In the early 20th century Cairo was a vibrant and booming global metropolis. The integration of Egypt into the global market had led to rapid urban growth and increased migration. As occupational prospects for women outside the family were limited, sex work became a prominent feature of the new modern city. However, the economic and social changes in Egypt ignited national anxieties about racial degeneration, social disorder and imperial decadence. Francesca Biancani argues here that this was a period of national crisis that became inscribed on the bodies on female sex workers. Based on a wide range of rare primary sources, including documents from court cases, reformist papers, police minutes and letters, Biancani examines the discourses around sex workers and shows how prostitution was understood in colonial Egypt. The book argues that from initially regulating and managing prostitution, local and colonial elites began to depict sex workers as a threat to the physical and moral welfare of the rising Egyptian nation. However, far from being a marginal activity, prostitution is shown to play a central role in the history of Egyptian nation-making. By exploring the interdependence of power and marginality, respectability and transgression, Biancani writes sex work and its practitioners back into the history of modern Egypt. The book is an original contribution to the global history of prostitution and a vital resource for scholars of Middle East Studies.
By:
Francesca Biancani
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 72
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Weight: 434g
ISBN: 9781788311038
ISBN 10: 1788311035
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 30 July 2018
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Notes on Transliterations Acronyms Introduction- The Making of Modern Prostitution in Egypt 1 Selling Sex in a Changing City 1a Urban Transformation 1b Women and Labour 1c Migration 1d Conclusions 2 The Geography of Sex Work 2a Zoning 2b Conclusions 3- Regulating Prostitution and Counting the Population 3a Labelling 3b Counting 3c Medicalizing 3d Confinement 3e Racialization and the Colonial Order Conclusions 4- Sex Work Beyond Prostitution 4a ‘Let down the curtains around us’: the Kharakhana 4b Disguised Prostitution, nightlife, and legal loopholes 4c Clandestine sexwork 4d Pimps 4e Subalternity, Sex Work and Agency 4f Conclusions 5- Imperial War, Venereal Disease, and Sex Work 5a Men in Town 5b The Battle of the Wass#a 5c Martial men, venereal women 5d The 1916 Purification 5e The Debate About Prophylaxis 5d Imperial Troops and Brothels 5e Conclusions 6 Policing ‘suspect’ femininities: the work of British Purity Movements in Cairo 6a The ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ , Brief History of a Moral Panic 6b Social Purity in Egypt, the IBS Committee 6c Beyt #Arabi 6d Competing Approaches: the AMSH 6e Egyptian Feminism and the Struggle against Prostitution 6f Conclusions 7 Abolitionism and Nationalism on the Political Agenda 7a Nationalism and the Rise of an Imagined Egyptian Nation in the Press 7b Gender and Danger in Cairo 7c When Virtues Scream: the ‘Fight Against Prostitution’ 7d The Making of a National Villain: Ibrahim el Gharbi 7e Bringing Abolitionism In (THE FOLLOWING SUB-SECTION IN THE PREVIOUS DRAFT HAS BEEN MOVED HERE) 7 f Paternalist Humanitarianism and the Repeal of Licensed Prostitution 7 g conclusions CONCLUSION
Francesca Biancani is Adjunct Professor in History and Institutions of the Modern Middle East at the Department of Politics and Political Science, University of Bologna. She is also Postdoctoral Fellow at the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Middle Eastern Studies Center at the American University of Cairo and has contributed to various peer-reviewed edited books and journals. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics.
