Egypt’s Revolution, Our Revolution: Revolutionary Women and the Transnational Avant-Garde

This article addresses the phenomenon of the Egyptian revolution as an event that is simultaneously specifically Egyptian and universal in its import. It does so through developing the concept of a transnational avant-garde as a constellation of aspirations from ‘the common ground’, the advancements of revolutionary women, and the undoing of the distinction between art and life. Particular attention is paid to insights offered by the work of Ahdaf Soueif, Maggie Awadalla, Ethel Mannin and Huda Lutfi, especially with respect to how the past is maintained in the present.