Redefining the Egyptian Nation, 1930–1945

The emergence of nationalism redefined Egyptian identity. This book shows how the growth of an urban middle class, combined with political failures in the 1930s, eroded the earlier territorial and isolationist order.

Israel Gershoni (Author), James P. Jankowski (Author)

9780521475358, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 April 1995

300 pages, 2 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.571 kg

"...this is a well-organized and coherently argued study." Briton C. Busch, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism

The authors examine the emergence of nationalism among the Egyptian middle class during the 1930s and 1940s, and its growing awareness of an Arab and Muslim identity. Previously Egypt did not define itself in these terms, but adopted a territorial and isolationist outlook. It is the revolutionary transformation in Egyptian self-understanding which took place during this period that provides the focus of this study. The authors demonstrate how the growth of an urban middle class, combined with economic and political failures in the 1930s, eroded the foundations of the earlier order. Alongside domestic events, the momentum of Arabism abroad and the impact of events in Palestine, necessitated Egyptian regional involvement. Egypt's present position as a major player in Arab, Muslim and Third World affairs has its roots in the fundamental transition of Egyptian national identity at this time.

1. The roots of supra-Egyptian nationalism in modern Egypt
Part I. The Intellectual Formulation and Social Dissemination of New Supra-Egyptian Orientations and Ideologies: 2. 'Now is the turn of the East': Egyptian Easternism in the 1930s
3. 'The return of Islam': the new Islamic mood in Egypt
4. Egyptian Islamic nationalism
5. Integral Egyptian nationalism
6. Egyptian Arab nationalism
Part II. Supra-Egyptianism in Egyptian Politics: 7. Egypt, Arab alliance, and Islamic Caliphate, 1936–1939
8. Palestine, public opinion, and Egyptian policy, 1936–1939
9. The road to the Arab League, 1939–1945
l0. Conclusion: from Egyptian territorial to supra-Egyptian nationalism.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Asian history [HBJF]