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The Desire to Disappear in Order Not to Disappear: Cairene Ex-Prisoners after the 25 January Revolution

Malmström, Maria LU (2021) In The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 39(2). p.96-111
Abstract
This article tells a story of the aftermath of the ‘failed revolution’ in Egypt through the prism of sound and gendered political prisoner bodies. It created embodied re-actions among Cairene men—years after their lived prison experiences—in which depression, sorrow, stress, paranoia, rage, or painful body memories are prevalent. Affect theory shows how sonic vibrations—important stimuli within everyday experience, with a unique power to induce strong affective states—mediate consciousness, including heightened states of attention and anxiety. Sound, or the lack thereof, stimulates, disorients, transforms, and controls. The sound of life is trans-formed into the sound of death; the desire to disappear in order not to disappear... (More)
This article tells a story of the aftermath of the ‘failed revolution’ in Egypt through the prism of sound and gendered political prisoner bodies. It created embodied re-actions among Cairene men—years after their lived prison experiences—in which depression, sorrow, stress, paranoia, rage, or painful body memories are prevalent. Affect theory shows how sonic vibrations—important stimuli within everyday experience, with a unique power to induce strong affective states—mediate consciousness, including heightened states of attention and anxiety. Sound, or the lack thereof, stimulates, disorients, transforms, and controls. The sound of life is trans-formed into the sound of death; the desire to disappear in order not to disappear again produces ‘ghost bodies’ alienated from the ‘new Egypt’, but from the family and the self too. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
25 January Revolution, affect, bodies, Egypt, prisoners, senses, sound, violence
in
The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology
volume
39
issue
2
pages
15 pages
publisher
Berghahn Journals
ISSN
0305-7674
DOI
10.3167/cja.2021.390207
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Maria Frederika Malmström is associate professor at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, where, in January 2017, she started a collaborative five-year research project The Materiality of Suspicion and the Ambiguity of the Familiar: Nigerian and Egyptian Cityscapes, together with Professor Mark LeVine and As-sistant Professors Ulrika Trovalla and Eric Trovalla. In January 2018, she started the three-year research project Making and Unmaking Masculinities and Religious Identities through the Politics of the Ear in Egypt. She is currently a visiting research scholar in the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City. ORCID: 0000-0002-6420-1376. Email: maria.malmstrom@cme.lu.se
id
3cf9c31c-299a-47eb-8e77-3d6e545eaabe
date added to LUP
2021-11-10 12:11:46
date last changed
2023-08-07 16:04:07
@article{3cf9c31c-299a-47eb-8e77-3d6e545eaabe,
  abstract     = {{This article tells a story of the aftermath of the ‘failed revolution’ in Egypt through the prism of sound and gendered political prisoner bodies. It created embodied re-actions among Cairene men—years after their lived prison experiences—in which depression, sorrow, stress, paranoia, rage, or painful body memories are prevalent. Affect  theory  shows  how  sonic  vibrations—important  stimuli  within  everyday  experience, with a unique power to induce strong affective states—mediate consciousness, including heightened states of attention and anxiety. Sound, or the lack thereof, stimulates, disorients, transforms, and controls. The sound of life is trans-formed into the sound of death; the desire to disappear in order not to disappear again produces ‘ghost bodies’ alienated from the ‘new Egypt’, but from the family and the self too.}},
  author       = {{Malmström, Maria}},
  issn         = {{0305-7674}},
  keywords     = {{25 January Revolution; affect; bodies; Egypt; prisoners; senses; sound; violence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{96--111}},
  publisher    = {{Berghahn Journals}},
  series       = {{The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology}},
  title        = {{The Desire to Disappear in Order Not to Disappear: Cairene Ex-Prisoners after the 25 January Revolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/cja.2021.390207}},
  doi          = {{10.3167/cja.2021.390207}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}