A city consumed : urban commerce, the Cairo fire, and the politics of decolonization in Egypt / Nancy Y. Reynolds.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reynolds, Nancy Y.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumption (Economics)--Egypt--Cairo--History--20th century.

Consumption (Economics).

Nationalism--Economic aspects--Egypt.

Nationalism.

Cairo (Egypt)--Commerce--History--20th century.

Cairo (Egypt).

Egypt--Politics and government--1919-1952.

Egypt.

Egypt--History--Revolution, 1952.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (377 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Though now remembered as an act of anti-colonial protest leading to the Egyptian military coup of 1952, the Cairo Fire that burned through downtown stores and businesses appeared to many at the time as an act of urban self-destruction and national suicide. The logic behind this latter view has now been largely lost. Offering a revised history, Nancy Reynolds looks to the decades leading up to the fire to show that the lines between foreign and native in city space and commercial merchandise were never so starkly drawn. Consumer goods occupied an uneasy place on anti-colonial agendas for decades in Egypt before the great Cairo Fire. Nationalist leaders frequently railed against commerce as a form of colonial captivity, yet simultaneously expanded local production and consumption to anchor a newly independent economy. Close examination of struggles over dress and shopping reveals that nationhood coalesced informally from the conflicts and collaboration of consumers "from below" as well as more institutional and prescriptive mandates.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliteration

Introduction

1 The “Ever-Melting” City

2 Department Stores and Downtown Shopping

3 Anticolonial Boycotts and National Trade

4 Socks, Shoes, and Marketing Mass Consumption

5 Postwar Commodity Parables and the Cracking of Late Colonialism

6 The Cairo Fire and Postcolonial Consumption

Conclusion

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804782661

0804782660

OCLC:

793511377