“Expectations kill. Please Do Not Expect.” The Intimate Echoes of Revolution and the Questioning of Normality
Abstract
This article explores the intimate repercussions of revolution by shifting focus from activists to their families, specifically an Egyptian middle-class family impacted by their eldest son's exile as a political activist. It examines how family members navigate their expectations of a “normal life” amidst post-2014 socio-economic austerity and ties to revolutionary activism. The study posits that the previously aspired-to notions of normality are not only unattainable but also increasingly undesirable, even for those who had previously achieved relative economic stability. The paper argues that this change is not just a result of deteriorating socio-economic conditions but also emerges from the eldest son’s political path. His journey has significantly impacted the family’s dynamics, prompting his siblings to reassess conventional norms of normality and disrupting the family’s traditional male hierarchy. As the family confronts these disrupted norms and the looming threat of social decline, mental well-being becomes a pressing concern. However, this period of uncertainty also offer room for the reinvention of personal scripts of changing normalities. The study underscores the regime’s inability to re-establish a sense of normality, instead fostering a liminality indicative of a governmentality centered on the concept of “imperilment.”