Re-Defining Revolution: A Case Study of Women and Graffiti in Egypt

Abstract

Like any social phenomenon, revolutions are gendered.The male tilt of revolutionary processes and their histories has produced a definition of revolution that consistently fails women.This thesis aims to redefine revolution to incorporate women's visions of societal transformation and the full achievement of their rights and freedoms.I argue that approaches to women's revolutionary experiences are enriched by focusing on the roles of culture, consciousness, and unconventional revolutionary texts.Egypt is examined as a case study with a focus on the nation's long history of women's activism that took on new forms in the wave of socio-political upheaval since 2011.Using interdisciplinary, visual analysis, I examine graffiti created by women, or that depict women between 2011 and 2015 to reveal how gender was publicly re-imagined during a period of flux for Egyptian society.The historical and visual analysis contribute to a new definition of revolution, one that strives to achieve the total transformation of society by disrupting gendered consciousness to finally secure rights and freedoms for all.

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