In Revolution Squared Atef Shahat Said examines the 2011 Egyptian Revolution to trace the expansive range of liberatory possibilities and containment at the heart of every revolution. Drawing on historical analysis and his own participation in the revolution, Said outlines the importance of Tahrir Square and other physical spaces as well as the role of social media and digital spaces. He develops the notion of lived contingency-the ways revolutionary actors practice and experience the revolution in terms of the actions they do or do not take-to show how Egyptians made sense of what was possible during the revolution. Said charts the lived contingencies of Egyptian revolutionaries from the decade prior to the revolution's outbreak to its peak and the so-called transition to democracy to the 2013 military coup into the present. Contrary to retrospective accounts and counterrevolutionary thought, Said argues that the Egyptian Revolution was not doomed to defeat. Rather, he demonstrates that Egyptians did not fully grasp their immense clout and that limited reformist demands reduced the revolution's potential for transformation.

About the Author
Atef Shahat Said is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of two books in Arabic.

Reviews
"Revolution Squared is an exciting book that presents a new and insightful framework for understanding the 2011 uprising in Egypt and its aftermath. Atef Shahat Said's first-person narratives and astute sociological analysis offer a compelling perspective on the organization and longue duree of the revolutionary process. This is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary uprisings, in Egypt and beyond." -- Jessica Winegar, author of * Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt *
"Atef Shahat Said's thoughtful book Revolution Squared examines the hopes and disappointments of Egypt's pro-democracy activists, theorizing revolution and counterrevolution alongside the activists' own attempts to understand how they succeeded so dramatically in 2011 and were defeated so decisively in 2013." -- Charles Kurzman, Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



Book Information
ISBN 9781478025504
Author Atef Shahat Said
Format Paperback
Page Count 360
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 431g