Ten years after the overthrow of authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt faces economic downturn and continuing support for General Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi’s authoritarian regime. In this essay, Jessica Winegar explores how “the alluring aesthetics of authoritarian populism'' contributed to a departure from the revolution’s demands. Drawing upon her research in Egypt, she examines why Egyptians, exhausted by the upheaval of the uprisings, called for stability (istiqrar). Winegar argues that Sisi’s authoritarian rule based on “masculine, military, and middle-class aesthetics” cultivated his image as a strongman and savior, enticing everyday citizens yearning for dignity, respect, and stability.
Jessica Winegar
Jessica Winegar is professor of anthropology and Middle East and North African studies at Northwestern University. She is the author of numerous articles on visual culture and politics in the Middle East and the book Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt (Stanford University Press, 2006). She is also the coauthor, with Lara Deeb, of Anthropology’s Politics: Disciplining the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2015). She is currently writing a book on counter-revolutionary aesthetics in Egypt.