The City of al-Zaman al-Gamîl: (A)political Nostalgia and the Imaginaries of an Ideal Nation

Abstract

This article examines online communities dedicated to remembering Egypt’s “good old days” (al-zaman al-gamîl). It focuses on communities that frame [OLTZLS]LZHZ¸HWVSP[PJHSUVZ[HSNPJZ¹SVUNPUNMVYHWHZ[[OH[[OL`YLM\ZL[VKLÄUL through historical or political periodization. Based on forty-eight months of observation of Facebook communities centered around this discourse and analysis of descriptions of this “better past” provided by thirty-two of its members, the article presents some of the features of this nostalgia for an ideal nation, city, and citizen of the past. It argues that this nostalgic discourse is primarily a means of negotiating ideal social imaginaries that correspond to the ideals of the Egyptian conservative middle-class rather than merely a form of escapism or resistance to the bleak neoliberal authoritarian present. It investigates some of the moral and aesthetic values that shape these ideal social imaginaries by outlining the features of what they describe as a “stable society” and the roles of the state in maintaining and restoring this imaginary of the “good life.” As such, the article contributes to broader discussions on how imaginaries of the nation are articulated through nostalgic discourses on social media.