Egypt's age of transition: unintentional cosmopolitanism during the reign of Muhammad ‘Alī (1805–1848)

Abstract

This article examines cosmopolitanism during the reign of Muhammad 'Alī whose architectural patronage was intertwined with his political aspirations for independence and reform. The Alabaster Mosque and Shubra Palace were prominent in the image of the nascent state and they serve as potent examples of the Pasha's openness to diverse ideas (which was highly controlled) and his cultivation of multiple loyalties in the effort to consolidate power. Connecting Muhammad 'Alī's "enframing of modernity," posited by Timothy Mitchell in Colonisin Egypt (1988), with Ulrich Beck's articulation of "unintentional cosmopolitanism," in The Cosmopolitan Vision (2006), these projects are interpreted as a "side-effect" of the Pasha's efforts to materialize both national and imperial aspirations. This cosmopolitan lens provides a timely insight into the complex cultural encounters that have shaped Egyptian history, given the recent protests against existing regimes and imperialist forces of global capitalism; forces which, similarly, thwarted 'Alī's endeavors in the nineteenth century.