The New Mamluks: Egyptian Society and Modern Feudalism

Middle East Studies Beyond Dominant Paradigms

by Amira El-Azhary Sonbol, Robert A. Fernea (Foreword by)

Amira el-Azhary Sonbol has produced an analytical history of Egypt from the time before Muhammad Ali to the present day. Using local idioms and terms such as khassa and 'amma, iltazim and fa'iz, she has developed a methodology that is more meaningful because it ties events of the eighteenth century to those of the twentieth. The author explores the division that has existed in modern Egyptian society between two the khassa, a ruling elite that tried to impose a hegemonic culture that reflected and encouraged its own economic interests, and the 'amma, the masses who clung to their heritage and customs in an attempt to acquire a share of the wealth. Sonbol discusses today's Islamic movement in Egypt as a revolution correcting the duality of culture that was brought about by historical events like colonialism and the importation of exogenous ideologies. She suggests a different way of looking at culture and the necessity of seeing cultural struggle as a method for studying the historical process that goes beyond the political and economical.

Genres: Egypt, Politics

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Amira Sonbol specializes in the history of modern Egypt, Islamic history and law, women, gender and Islam and is the author of several books including The New Mamluks:Egyptian Society and Modern Feudalism; Women, the Family and Divorce Laws in Islamic History; The Creation of a Medical Profession in Egypt: 1800-1922; The Memoirs of Abbas Hilmi II: Sovereign of Egypt; Women of the Jordan: Islam, Labor and Law; Beyond the Exotic:Muslim Women's Histories. Professor Sonbol is Editor-in-Chief of HAWWA: the Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World published by E.J. Brill and Co-Editor of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, a quarterly journal co-published with Selly Oak Colleges (UK). She teaches courses on the History of Modern Egypt, Women and Law, and Islamic Civilization.