HS3T91: Politics and Popular Culture: Post-Arab Spring Egypt

Module code: HS3T91

Module provider: History; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: 6

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Dina Rezk , email: d.rezk@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: No placement specified

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module explores how the 2011 Egyptian revolution was contested through popular culture.

• Explore key themes that defined the ‘Arab Spring’ protests through exploration of Egypt as a case study;
• Reflect on the meaning of revolution and how this was contested and debated in the Egyptian context;
• Expose students to a wide variety of Egyptian popular culture as historical sources;
• Demonstrate the relationship between politics and popular culture and expand understandings of ‘the political’.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Identify and understand the main events that constituted and followed Egypt’s 2011 revolution;
2. Navigate a digital archive and engage with various forms of popular culture as historical sources;
3. Organise material and articulate arguments effectively in writing; and
4. Demonstrate familiarity with bibliographical conventions and mastery of library skills.

Module content

This module puts ‘the people’ at the centre of our understanding of the 2011 Egyptian revolution and its aftermath. Through an exploration of the largest and most populous country of the ‘Arab Spring’, the module expands the meaning of politics beyond elections, constitution-drafting, political parties and protests, to include everyday struggles over the cultural meanings that are constitutive of power relations. Viewing popular culture as an important site of such battles, we embark on a historical overview of the revolution from the '18 days' that began on the 25th January 2011 and led to the deposition of Mubarak, through to the consolidation of the current regime of Abdel Fatah el Sisi and the reinstitution of authoritarian rule that exists today. We examine a wide range of popular cultural texts (e.g. music, graffiti, satirical TV, cartoon and film) to reveal the importance of these sources as historical documents and the complex relationship between popular culture, ‘the people’ and power in revolutionary contexts.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching is by eleven weekly 3-hour seminars with lectures incorporated, supplemented by online activities as directed and independent study.

Study hours

At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Staff will devise formative assessment appropriate to the module content.

Reassessment

Additional costs