In this paper, I provide preliminary answers to two main questions, namely: How did the politics of disappointment unfold among female activists after the 2011 Egyptian uprising and specifically under the current regime? And what were the effects of the strong sense of emotional disappointment on women’s activism and collective action? The study is situated within the literature on emotions and contentious politics. Utilizing the rich theoretical tools found in the literature, I argue that disappointment did not mark the end of politics and activism among women’s groups in Egypt. The data for this paper was gathered from semi-structured interviews with female activists, protestors, and leaders of women’s rights groups. The data gathered was analyzed within the prism of critical discourse analysis in an attempt to empirically investigate how activists move both forward and backward as they navigate their own emotions in addition to a crippling political system. It is true that the situation is complicated and activism is restricted in Egypt, however, the essence of this research is ignited by participants’ affirmation that their experience in the uprising has changed them, and that “things cannot go back to the old days,” notwithstanding their disappointment over the turn of events. A focus on hope and disappointment places the experiences of activists squarely in our analysis. It allows researchers to reclaim the voices of female activists in explaining the challenges and opportunities that developed post the uprising and how these developments influenced and shaped their experience, movement, and mobilization.

在本文中，我对以下两个主要问题提供了初步的答案：即，在2011年埃及起义后，特别是在现任政权统治下，女性积极分子的失望政治是如何展开的？强烈的失望情绪对妇女的行动和集体行动有什么影响？该研究位于有关情感和争议政治的文献中。我认为，利用文献中丰富的理论工具，失望并不意味着埃及妇女团体中政治和行动主义的终结。本文的数据是从对女性活动家，抗议者和妇女权利团体领导人的半结构式访谈中收集的。在批判性话语分析的范围内对收集到的数据进行了分析，以试图从经验上调查激进主义者如何在其自身的情绪不佳的政治制度之外导航自己的前进和后退。的确，情况复杂，埃及的行动主义受到限制，但是，这项研究的实质是通过参与者确认他们在起义中的经历已经改变了他们，并且“事情不能回到过去，尽管他们对事件的转折感到失望。对希望和失望的关注将积极分子的经验正视在我们的分析中。