National Emotions and Egypt’s Middle Class/Bourgeoisie in Two National Songs Prior to the 2011 Revolution

Drawing upon theoretical conceptualizations of emotions, this article examines two pre-2011 Egyptian national songs through an analytical reading of their lyrics and visual scenes. It aims to focus on how emotions, particularly national love, contribute to constructing a middle-class/bourgeois image of Egypt – an image aligned with the state’s capitalistic, neoliberal approach and vision. Both songs were sung by two female singers who achieved significant fame within the Egyptian music scene and are part of the shababi (youth) music genre: the Egyptian, Shereen Abdel Wahab, and the Lebanese, Nancy Ajram. As this article engages with the intersection between culture, emotions, and national songs before a revolutionary moment – underpinned by a significant affective shift and a contestation of bourgeois values – this contribution seeks to be part of a wide range of scholarship that highlights emotion as a site of the political.