Academic Historiographic Remedies of Colonialist Images of Egypt’s Nationalist Party

Ahmed Ali Salem, Zayed University

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Contemporary Arab Affairs

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Abstract

This article does not attempt to outline the history of Egypt’s Nationalist Party since its foundation by Mustafa Kamil in 1907; rather, it demonstrates the colonialist nature of early British narratives, then discusses the counternarratives of contemporary Egyptian nationalist leaders, and analyzes the emergence of academic narratives from Egyptian and Western academic historians. The article argues that the image of the Nationalist Party in Western academia has moved away from the defamation of early British colonialist writers, with a favorable image prevailing among Egyptian academic historians since 1952. Politicians and historians searching for inspiring nationalist personalities, particularly during the self-criticism after the Arab defeat in the 1967 war, revived the Nationalist Party leaders. This favorable image has survived several dramatic changes in ideology of successive ruling regimes and has become so popular that politicians of all orientations often use it to serve their political interests.

ISSN

1755-0912

Volume

16

Issue

3

First Page

284

Last Page

296

Disciplines

History

Keywords

academic historiography, colonialist narratives, Egypt’s Nationalist Party, patriotic narratives

Scopus ID

85177242316

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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