Egyptian Service 1902 1946

In autumn 1951, a diverse array of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish students from clubs like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Worker's Vanguard launched a guerrilla struggle against British occupation of the Suez Canal Zone. Revolutionary Emotions in Cold War Egypt recovers this overshadowed revolution of 1951, and the part played by the “Canal struggle” in the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy. In a study spanning a half-dozen international archives, the book delves into the divisive court cases and rousing club newspapers, intimate memoirs and personal poetry of Egyptian activists. These documents reveal that in the early years of the Cold War, morality tales and moral emotions were at the heart of the methods and the successes of Egyptian activists. What stories did activists tell, and how did the emotional appeals and “moral talk” of Islamist and communist clubs compare? How did Arabic-speaking populations negotiate moral norms, and what role did emotions like love, anger, and disgust play in political campaigns? Taking a journey through Islamic parables about perilous beaches, communist adaptations of Greek myths, and popular stories about Juha's Nail and Paul Revere's Ride through the Suez Canal, this book uncovers a rich history of activist storytelling. These practices uncover the mechanics of morality tales, and reveal how activists used narratives to convert emotion to motion and drive social change. Still vitally important for readers today, such findings shed light on how paramilitary groups and protest movements use moral appeals to attract support-and why activist campaigns become the controversial epicentre of polarizing emotional battles.

Egypt just before political eruption! Turns of the century in Africa's northeastern corner have been critical moments, ushering in overt popular activism in the hope of radical political redirection--as this volume's focus on Egypt's 19th-century fin-de-siecle demonstrates. The end of the 19th century in Egypt witnessed crisscrossing and conflicting political currents as well as fluctuating economic, geopolitical, social conditions, demographic conditions and cultural processes. Like Egypt's 20th-century fin-de-siecle, much of this ferment was a prelude to the more visible and politically eruptive events of the next decades, when Egypt's popular resistance burst onto the international scene. But its subterranean cast was no less dynamic for that.

The book provides a unique account of the very active economic, social and political roles of nineteenth-century women.

Britain's famous overseas civil services - the Colonial Administrative Service, the Indian Civil Service and the Sudan Political Service - no longer exist as a major and sought-after career for Britain's graduates. In this detailed study the history of each service is presented within the framework of the need to administer an expanding empire. Close attention is paid to the methods of recruitment and training and to the socio-educational background of the overseas administrators as well as to the nature of their work. The prestigious incumbents of Government House are revealingly examined. The impact of decolonisation on overseas officials and the kinds of 'second careers' which they took up are documented. This authoritative narrative history is enlivened by recourse to Service lore and anecdotes.

A fascinating and highly original contribution to the study of Egypt’s religious folklore. First published in Cairo during World War II, The Moulids of Egypt is a study of moulids, the popular Egyptian religious festivals celebrated by both Muslims and Christians in the first half of the twentieth century. The book talks in detail about the secular side of moulids, where sports, games, theatres, dancing, and laughter were as much part of the festivals as the religious processions and the whirling of dervishes. Some of the rites and customs analyzed here date from as far back as the Pharaonic period, but the moulids are gradually dying out; many of the 126 festivals described in Moulids of Egypt have since faded away, making the book of lasting interest.

On September 29, 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser died of a heart attack. The hysterical outpouring of grief at the state funeral dramatized the depth to which the loss of this charismatic leader shook the Arab world. Few men have achieved the love, prestige, and adulation that Nasser received from the Arab masses. Yet, in reality, Nasser’s political life was a tragic story. This book is a careful analysis of Nasser’s belated attempts to modernize the rural areas of Egypt. It documents the political, economic, and social factors that made Nasser’s dream for his people unattainable in his lifetime. Forced to choose between domestic needs and international challenges, Nasser’s attention was too often directed beyond the borders of Egypt. His vision of renewed Arab greatness, his dream of Arab unity, and his concern for Arab development often distorted his perception of his own country. While no one who personally conversed with Nasser doubted his sincere desire for a better life for the peasants of the Nile Valley, many noted his tendency to allocate resources more on the basis of dreams rather than the realities of Egypt’s domestic problems. Granted permission to move freely through Egypt’s twenty-five provinces prior to the 1967 travel restrictions, James B. Mayfield had a unique opportunity to personally observe Nasser’s dramatic attempts to bring progress and development to his people. The two decades of Nasser’s rule colored and shaped events in Egypt for many years after his death.