GLOBAL CAFE - Class Forces: Youth and Labor in the Making of the Egyptian Uprising of 2011

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Drexel's Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages is excited to kick off a new lecture series titled GLOBAL CAFE. The Global Cafe gives students the opportunity to get to know more about the collective body of faculty research initiatives in the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages. The Global Cafe also offers a small venue for students to get to know each other in a less formal setting.

Participants will enjoy light refreshments after each lecture in the series.

Space is limited; an RSVP is required.

The inaugural Global Cafe lecture will be given by Assistant Professor Nada Matta, who presents, “Class Forces: Youth and Labor in the Making of the Egyptian Uprising of 2011.”

Lecture Abstract:
Based on my book monograph, this lecture adopts a political economy approach to explain the dynamics behind the Egyptian uprising. I examine how shifts in capitalist production and changing class relations reshaped political opportunities, fueling social and political unrest. Moving beyond the dominant focus on rising grievances under neoliberalism, I argue that the interdependent relationship between capitalists and the regime produced an uneven neoliberal turn that created openings for labor mobilization. This dynamic also loosened constraints within the electoral system, encouraging democratic and youth movements to protest. Focusing solely on movement capacities—limited up until the uprising—misses the larger story: class linkages and dynamics were central to movement empowerment, mass mobilization, and the ability to sustain collective action in Tahrir. These same class dynamics also reveal the organizational weaknesses and limited coalition-building capacities that ultimately contributed to the uprising’s failure.

Contact Information

globalstudies@drexel.edu