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The Age of the Efendiyya: Passages to Modernity in National-Colonial Egypt

The Age of the Efendiyya: Passages to Modernity in National-Colonial Egypt REVIEW Lucie Ryzova Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 304 pages. ISBN 9780199681778 Reviewed by SARA PURSLEY A welcome and carefully researched addition to the substantial literature on the Egyptian effendiyya, Lucie Ryzova’s Age of the Efendiyya explores the emergence of this group from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century as the “first self-consciously modern generation in Egyptian history” (4). Ryzova identifies her subjects as “the white-collar workers” who staffed the modern bureaucracy and pursued careers as lawyers, doctors, architects, teachers, and writers. At the same time, she defines the effendiyya not primarily in terms of class or education but rather in terms of orientation toward the modern: an effendi is “an Egyptian who actively claims to be modern” (8). Arguing that previous scholars have not attended closely enough to the emergence of the effendiyya, Ryzova focuses on social origins as the “basic question of this book”: “Where did this generation of self-consciously modern and middle-class-claiming men come from, and how did they come to be?” (4–5). The second question of the book is more cultural, namely, “How did this modern Egyptian subject—the efendi—construct himself,” and, more specifically, how did he come to “perceive [himself ] as modern” (5)? http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Middle East Women's Studies Duke University Press

The Age of the Efendiyya: Passages to Modernity in National-Colonial Egypt

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Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
ISSN
1552-5864
eISSN
1558-9579
DOI
10.1215/15525864-7025511
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

REVIEW Lucie Ryzova Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 304 pages. ISBN 9780199681778 Reviewed by SARA PURSLEY A welcome and carefully researched addition to the substantial literature on the Egyptian effendiyya, Lucie Ryzova’s Age of the Efendiyya explores the emergence of this group from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century as the “first self-consciously modern generation in Egyptian history” (4). Ryzova identifies her subjects as “the white-collar workers” who staffed the modern bureaucracy and pursued careers as lawyers, doctors, architects, teachers, and writers. At the same time, she defines the effendiyya not primarily in terms of class or education but rather in terms of orientation toward the modern: an effendi is “an Egyptian who actively claims to be modern” (8). Arguing that previous scholars have not attended closely enough to the emergence of the effendiyya, Ryzova focuses on social origins as the “basic question of this book”: “Where did this generation of self-consciously modern and middle-class-claiming men come from, and how did they come to be?” (4–5). The second question of the book is more cultural, namely, “How did this modern Egyptian subject—the efendi—construct himself,” and, more specifically, how did he come to “perceive [himself ] as modern” (5)?

Journal

Journal of Middle East Women's StudiesDuke University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2018

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