Identity crisis and the reshaping of Egypt's national identity under Sadat

National identity is the one of the basic elements of a modern state because the belonging of people to the nation is based on their belonging to their identity. For every Third World country, the defining of national identity and the construction of national belonging is especially crucial to the social stability and the social development. Egyptians identity issue merged in 19th century, when Egyptian intellectuals were influenced by Western “nation state” thought and tried to identify the national identity of Egyptians. From the 19th century to 1967, we can find that the development process of Egyptian nationalism has a clue --- from a vague distinction of “Egyptians” and “un-Egyptians” to an attempt of construction the national history; from “the lack of nationalism” to the struggle between different kinds of nationalism to the dominant of Arabism. However, the disastrous rout of Egypt in 1967 Arab-Israeli War cut down this process and a series of political events in Sadat era...Show moreNational identity is the one of the basic elements of a modern state because the belonging of people to the nation is based on their belonging to their identity. For every Third World country, the defining of national identity and the construction of national belonging is especially crucial to the social stability and the social development. Egyptians identity issue merged in 19th century, when Egyptian intellectuals were influenced by Western “nation state” thought and tried to identify the national identity of Egyptians. From the 19th century to 1967, we can find that the development process of Egyptian nationalism has a clue --- from a vague distinction of “Egyptians” and “un-Egyptians” to an attempt of construction the national history; from “the lack of nationalism” to the struggle between different kinds of nationalism to the dominant of Arabism. However, the disastrous rout of Egypt in 1967 Arab-Israeli War cut down this process and a series of political events in Sadat era was finally resulted in a new identity crisis in Egypt society. In that case, Egyptian government had no option but to re-shape the Egyptian national identity for the sake of repairing the crack of society which made by the identity crisis and maintaining its legitimacy. In Sadat era, Egyptian government amended history textbooks, constructed some new national museums and introduced some new symbols. However, The measures undertaken by the Egyptian government under Sadat did not create a new consensus over what the ‘Egyptian nation’ is. Quite on the contrary, many national identities compete with each other but none of them can be a dominant ideology.Show less

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Identity crisis and the reshaping of Egypt's national identity under Sadat