An Emotional History of the Egyptian Revolution through the Narratives of Female Personal Bloggers Susana Galán : Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol 13 #5 October 2012

Purpose Aims at describing the dominant social moods at different moments of the revolutionary process to show how emotions affected the cause for social change. Qualitative content analysis of 11 personal blogs written by Egyptian women : beginning of the protests until March 31, 2011 The author believes that feelings and emotions are central to politics The author chose blogs because personal blogs emotions are embedded in the narration of events in blogs Concepts emotional habitus: socially constituted, prevailing ways of feeling and emoting intimate publics : porous, affective scene of identification among strangers that promises a certain experience of belonging and provides a complex of consolation, confirmation, discipline and discussion about how to live as an x

The Dataset Describes a blog as : “a window to express freely personal points of view, sharing private experiences, criticizing social values, culture, economic laws, social behaviors, and political restrictions among searching for new travel experiences, delivering new thoughts, personal literature, poetry, novels; knowledge, promoting explorations, analyzing social concepts, sharing etc.” Selection to 11 blogs (still active) started between 1999 and 2011 (from 50 originally selected) that addressed the revolutionary events and whose authors gave consent to quote them Written by young women in their late twenties and early thirties, students and young professionals most of them single, but also divorced and a mother of two. Personal nature of blogs: “throw my rambling thoughts” “get things out of my system”

Before the Revolution: Between Frustration and Resignation Blogs hint at a generalized mood of depression among bloggers: the street children ... the burned hospitals, the crashed trains, the drowned carriers, and the corruption everywhere” Blogs are a source to express frustration, lack of hope, distrust and helplessness. In many posts, Egyptians themselves were held responsible for the deteriorating situation not necessarily the government Mood changes with the the murder of Khaled Said by the police in June 2010 my heart falls to pieces Other instances of police torture and abuse start to appear in blogs boldly denouncing the mad cruelty, insane brutality I want to tear those monsters to pieces!

Hope, Joy, Fear and Pride: Turmoil of emotions at the Beginning of the Revolution Growing popular discontent towards the government and police identified by bloggers as the main culprits The Tunisian revolution in 2011 Inspired mobilization: “We are all Khaled Said” Facebook group January 25, 2011 - Uprisings begins as Day of Rage Mubarak forced a communication blackout between January 27 and February 2 Blogs used as a loudspeaker with global reach to mobilize people re-establishment of the Internet on February 2 and Mubarak's resignation on February 11 is one of the most intense in personal blogosphere People came together- faith and hope. On February 1, an “intense” speech by Mubarak raised confusion on the streets and among bloggers A day later- violence broke out. Mood from jpyful to mournful

The Intensities of Space: Visiting Tahrir Square Bloggers evoked feelings of “enthusiasm,” “love” and “harmony” in the square describing the protesters as “friendly,” “smiling” and “welcoming” and stressing the absence of sexual harassment Stressed on diversity and democracy

Ecstasies and Anxieties at the End of a 30-year Regime In their posts, bloggers tried to transmit the euphoria on the streets Upon returning to normalcy, a contradictory state of mind was described by the bloggers The spirit of unity was replaced by the old sense of division. the protesters started to lose the support of important segments of the population, despite the bloggers' effort to defend them. On March 19, Egypt celebrated a referendum for constitutional amendments.

These personal bloggers are not activists but –as many Egyptians– they have participated in the protests. They do not claim to be citizen journalists, but through their blogs they have transmitted what was happening on the streets, spreading the word through global online networks. This paper provides a sneak peek into the emotional journey of a generation which made a generation. Conclusion