Culture and society during revolutionary transformation: Rereading Matthew Arnold and Antonio Gramsci in the context of the Arab Spring’s cultural production

Abstract

Viewing revolutionary political change as a multi-influential, multi-scaled, long-term process allows for the analysis of (in)visible transformations of identities and social realities. The main problem with this approach, however, is that it considers change only in terms of rupture, shift, and transition, or in terms of modernity versus tradition. While many studies focus on the dynamics and indicators of change, they have not adequately considered the role of culture in forming the basis of revolution or in determining how it unfolds. This article couples the theoretical work on culture and society by two pioneering cultural critics, Matthew Arnold and Antonio Gramsci, to make sense of how Arab cultural production can be viewed as a motor for revolutionary change during the Arab Spring.