I V the Weight of Hope: Independent Music Production And
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The Weight of Hope: Independent Music Production and Authoritarianism in Egypt by Yakein Abdelmagid Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Rebecca L. Stein, Supervisor ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Charles D. Piot ___________________________ Louise Meintjes ___________________________ miriam cooke Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 i v ABSTRACT The Weight of Hope: Independent Music Production and Authoritarianism in Egypt by Yakein Abdelmagid Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Rebecca L. Stein, Supervisor ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Charles D. Piot ___________________________ Louise Meintjes ___________________________ miriam cooke An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 Copyright by Yakein Abdelmagid 2018 Abstract This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the independent music scene in Cairo, in which music producers and cultural entrepreneurs who came of age during the 2011 revolution and 2013 counterrevolution hope to constitute alternative music cultures and markets in the neoliberal digital age under an authoritarian regime. This media culture is in part defined by its refusal of the dominant urban middle- class social values, the values and aesthetics of the established media industry, and the authoritarian state’s control of media cultures. Yet independent music producers do not present their scene as a political one. Rather than confronting post-2013 authoritarianism head-on, the producers of the independent music scene invest their hopes in entrepreneurial practices and artistic labor that attempt to constitute an alternative media culture beyond the ambit of the state. These independent music producers are consistently engaged in an ongoing tug-of-war with the authoritarian state over the control of the affect of hope. On the one hand, independent music producers’ aspirations push them to undertake collective endeavors to create artwork, music enterprises, concert venues, and events that expand the independent music scene. On the other hand, the arbitrary manner in which the state has wielded its power since the 2013 counterrevolution makes it impossible for the musicians to ever feel entirely safe from potential state interference. This fosters a climate of uncertainty, ambivalence, and a sense of stuckedness in the lives of independent music producers, which impedes their entrepreneurial hopes and expansions into public life. Thus in this study I ask: How is hope mediated through the iv process of independent music production under authoritarianism in Egypt? By tracing the ways independent music producers attempt to cultivate hope in their entrepreneurial practices under authoritarianism in Egypt, I suggest that we can unveil a field of affective politics, in which we can examine the formation of political imaginaries and the structures that undergird or impede the social production of hope. And by gaining a deep understanding of the hopes animated by the 2011 revolution, we can also examine the thickness of independent music producers’ lives as they bear the brunt of despair under authoritarianism in Egypt. This research is based on thirty-three months of fieldwork in Cairo among the musicians, studio and venue managers, cultural entrepreneurs, and fans of the independent music scene, between 2011 and 2018. The analysis pays close attention to the forms of labor, entrepreneurial practices, and aesthetic forms by which social actors anticipate their futures. As such, the study is organized along three affective registers— ambivalence, aspirations, and fantasies—which capture the journeys of the social actors who strive to endure and practice hope in spite of the despair propagated by authoritarianism. By bridging between affect theory and Arendtian political theory, I explain how the spreading of affective forces of hope constitutes alternative publics beyond the control of the state, revealing some of the factors that contribute to the crisis and persistence of authoritarianism in Egypt. v Dedication To Emily. vi Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xi Preface ............................................................................................................................. xvii 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Prophesies in Revolution ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Independent Music, Revolutions, and Authoritarianism ........................................ 8 1.3 Hope and Revolutions ........................................................................................... 17 1.4 Literature Review .................................................................................................. 22 1.4.1 Media and Cultural Production in Egypt ......................................................... 22 1.4.2 Entrepreneurship and Authoritarianism ........................................................... 26 1.4 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 29 1.5 Chapter Outlines ................................................................................................... 35 2: Ambivalences ................................................................................................................ 40 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 40 2.2 Abstract Nationalism and Ambivalent Nationalism ............................................. 47 2.3 The Voyage of Freedom: National Identity versus Belonging ............................. 59 2.4 The Enigma of the People ..................................................................................... 68 vii 2.5 Affective Alliances ............................................................................................... 75 2.6 Politics of Ambivalence ........................................................................................ 83 2.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 92 3: Aspirations .................................................................................................................... 99 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 99 3.2 Business Plans and Social Dreams (1997—2010) .............................................. 107 3.3 The Spirit of the Revolution in the Studio (2011–2014) .................................... 118 3.4 An Atmosphere of Uncertainty (2015–2016) ..................................................... 129 3.5 Politics of Aspiration .......................................................................................... 139 3.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 147 4. Fantasies ...................................................................................................................... 155 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 155 4.2 Branding and the Political ................................................................................... 163 4.3 The State’s Brand ................................................................................................ 170 4.4 Getaway Branding .............................................................................................. 177 4.5 Recalcitrant Branding ......................................................................................... 191 4.6 Politics of Fantasy ............................................................................................... 202 4.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 208 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 213 viii Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 231 Biography ........................................................................................................................ 248 ix List of Figures Figure 1: Ali Talibab performing "What's Next After This Misery?" (Photo courtesy of Hossam Atef Farouk), Greek Campus, Cairo, Egypt, 2015. ............................................. 57 Figure 2: Ali Talibab performing "I