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Abstract
This virtually inaugural scholarly study of the activist Shaima’ al-Sabbagh (1983–2015) documents and analyzes three areas of her production in relation to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. The argument is made that her colloquial poetry, folklore research and support of subalternity worked in synergy together. Foregrounding the folk imaginaries that the revolution drew on, al-Sabbagh identified a fundamental gap in that event between bourgeois intellectuals/activists and subalterns. Seminal pedagogies she was in the process of devising to close that gap and creative projects to empower labor actors are analyzed in relation to Antonio Gramsci’s views on folklore and his “philosophy of praxis.” These projects benefited from al-Sabbagh’s apprenticeship in the popular, at both the grassroots and academic levels, including her involvement in aragoz (hand-held puppet theater). Al-Sabbagh’s texts, among them manuscripts, as well as video and audio recordings of her, are cited; additionally, interviews about her have been conducted.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Osama El-Sehli, Shaima’ al-Sabbagh’s widower, who graciously shared material, put me in contact with al-Sabbagh’s friends, and gave full permission to quote her unpublished work, reproduce images and recordings, as well as consult her personal bookcases. Sayyed Abu El-Ela gave me access to some of her texts, and shared files of the documentary he is co-directing with Gasir Gado about her. ‘Ali Dawud shared valuable information about her career as a folklorist, photographs and recordings. Amr El-Shoubashy gave me access to the rushes of his filmed interview with al-Sabbagh. Alexandrian poet Abdel-Rehim Youssef supplied me with that elusive copy of Salah al-Sayih’s book. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Siba‘i, Alexandrian writer, offered me a copy of an article by al-Sayih that he had solicited for publication. Jay Garcia, my colleague in the Department of Comparative Literature, New York University, offered valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article. I thank Nevine El Nossery and Shereen Abouelnaga, the co-editors of this issue of the Journal of the African Literature Association, for welcoming this article, the two anonymous peer reviewers for their insights and suggestions. Part of the research for this article was conducted during a semester’s sabbatical from NYU in autumn 2019. This article has two dedicatees. Some months before his passing, Hani Shukrallah–senior political analyst and one-time editor-in-chief of the Ahram Weekly at which my friendship with him began—was at work on a final installment of a series of articles about the revolution. Dialoguing here with his far-reaching insights into that event has been as enriching as were our conversations over the years. Every word I write is in the name of the unstinting giving informed by incisive intelligence that is you, Alexander Youssef Halim.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The transliteration in this quotation—“g” instead of “q”—follows al-Sabbagh’s pronunciation of the woman’s possibly Upper Egyptian accent. I translate “sha‘bi” and “sha‘biyya” alternately as “folk” or “popular” depending on the context. Some names are transliterated according to the person’s preference or following the standard spelling in English. In transliterating Egyptian names that contain “jim,” “g” is used rather than “j.” In many instances I follow individuals’ preference for the transliteration of their names. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Arabic and French are my own.
2 For al-Sabbagh’s biography, I draw on: al-Sabbagh, “CV”; El-Sehli; Abu El-Ela and Gado, “‘Ala Dahr”; Abu El-Ela; Nur al-Din; Soliman; Nuh; Dawud; Oddoul; “Markaz”; and Shoubashy, “Filmed.” Thus far, I have been unable to establish al-Sabbagh’s years as a student in the High Institute for Folk Arts; but, based on her El-Sehli’s and Dawud’s recollections they may have been at least 2006-2007, possibly extending into 2008. Al-Sabbagh did not complete her MA work.
3 I make no claim to have reviewed everything that al-Sabbagh has written: some of her articles published in short-lived newspapers and online forums are no longer accessible. Likewise, my perusal of her bookshelves was not exhaustive.
4 The documentary, provisionally titled “‘Ala Dahr al-Tazkara,” is a work-in-progress; some of the material cited from the rushes may not be included in the final cut.
5 All quotations from al-Sabbagh’s ‘Ala Dahr are from the 2015 edition. I transliterate following colloquial Egyptian pronunciation.
6 Translation adapted from Halim, “The girl.” According to al-Sabbagh’s husband, Osama El-Sehli (pers. comm. Feb. 23, 2020), the poem was first written in 2006; 2008 as dated by the editors, may have been the date of first publication.
7 The unnamed editors of the expanded posthumous reprint of al-Sabbagh’s poetry collection have included posts, some in verse, from her Facebook page in a new section titled “A ticket on a post”–an intriguing decision that lack of space prevents me from discussing.
8 See, variously, al-Sabbagh, “al-Zawaj,” “al-Iskandariyya al-Marakib,” “al-Iskandariyya Suq,” “al-Iskandariyya al-‘Imara”; see also Abu El-Ela and Gado, “‘Ala Dahr”; Oddoul; Halim, “The girl.”
9 In “Writers,” I also read the revolution as a “politicized moulid” and “a non-elite assumption of agency in the articulation of inter-faith solidarity that firmly counters a sectarianism… in order to lay claim to egalitarianism and citizenship.”
10 Two Word files of this text I received were identical except for a word in the title: one contained “dealing with” (ta‘amul) while the other used “communicating with” (tawasul). I therefore elected to use the title as given in al-Sabbagh’s handwritten draft of this text, using “communicating.” I quote, however, from the Word file.
11 My translation from Arabic.
12 Al-Sabbagh also worked as assistant to aragoz performer Ashraf Fathi (Soliman).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Hala Halim
Hala Halim is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University. Her book Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism: An Archive received an Honorable Mention for the Harry Levin Prize sponsored by the American Comparative Literature Association. Clamor of the Lake, Halim’s translation of a novel by Mohamed El-Bisatie, won an Egyptian State Incentive Award.