Ricarda Ameling, bahar firat und Cilja Harders (Freie Universität Berlin), Bilgin Ayata und Derya Özkaya (Universität Graz), Dina Wahba (Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut, Freiburg)

Language: Englisch

This lecture traces a long-term conceptual and empirical journey that began with the mass uprisings in Cairo (2011) and Istanbul (2013) and continues into the present. Drawing on collaborative research conducted within and beyond the CRC since 2015, we revisit how moments of collective rupture, hope, and exhaustion shape political transformation—and how their affective dynamics are later captured, redirected, and governed.

Our work deliberately set out to decenter dominant narratives of revolution and resistance by moving beyond iconic sites such as Tahrir Square and Gezi Park to provincial cities such as Tanta and Eskişehir. Through interviews, city walks, participant observation, and focus groups, we developed an empirically grounded approach to affect that takes everyday experiences seriously and allows for theorizing from the Global South. This methodological and conceptual orientation enabled a sustained dialogue between affect theory—often shaped in Euro-American academic contexts—and the lived realities of activists, residents, and political actors in Egypt and Turkey. The lecture will introduce key concepts which emerged from this research trajectory and situates their conceptual legacy within ongoing debates on protest, power, and political emotions across regions.