A01=Zeinab Abul-Magd
africa
Author_Zeinab Abul-Magd
british empire
cairo
Category=NHG
Category=NHTV
cholera epidemic
colonial intruders
country life
egypt
egyptian historiography
egyptian history
engaging
environmental crises
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
historical
history
imperialism
market economy
massive uprisings
middle eastern history
nobility
ottoman empire
plague
political
power and wealth
qina province
retrospective
revolt
revolution
royalty
slavery
subaltern discontent
subaltern rebellion
warfare
world history
Product details
- ISBN 9780520275539
- Weight: 318g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 12 Jul 2013
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Through a microhistory of a small province in Upper Egypt, this book investigates the history of five world empires that assumed hegemony in Qina province over the last five centuries. Imagined Empires charts modes of subaltern rebellion against the destructive policies of colonial intruders and collaborating local elites in the south of Egypt. Abul-Magd vividly narrates stories of sabotage, banditry, flight, and massive uprisings of peasants and laborers, to challenge myths of imperial competence. The book depicts forms of subaltern discontent against "imagined empires" that failed in achieving their professed goals and brought about environmental crises to Qina province. As the book deconstructs myths about early modern and modern world hegemons, it reveals that imperial modernity and its market economy altered existing systems of landownership, irrigation, and trade - leading to such destructive occurrences as the plague and cholera epidemics. The book also deconstructs myths in Egyptian historiography, highlighting the problems of a Cairo-centered idea of the Egyptian nation-state. The book covers the Ottoman, French, Muhammad Ali's, and the British informal and formal empires.
It alludes to the U.S. and its failed market economy in Upper Egypt, which partially resulted in Qina's participation in the 2011 revolution. Imagined Empires is a timely addition to Middle Eastern and world history.
Zeinab Abul-Magd is Assistant Professor of History at Oberlin College.
