By building a community of young scholars working on the biographical impact of revolutionary activism, and by establishing an enduring dialogue between researchers from the MENA region, European countries and the United States, our project crosses points of view, concepts and epistemologies, offering a new perspective on political crises and revolutions.
We are opening up a field of study that has been understudied in the case of the countries of the Global South, and especially so in the MENA region. More precisely, we introduce a three-fold shift from the hegemonic analysis of the ‘Arab uprisings’: a) from the revolutionary moment to the ‘subsequent lives’ of the women and men who participated in these events and a longitudinal analysis; b) from political / state institutions and macro-political transformations to ordinary activists and the individual level; and c) from national studies to cross-national comparisons in order to comprehend patterns and variations depending on the political context.
In doing so, we contribute to the ongoing efforts to document a unique historical moment in Arab societies, which tends to be read in unhelpful binary terms (success vs. failure, revolution vs. counter-revolution, rupture vs. continuity, etc.). In this sense, our analysis provides invaluable material for tomorrow’s historians and social scientists and fends off the “noise” of retrospective partial interpretations (Fillieule et al., 2018).
The work carried out until now reveals three main types of activist trajectories in relation to the post-uprising phase: 1) ‘revolutionaries’ who are still active in traditional political institutions and/or organisations; 2) revolutionaries who have managed to redirect their commitment towards new forms of activism; and finally, 3) revolutionaries who are now completely disengaged. Despite the differences between these paths, the question of the ‘emotional legacies’ of past activism emerges as a central element that contributes to shaping everyday lives, choices, representations and sense of projection into the future, with many (former) revolutionaries expressing nostalgia and positive feelings (for example, pride and satisfaction), and others regret, disappointment, guilt and a sense of loss. Other elements have emerged and will be further explored, such as the gender dimension of the biographical impact, the strong interest in higher education expressed by the interviewees, the aspects of archiving and commemoration, and the impact of exile. The experience of exile is indeed a major turning point in the trajectories. It transforms activism, without necessarily ending it.
Our ongoing comparative work has already resulted in several publications – including a special issue of the French peer-reviewed journal Cultures & Conflits (n° 134, 2024) as well as peer-reviewed articles published in journals such as Mediterranean Politics, Critique Internationale and Omran – and a book project that brings together several life stories.
