma is often experienced through the senses and frequently demanded and performed through aesthetic practices.…”