In Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony, Sara Salem connects the 2011 revolution in Egypt to the Nasserist project initiated by President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers in 1952, putting the theories of Antonio Gramsci and Frantz Fanon in dialogue to argue that Nasserism is the only hegemonic project in modern Egyptian history. This is an excellent, meticulous and highly accessible study of hegemony in Egypt and the postcolonial context in general as well as an illuminating discussion of the emergence and afterlives of anticolonial experiences of social change, writes Haythem Guesmi. Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony. Sara Salem. Cambridge University Press. 2020

Guesmi, Haythem

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Book	Review:	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt:	ThePolitics	of	Hegemony	by	Sara	SalemIn	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt:	The	Politics	of	Hegemony,	Sara	Salem	connects	the	2011	revolution	inEgypt	to	the	Nasserist	project	initiated	by	President	Gamal	Abdel	Nasser	and	the	Free	Officers	in	1952,	putting	thetheories	of	Antonio	Gramsci	and	Frantz	Fanon	in	dialogue	to	argue	that	Nasserism	is	the	only	hegemonic	project	inmodern	Egyptian	history.	This	is	an	excellent,	meticulous	and	highly	accessible	study	of	hegemony	in	Egypt	andthe	postcolonial	context	in	general	as	well	as	an	illuminating	discussion	of	the	emergence	and	afterlives	ofanticolonial	experiences	of	social	change,	writes	Haythem	Guesmi.	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt:	The	Politics	of	Hegemony.	Sara	Salem.	Cambridge	University	Press.	2020.Find	this	book	(affiliate	link):In	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt:	The	Politics	of	Hegemony,	Sara	Salem	connectstwo	important	moments	in	Egypt’s	modern	history:	first,	its	independence	fromBritain	and	the	creation	of	the	Nasserist	project	in	1952,	initiated	by	EgyptianPresident	Gamal	Abdel	Nasser	and	the	Free	Officers,	a	nationalist	movementcomposed	of	a	group	of	army	officers	that	overthrew	Egypt’s	last	monarch,	KingFaruq,	after	a	bloodless	coup;	and	second,	the	popular	uprising	that	toppled	theauthoritarian	regime	of	President	Hosni	Mubarak	in	2011.	In	so	doing,	she	arguesthat	Nasserism	–	the	core	political,	social	and	economic	principles	and	policies	thatNasser	developed	during	his	rule	and	which	continue	to	frame	his	legacy	–	is	theonly	hegemonic	project	in	modern	Egyptian	history.	Salem	engages	with	AntonioGramsci’s	analysis	of	hegemony,	Frantz	Fanon’s	theory	of	decolonisation	and	hisstretching	of	Marxism	to	the	(post)colonial	context	and,	to	a	lesser	extent,	EdwardSaid’s	concept	of	travelling	theory	to	discuss	the	singularity	of	the	Nasserist	project,its	afterlives	and	its	final	collapse	during	and	after	the	2011	revolution.Throughout	the	introduction	and	the	two	main	sections	that	comprise	her	book,	Salem	uses	Gramsci’s	hegemonyas	a	methodological	and	theoretical	searchlight	to	explain	Nasserism’s	success	in	establishing	a	transformativeanticolonial	project.	She	also	draws	on	the	same	Gramscian	analysis	to	explain	the	failure	of	the	subsequentregime	of	President	Anwar	el	Sadat	to	reproduce	a	similar	political	project	in	the	1970s	and	1980s,	and	the	fall	ofNasserist	hegemonic	policies	during	the	1990s	and	the	beginning	of	the	twenty-first	century	under	Mubarak’s	policeregime,	which	eventually	led	to	the	2011	revolution.	Her	book	ends	with	an	urgent	suggestion	to	move	beyondNasserism	as	a	haunting	modernist	project	and	a	hopeful	call	for	a	new	and	radical	humanism	alongside	theconstruction	of	a	true	decolonial	future.Salem	succeeds	in	making	her	first	book	an	excellent,	meticulous	and	highly	accessible	study	of	hegemony	inEgypt	and	the	postcolonial	context	in	general	as	well	as	an	illuminating	discussion	of	the	emergence	and	afterlivesof	anticolonial	experiences	of	social	change.	Well-developed	theoretical	analyses,	thorough	discussions	ofempirical	materials	and	meaningful	contributions	to	the	current	debates	about	Marxism,	postcolonialism	andhegemony	make	her	book	a	compelling	read	and	lend	a	wide	resonance	to	her	work.	But	what	interests	me	themost	about	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt	is	the	fluid	movements	between	paradigms	and	disciplines	and	theattention	to	‘alternate	chronologies’	(24)	and	‘different	tempos’	(207)	that	reveal	a	scholar	who	not	only	makes	apersuasive	and	lucid	case	for	the	thesis	under	discussion	but,	most	importantly,	is	convincingly	in	command	of	hercritical	insights.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony by Sara Salem Page 1 of 4		Date originally posted: 2021-03-29Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2021/03/29/book-review-anticolonial-afterlives-in-egypt-the-politics-of-hegemony-by-sara-salem/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/In	the	introductory	chapter,	Salem	identifies	the	2011	revolutionary	uprising	in	Egypt	as	the	impetus	behind	herdoctoral	thesis	that	turned	into	this	elegant	book.	Rather	than	delving	into	another	contemporary	contextualisationof	the	Egyptian	revolution,	she	posits	that	the	2011	events	were	a	secondary	revolution	that	connects	back	to	thefirst	enduring	revolution	of	the	Nasserist	era	and	its	balanced	hegemony	between	consent	and	coercion.	While	sheacknowledges	that	this	argument	has	been	discussed	by	many	scholars,	Salem	suggests	a	double	theoreticalmovement	between	Marxism	and	postcolonialism	to	join	these	two	revolutions	in	a	singular	trajectory.	To	do	this,she	reads	Gramsci’s	and	Fanon’s	works	in	relation	to	Egypt’s	political	and	economic	history,	and	she	explores	howthe	context	of	reception	illuminates	new	understandings	and	adaptations	of	their	theories.In	‘Anticolonialism	and	its	Discontents’,	Salem	carefully	signals	that	Gramsci’s	hegemony	refers	to	a	structure	ofpower	in	its	civil	and	political	forms	and	‘the	process	whereby	one	class	exerts	influence	over	society	so	that	otherclasses	follow	its	political	and	economic	project’	(36).	This	is	‘accomplished	when	a	social	force	is	able	to	transcendits	narrow	interests	and	universalize	them	through	moral	and	intellectual	reform’	(36)	as	well	as	through	leadershipin	‘the	embedding	of	coercion	within	consent	so	it	appears	legitimate,	necessary,	or	unintended’	(231).To	ground	this	Gramscian	concept	in	Egypt	and	in	the	colony/postcolony	in	general,	Salem	links	both	Marxism	andpostcolonial	theory	through	a	Gramscian	analysis	of	Nasserist	hegemony	and	its	aftermath	in	Egypt.	She	also	offersa	postcolonial	adaptation	of	Gramsci’s	theory	through	Fanon’s	methodology	of	stretching	out	Marxism	‘tocontextualize	the	specificity	of	capitalism	in	the	colony	without	completely	disregarding	the	assumptionsunderpinning	Marxism’	(62)	and	his	conception	of	a	neocolonial	dependent	bourgeoisie.	For	Fanon,	capitalism	andMarxism	took	distinct	forms	in	the	colonial	context,	especially	when	it	came	to	the	creation	of	a	ruling	class	thatremained	dependent	to	a	large	extent	on	(neo)colonial	and	international	capitalism.Reading	Gramsci	through	Fanon	and	Fanon	through	Gramsci	allows	Salem	to	move	freely	between	historicalmoments	in	Egypt	from	the	pre-history	of	the	Nasserist’s	anticolonial	project	in	the	early	twentieth	century	to	thepresent	day,	between	Italy	and	the	postcolonial	world,	between	various	paradigms	such	as	political	economy	andhistorical	materialism.	For	instance,	Salem	rehistoricises	the	role	of	foreign	capital	in	undermining	the	anticolonialresistance	of	Egypt’s	Bank	Misr	and	its	national	capitalists	in	the	pre-independence	period.	Founded	in	1920,	thechallenges	faced	by	Bank	Misr	to	establish	a	national	independent	industrialisation,	despite	the	aspirations	of	theEgyptian	elite,	and	its	eventual	downfall	show	the	influence	of	British	capital	in	colonial	Egypt	and	the	debilitatingpower	of	the	colonial	international,	the	economic	and	political	structures	of	global	capitalism	and	imperialism.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony by Sara Salem Page 2 of 4		Date originally posted: 2021-03-29Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2021/03/29/book-review-anticolonial-afterlives-in-egypt-the-politics-of-hegemony-by-sara-salem/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/In	the	second	and	lengthiest	chapter,	‘Hegemony	in	Egypt:	Revisiting	Gamal	Abdel	Nasser’,	Salem	discusses	thepolitical,	economic,	social	and	cultural	motivations	that	underpin	her	central	argument	that	Nasserism	is	the	first	andlast	hegemonic	project	in	modern	Egypt.	She	underlines	how	pre-1952	anticolonialism,	the	creation	of	a	genuinehistorical	bloc	that	allowed	Nasserism	to	organise	Egyptian	society	in	its	own	image	and	universalise	its	project,	thebalance	between	economic	nationalism	and	state-led	capitalism,	political	internationalism	and	the	consent	ofEgyptian	civil	society	all	resulted	in	the	success	of	Nasserist	hegemony	and	the	creation	of	powerful	legacies	thatcontinue	to	reverberate	throughout	Egypt’s	modern	history.	Salem	adds	nuance	to	understandings	of	Nasserism	asa	hegemonic	project	that	established	a	balance	between	consent	and	coercion	and	arguably	an	independent	rulingelite,	yet	was	also	‘built	on	internal	contradictions,	among	them	the	continuation	of	capitalist	development,	theabsorption	and	weakening	of	radical	movements	such	as	labour,	and	the	reproduction	of	colonial	institutions	suchas	the	nation	and	nationalism’	(83).In	the	last	section	of	the	book,	‘Hegemony	and	Its	Afterlives’,	Salem	examines	the	afterlives	of	Nasserism	and	itsgradual	decline	through	the	rise	of	coercive	hegemony	under	el	Sadat,	from	1967	to	the	mid-1990s,	and	Mubarak,from	the	mid-1990s	to	2011.	Salem	uses	Fanon’s	criticism	of	the	dependent	bourgeoisie	in	the	postcolony	toexplain	how	the	rapid	economic	neoliberalism	of	el	Sadat’s	project	of	ìnfitah	(‘opening’)	to	transnational	capital	andthe	absence	of	a	historical	bloc	weakened	the	Nasserist	hegemonic	project.	Complicating	this	Fanonian	argument,she	argues	that	Fanon’s	prediction	of	the	rise	of	a	native	bourgeoisie	that	is	ideologically	and	economicallydependent	on	former	colonies	did	not	materialise	under	Nasser	but	rather	under	el	Sadat’s	neoliberal	rule.This	failure	to	further	Nasserist	hegemony	initiated	a	debilitating	period	of	transition	that	Gramsci	describes	as	aninterregnum	where	the	old	political	rule	is	dying	and	the	new	order	fails	to	design	and	implement	a	viable	continuity.Salem	further	adapts	this	Gramscian	concept	to	analyse	the	appearance	of	various	‘morbid	symptoms’	underMubarak’s	regime	in	the	1990s	and	2000s.	During	what	Salem	calls	‘empty	time’,	‘a	time	of	crisis	during	whichpolitics	pauses’	(24),	police	brutality,	rampant	corruption,	poverty	and	violent	electoral	politics	turned	Egypt	into	adictatorship.	The	association	of	a	corrupt	caste	of	businessmen	and	the	military	with	aggressive	neoliberalrestructuring	and	financialisation	of	the	Egyptian	economy	resulted	in	the	inability	‘to	create	either	a	historical	blocor	hegemony’	(243)	and	led	to	deep	reliance	on	ruthless	coercion	to	eliminate	resistance,	which	eventually	signalledthe	fall	of	Nasserist	hegemony.In	the	book’s	conclusion,	‘Haunted	Histories	and	Decolonial	Futures’,	Nasserism	is	explored	as	a	haunting	politicalproject,	because	its	powerful	and	enduring	political	and	economic	structures	forced	subsequent	regimes	to	engagewith	them	to	design	their	fragmented	hegemonic	projects.	But	also,	most	importantly,	Nasserism	still	haunts	‘as	akind	of	historical	alternative	that	never	quite	materialized;	and	as	a	project	filled	with	social	violence	that	continuesto	haunt	contemporary	Egyptian	politics	today’	(260).	The	failure	of	el	Sadat	and	Mubarak	to	break	with	Nasserism’skey	policies,	especially	economic	liberalism,	highlights	its	haunting	dimension,	but	also	suggests	the	need	to	departfrom	Nasserism’s	mastery	over	Egypt’s	future	because	its	hegemonic	project	has	debilitated	the	capacity	of	labourand	feminist	movements	particularly	to	renew	their	political	and	social	programmes.	To	resolve	this	impasse,	Salemturns	to	Fanon’s	argument	for	a	true	decolonial	future	that	challenges	the	desire	to	imitate	and	reproduce	imperialhegemony	in	Europe	and	elsewhere.	She	argues	that	Fanon’s	radical	humanism	and	his	call	for	a	new	worldpropose	the	possibility	of	an	alternative	anticolonialism	and	a	true	decolonisation.While	it	unpacks	complex	issues	and	multiple	threads	in	discussing	Nasserism’s	hegemony,	Anticolonial	Afterlivesin	Egypt	underdevelops	some	of	the	concepts	and	analyses	that	would	have	been	a	welcome	addition	to	Salem’sbook.	For	instance,	key	concepts	such	as	travelling	theory,	the	colonial	international,	empty	time,	social	violenceand	haunting	could	have	been	further	theorised	and	explored	in	relation	to	the	central	threads	on	hegemony	and	itsafterlives.	Surprisingly,	the	author’s	discussion	of	Fanon’s	dependent	bourgeoisie	early	in	her	book	was	less	aboutits	connection	to	hegemony	in	the	postcolony	and	more	about	the	reception	of	Fanon	in	the	Middle	East.	Salem’sarguments	would	also	have	benefited	from	a	deeper	engagement	with	Roberto	Roccu’s	The	Political	Economy	ofthe	Egyptian	Revolution	since	both	studies	argue	that	Nasserism	is	the	only	successful	system	of	hegemony	inpost-independence	Egypt	and	that	the	2011	revolution	announced	its	collapse.	Besides,	there	seems	to	be	anunresolved	debate	in	relation	to	the	interconnections	between	the	afterlives	of	Nasserist	hegemony	and(neo)colonialism.	To	what	extent	do	the	afterlives	of	colonial	hegemony	that	precede	Nasserism	explain	the	failureand	collapse	of	the	Nasserist	hegemonic	project?	Finally,	such	an	elegant	book	merits	a	more	careful	editing	toavoid	occasional	spelling	errors,	especially	in	the	concluding	chapter.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony by Sara Salem Page 3 of 4		Date originally posted: 2021-03-29Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2021/03/29/book-review-anticolonial-afterlives-in-egypt-the-politics-of-hegemony-by-sara-salem/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Overall,	Anticolonial	Afterlives	in	Egypt	is	a	valuable	addition	and	excellent	resource	for	anyone	studying	andteaching,	or	generally	interested	in,	hegemony,	postcolonialism,	Marxism	as	well	as	decolonisation	in	Egypt	and	inthe	postcolony	in	general.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics.	The	LSE	RB	blog	may	receive	a	small	commission	if	you	choose	to	make	a	purchasethrough	the	above	Amazon	affiliate	link.	This	is	entirely	independent	of	the	coverage	of	the	book	on	LSE	Review	ofBooks.Image	Credit:	Sarah.249	(CC	BY	2.0).	LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony by Sara Salem Page 4 of 4		Date originally posted: 2021-03-29Permalink: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2021/03/29/book-review-anticolonial-afterlives-in-egypt-the-politics-of-hegemony-by-sara-salem/Blog homepage: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: Anticolonial afterlives in Egypt: the politics of hegemony by Sara Salem

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Book review: Anticolonial afterlives in Egypt: the politics of hegemony by Sara Salem

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