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UID:35729@arabamerica.com
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260129T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260129T153000
DTSTAMP:20260120T173212Z
URL:https://www.arabamerica.com/events/harvests-of-liberation-cotton-capit
 alism-and-the-end-of-empire-in-egypt-ahmad-shokr-mona-atia/
SUMMARY:Harvests of Liberation: Cotton\, Capitalism\, and the End of Empire
  in Egypt | Ahmad Shokr & Mona Atia
DESCRIPTION:\n\n\nWASHINGTON\, DC\n\nPlease join the Institute for Middle E
 ast Studies to welcome Ahmad Shokr as he discusses Harvests of Liberati
 on: Cotton\, Capitalism\, and the End of Empire in Egypt with Mona Atia.\
 n\nIn the first half of the twentieth century\, a major change occurred in
  Egyptian nationalist understandings of imperialism and economic sovereign
 ty. Where once the volatilities of foreign markets and capital were seen a
 s the main threat\, over time large landowners and their imperial allies w
 ere targeted as the principal obstacles to the country’s industrial prog
 ress. The perceived locus of imperial domination shifted from the realm of
  circulation to the realm of production. Harvests of Liberation situates t
 his transformation in the midcentury dynamics of agrarian capitalism in Eg
 ypt.\n\nAhmad Shokr tells a story of decolonization through the lens of co
 tton\, Egypt’s prized export. He follows a range of actors—colonial ad
 visors\, nationalist leaders\, agrarian reformers\, merchant-financiers\, 
 landowners\, and rural workers—whose interactions moved the levers of th
 e cotton trade from institutions that facilitated accumulation on an imper
 ial scale to new sites of control within the nation-state. Amidst depressi
 on and war\, the transformation of Egypt’s cotton economy prompted natio
 nalists to embrace policies of land reform and industrialization and adopt
  a new conception of history. Ultimately\, Shokr argues\, these efforts se
 t the stage for the construction of a postcolonial republic under Gamal Ab
 del Nasser\, where national liberation became equated with national develo
 pment.\n\nWe hope you will join Ahmad Shokr and Mona Atia for this thoug
 htful discussion about decolonization\, nationalism\, and agrarian capital
 ism in Egypt. All are welcome to attend this event in-person or online.\n\
 n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n 	\n\nAhmad Shokr is a historian of the modern Middle 
 East. His teaching and research interests include the history of capitalis
 m\, imperialism\, and decolonization. He is the author of Harvests of Libe
 ration: Cotton\, Capitalism\, and the End of Empire in Egypt (Stanford Uni
 versity Press\, 2025). Professor Shokr holds a Ph.D. in History and Middle
  Eastern and Islamic Studies from New York University. His writings on his
 torical and contemporary issues have appeared in Arab Studies Journal\, Cr
 itical Historical Studies\, Middle East Report\, Jadaliyya\, and Economic 
 and Political Weekly. He is also a contributor to several volumes\, includ
 ing The Journey to Tahrir: Revolution\, Protest\, and Social Change in Egy
 pt (2012)\; Dispatches from the Arab Spring: Understanding the New Middle 
 East (2013)\; The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History (2016—)\
 ; Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century (2021)\; and A Critica
 l Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa (2021). At Swarthm
 ore\, Professor Shokr teaches about a variety of topics\, including modern
  Middle East history\, colonialism and nationalism\, capitalism\, environm
 ental history\, and social movements.\n\n 	\n\nMona Atia is Associate Pro
 fessor of Geography and International Affairs at the George Washington Uni
 versity. She is a critical development geographer whose areas of expertise
  include Islamic charity and finance\, philanthropy and humanitarianism\, 
 housing/urban development\, the production of poverty knowledge and the sp
 atial politics of marginalization.\n\nREGISTER HERE\n\n
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.arabamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2
 026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-20-at-12.32.47-PM.png
LOCATION:Elliott School of International Affairs\, Room 505\, 1957 E St. NW
 \, Washington\, DC\, United States
GEO:38.8962277;-77.04395729999999
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