Using the archive for independent study and research

The archive is a useful resource for anyone wishing to do an independent project, such as, an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), or an undergraduate or masters’ level dissertation on the 2011 Egyptian revolution and its aftermath.

There are several ways to explore the archive.

The featured topics (accessible from the home page or via ‘Resources’ on the menu bar) provide a starting point for researching particular aspects of the revolution, such as, the Egyptian media, nationalism, women, the figure of the martyr, revolutionary songs and films, amongst other subjects. There are 10 featured topic articles, in addition to two introductory articles (as discussed in the 'introductory information' section).

Similar to the introductory articles, these provide an overview of particular aspects of the revolution and their relationship to popular culture, include some illustrative archive items and a list of academic readings. In turn, each of the selected archive items provides contextual information and a list of related resources.

You can browse the archive via the ‘Timeline’, which is accessible from the home page or via the menu bar. Scrolling along the Timeline allows you to see how popular culture responded to and represented different events and periods as the revolution unfolded, from 25 January 2011 until 2019.

You can also filter all archive items according to different phases of the revolution. There are 5 filters. Each filter corresponds with a political period: ‘the Tahrir Square sit-in’, ‘the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)’, ‘the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood’, ‘the rule of the transitional government’ and ‘the rule of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’. Given that the rule of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is ongoing at the time of writing, it is not possible to include an end date for this phase.

If you are interested in a particular type of popular culture (e.g., films, documentaries, graffiti, cartoons, songs, TV shows and/or performance), you can browse the archive by media type. Specific media types are listed on the home page or can be accessed via ‘Resources’ on the menu bar. The list of media types also includes the category of archives. These are links to other on-line archives that exist to document the voices of ordinary Egyptians in relation to the 2011 revolution and its aftermath. Some of these archives are also directly concerned with popular cultural expression (graffiti and film).

You can also browse by tags (for example, ‘memory’, ‘women’s rights’ or ‘Sisi’). All archive items have multiple tags. Some tags are variations of the same names or events.

Finally, you can search by keywords (for example, ‘Cairokee’ or ‘religion’) using the search box in the top right-hand corner. You can make a more advanced search via the ‘Search Items’ page. This allows you to refine a keyword search by field within the archive item (e.g. title, description, creator), by media type (termed ‘collection’ here), or by featured topic (termed ‘exhibit’ here). N.B. If you are using the site on a smart phone, then the search box is not available and you should use the ‘Search Items’ page.