The Collective Dream [electronic resource] : Egyptians Longing For A Better Life / by Sarah Nagaty.

Part I. Introduction -- Conceptual Framework -- Part II. Getting Attached to the "Better Life" -- Attunement: "My Sweat is Sown into the Rocks" -- Temporality of Attachment: "Wipe it off and I Will Paint Again" -- Part III The Afterlife of Attachment -- "As If I Were Faithless": Attachment to Attachment -- Is There a Life After the 25th of January? -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1 Timeline of Modern Egypt pre-2011 -- Appendix 2 Timeline of Modern Egypt, 2011-today.

This book links two seminal moments in Egypt's history - the Revolution of 25th January 2011 and the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser - through various cultural manifestations. It conceives the concept of "collective dreaming" to map out the subliminal feeling which runs deep through experiences of socially transformative moments. The author has extensively studied the structure of feelings that encompasses the experiences not only of activist minorities but the broader mass of revolutionary movements. In certain historical moments, hopes and aspirations bind together millions of people from all walks of life: students, workers, farmers, and middle-class professionals. Nagaty calls this phenomenon the "collective dream", something which has been carried through generations of Egyptians. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of social movement studies, cultural studies and cultural sociology. Sarah Nagaty holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from the UCP, Lisbon and the University of Copenhagen, having previously been a researcher at the Library of Alexandria, Egypt.