I’m giving my first human-to-human public lecture in over a year. As in no zoom or webinar, it’s an actual physical flesh and blood presenter and audience dynamic 🙂. This will be on 24th February at the French institute, in English, and entry is free. Social distancing and masking rules apply.
“If every city was to have a defining ethos, a running theme, a word that sums up (or a major part of) the DNA of the respective city, then Alexandria could arguably be the city of nostalgia. Loss, longing, melancholia, and a yearning for anything but the present, have long been entrenched in the city’s contemporary era. This lecture will explore the dynamics that constitute the makeup of nostalgia in Egypt’s second city. It examines the socio-linguistic framework, historical imaginaries, second city syndrome, sense of civic defeat, and the flourishing of an online archival culture, among other factors, that underpin the protracted relationship between Alexandria and nostalgia.”
