Tales of a Square: The Production and Transformation of Political Space in the Egyptian (Counter)Revolution

This article looks into the meaning of Tahrir Square before, during, and after the January 25 revolution. We employ Lefebvre’s conceptual triad of space to understand how space is not merely a physical form, but also the product of relations between natural and social objects in this space. To understand how these relations changed dramatically after January 25, we will draw on Sewell’s insight into how space is a constituent aspect of contentious politics. We discuss the way in which the political space of Tahrir Square went through distinct phases during and after the Egyptian revolution, from counter-space, to eventually a change in the conceived space of Tahrir Square, but not according to the principles of the newly created lived space during the 18 days.