“Like Sugar in Tea”. Competing Imaginaries and the Reinforcement of the Idea of a Nation-State in Egypt
Abstract
This article examines how, in a context of conflicting identities and collapsing of states through the Middle East, the model of an Egyptian nation-state has been conversely reinforced during the recent revolutionary and counter-revolutionary waves.
At first, the liberation of speech during the 2011-2013 period of the “Arab Spring” allowed the public expression of competing models (pan-Islamism, pan-Arabism, Coptic ethno-nationalism, regionalism) of imagined communities. At the same time, however, the national flag became the most widespread symbol of the revolution, appropriated by all the political actors, from the leftists to the Salafis. Since 2013, the expression of diverging identity views has been disqualified within the political field. Thus, the affirmation of alternative models of identity is occasionally taking a violent path, especially in the North-Sinaï region, where regionalist feelings meet the pan-Islamism of jihadis insurgent movements. Simultaneously, the state has been trying to co-opt some of the most prominent identities, with a first official recognition of the Nubian culture within the 2014 Constitution, and with the adoption of quota for Coptic candidates in the Parliament and local councils.
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