(SAPE) Feeling Images: Subjectivities and Af
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The American University in Cairo Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and Egyptology (SAPE) Feeling Images: Subjectivities and Affective Experience in the Egyptian Revolution A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Sociology-Anthropology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts By Brice James Woodcock Under the Supervision of Dr. Lamia Bulbul (AUC) First Reader: Dr. Mohamed Tabishat (AUC) Second Reader: Dr. Mark Westmoreland (AUC) February 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank many people for their assistance in the completion of this project, without which it would certainly not have been possible. Many thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Lamia Bulbul, for her dedication and personal investment. She contributed invaluable practical direction, tireless enthusiasm, and knowledge of Egypt. I am indebted to my readers, Dr. Mohamed Tabishat and Dr. Mark Westmoreland, for their guidance and keen scholarly insight. I would also like to thank Dr. Amy Austin-Holmes for her help and encouragement in the early stages of this project, as well as Dr. Helen Rizzo for the advice that she kindly extended on numerous occasions. My partners in the creation of this thesis were the fourteen participants who contributed their time and energy to represent what they believed in. I must also thank the many other Egyptians who welcomed me into their country and patiently showed me the language and culture of my new home. I also want to thank Stephen Urgola, Carolyn Runyon, and the rest of the “AUC University on the Square” project for providing me with the inspiration for this thesis. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to extend my gratitude to my soul mate, Taylor Bryanne, for her wholehearted assistance at every step of this process. She dedicated countless hours to proofreading and being my sounding board, and without her this thesis would not have been possible. ii ABSTRACT During the Egyptian Revolution, beginning in 2011 and continuing throughout this project,, images were used to garner support for or against various movements. When viewers disagreed with the version of events suggested by the images, these viewers remained unmoved by them even if the image depicted violence or death. In order to understand how this is possible, this work undertakes a study of the intimate relationship between affect and the viewer’s point-of view, also known as their “subjectivity,” in the context of images from the Egyptian Revolution. The participants of this project were not passive observers, but rather almost instantaneously created meaning for the images based on the contents of the image, narratives they had heard about the image, and their own personal experiences. Each interview resulted in a clear pattern of expressiveness toward images that matched their subjectivities and indifference towards images that did not. They accepted and emoted about images that they interpreted as supportive of their perspective of the world; they rejected and dismissed images that they interpreted as contradictive of this perspective. Images that clashed with their subjectivity threatened the legitimacy of the ideologies they ascribed to and the groups they were loyal to. Therefore, viewers were indifferent towards images of violence or death because acceptance of these images involved acceptance of the world they suggested, which would threaten the legitimacy of the world that they were invested in. These results cast light on the nature of human bias, the creation of “us and them” mentalities, and the indifference towards the suffering of “the other.” It also demonstrates that photo elicitation can be used as more than simply a catalyst for interviews on topics unrelated to images; it can consider the fundamental nature of the human experience of imagery. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I- Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction and Research Questions ..................................................................................... 1 2. Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................... 6 3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 17 4. Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 31 5. Reflexive ................................................................................................................................ 32 6. Structure of Thesis ................................................................................................................. 33 Chapter II- Subjectivities and Interpretation ................................................................................. 35 1. Comparing Interpretations .................................................................................................... 36 2. Sources Used to Inform Interpretations ................................................................................ 50 3. Hesitation to Interpret Images .............................................................................................. 54 Chapter III- Having Stakes in Egypt’s Change ................................................................................ 58 1. How Egyptians Became Invested........................................................................................... 59 2. Types of Stakes in the Revolution ......................................................................................... 65 3. Invested in Meaning .............................................................................................................. 74 Chapter IV- The Nature of Connecting and Deflecting .................................................................. 77 1. Bodies, Faces, and Voices ...................................................................................................... 79 2. Descriptions of Experience .................................................................................................... 85 3. Informational Considerations ................................................................................................ 92 4. Differing Treatment of Narratives While Connecting or Deflecting ...................................... 94 5. Establishing an Interpretation Before Connecting or Deflecting ........................................ 100 6. Interpreting to Match Subjectivities.................................................................................... 103 7. Deflecting Images and Their Worlds ................................................................................... 106 8. The Undeniable Voice of the Image .................................................................................... 109 Chapter V- Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 111 1. Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................... 111 2. Final Thoughts ..................................................................................................................... 114 3. Suggestions for Further Research ....................................................................................... 118 VII. Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 122 VI. Appendix ................................................................................................................................ 132 iv Chapter I- Introduction 1. Introduction and Research Questions Viewers of images are not passive observers. They create what they see by means of interpretation. Who a person is inevitably becomes an essential part of what they see and feel when they view an image. Egyptians’ considerations of pictures and videos from their recent period of social and political change exemplify what it means to “see” images. This period became known to Egyptians as “al Thawra,” or “The Egyptian Revolution” of 2011. It involved the distribution of and conversations about many famous images that were interpreted in a multitude of ways by a multitude of viewers. Each viewer saw these images through the lens of their subjectivity, and therefore saw and felt very different things in each image. If they saw a world that agreed with their subjectivity in the image, they embraced it. If they found that the image clashed with their subjectivity, they treated the image with indifference or disdain. Haisam and Mary are two Egyptians that exemplify this trend. Over the course of this project, I met with them and several other Egyptians to discuss the Egyptian Revolution and its images. This thesis explores the intimate relationship between who they were and how they felt about images. Haisam is a Muslim man who owns several businesses in Cairo, most of which were negatively affected by the lack of tourism in Egypt after the protests in January of 2011. He attended the initial protests on the 25th of January in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, and emphasized that this original protest was against police brutality, not former President Hosni Mubarak. He left this protest as it grew and changed its goals to include the removal of Mubarak from presidency, which he considered