A Tale of Two Factions
Description
Winner of the 2003 Ohio Academy of History Outstanding Publication Award
This revisionist study reevaluates the origins and foundation myths of the Faqaris and Qasimis, two rival factions that divided Egyptian society during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when Egypt was the largest province in the Ottoman Empire. In answer to the enduring mystery surrounding the factions' origins, Jane Hathaway places their emergence within the generalized crisis that the Ottoman Empire-like much of the rest of the world-suffered during the early modern period, while uncovering a symbiosis between Ottoman Egypt and Yemen that was critical to their formation. In addition, she scrutinizes the factions' foundation myths, deconstructing their tropes and symbols to reveal their connections to much older popular narratives. Drawing on parallels from a wide array of cultures, she demonstrates with striking originality how rituals such as storytelling and public processions, as well as identifying colors and emblems, could serve to reinforce factional identity.
Jane Hathaway is Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University, the author of The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdag¿lis, and editor of Rebellion, Repression, Reinvention: Mutiny in Comparative Perspective.
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Jane Hathaway is Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University, the author of The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdaglis, and editor of Rebellion, Repression, Reinvention: Mutiny in Comparative Perspective.
Content
Abbreviations
Note on Transliteration
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Appendix: Origin Myths of the Factions
1. Bilateral Factionalism in Ottoman Egypt
2. Bir Varmis, Bir Yokmus: Folklore and Binary Oppositions in the Factional Origin Myths
3. Sa'd and Haram: The Factions' Bedouin Equivalents
4. The Yemeni Connection to Egypt's Factions
5. Red and White: The Colors of the Factions' Banners
6. The Knob and the Disk-The Factions' Standards
7. Selim and Sudun in the Origin Myths
8. The Mulberry Tree in the Origin Myths
9. The Competitive Feasts of Qasim and Dhu'l-Faqar Beys
10. Qasimi Genesis? Qansuh's Slave Troop and Ridvan's Circassian Genealogy
11. Faqari Genesis? 'Ali Bey's Mosque and the Ottoman Dhu'l-Faqar Sword
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
