-What is the significance of the order in which the flags and portraits
are presented?
-Why is it that, from the number of languages presumably spoken by the
leaders represented, only Arabic and English are used in the presentation of thetext?
The souvenir of egypt in a political history project
Let's begin with some unanswered questions about the silk and then develop
them into viable political history research topics.
Question:
Why would a souvenir of Egypt have images of the flags and
leaders of so many European countries on it?
Insight into the question we have gathered from our research:
Recall our
study of the
Texts . The Arabic text declared, "May God make victory our ally."
Perhaps the nations represented are allies in some military adventure. The majorityof the text on the silk is in English, however. It is safe to say that the silk was
produced by and for people who spoke English-- andthat would be the British among our multi-lingual array of other leaders.
Recall our study of the
Flags . We found that some of the Flags met the
end of their periods of use between 1917 and 1923. Does this change of flag designhave anything to do with the perceived multi-national alliance?
Development of the question into a political history research
project:
The image in the Souvenir of Egypt reflects, potentially, the desire
of some Britons to portray for other Britons an allied relationship between thenations of Britain, Egypt, France, Belgium, Italy and Russia during the period
between 1913 and 1917. Our research project will examine the national histories ofeach of these regions during this period to ascertain the actual nature of their
relations with one another. It is suspected that the nations were involved in somesort of military adventure with serious, but unevenly distributed, impact on the
nations’ political situations. The importance of this allied representation to theBritish will also be considered in light of our findings.
Let's try another, more specific question.
Question:
Why are Egypt and Britain the only nations mentioned by name
in the silk?
Insight into the question we have gathered from our research:
Recall our
examination of the Flag of Egypt. Did we not find some mention of a British periodof occupation in Egypt from around the turn of the century? That would be in line
with our other findings, the English text on the silk seeming to indicate that thesilk was meant for British consumption, for example.
Development of the question into a political history research
project:
The place of prominence of the leaders of Egypt and Britain in the
imagery of the Souvenir of Egypt suggests a special relationship between the twonations with in a larger, international alliance in the period between 1913 and
1917. In light of the British occupation of Egypt around the turn of the century, amutually cooperative alliance between Egypt and Britain at this time seems unlikely.
Our research project will examine the place of Britain in the history of Egypt, andvice versa, in the first quarter of the twentieth century for an explanation for
this unbalanced representation of British-Egyptian relations.
