The family politics of colonizing and liberating Egypt, 1882-1919

This essay examines how crucial the domicile, both real and ideal, and its inhabitants were to the construction of an independent body politic in turn -of-the-century Egypt. As a riposte to colonialism, a discourse of modernit y, and a vehicle through which knowledge was shaped and disseminated, the r eform of Egypt's homes and families was central to the process through whic h middle- and upper-class Egyptians defined themselves and their political struggles. By playing the role of "good mothers" in the 1919 Revolution, Eg yptians showed the British that the political, economic, and familial strug gles that led to the occupation of Egypt in 1882 were no longer regnant in their country. Reformed "family politics," central to which were good "moth ers" of both sexes, served as evidence that the occupation had to come to a n end.