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The Egyptian Labor Corps: Race, Space, and Place in the First World War

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Austin: University of Texas Press, 2021Description: 263 p., ill.; 26 cmISBN:
  • 9781477324547
Subject(s):
Contents:
A broken promise -- The new corvée -- From home to the front -- "If this is the Holy Land, what must Hell be like?" -- Race and space in ELC camps -- Listening in on the ELC -- The men of the ELC take action -- "I will not accept slavery!" -- The ELC and the 1919 revolution.
Summary: "Despite their promise not to involve Egypt in the war effort, Britain ended up bringing about half a million Egyptian men, predominantly from rural communities, into the Egyptian Labor Corps (ELC), which worked across Europe and the Middle East during World War I. The ELC performed tasks such as loading and unloading ships in France, running camel supply lines in Syria and Palestine, and building railroads across the Sinai Desert. Despite their enormous contributions to the war effort and the creation of infrastructures that lasted long after the war, the ELC, along with other "coloured" labor forces from colonized areas, were rarely recognized or commemorated in any official capacity, with the bulk of the attention going to the white solders. Scholars have only just started to pay attention to non-white laborers and soldiers during that war, and Anderson adds to this effort through his study of the ELC, culminating in the role of these dissatisfied rural workers in the revolution of 1919, which eventually led to Egypt's independence"-- Provided by publisher.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) Library Main Library - 0.01 E 2275 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available E 2275

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A broken promise -- The new corvée -- From home to the front -- "If this is the Holy Land, what must Hell be like?" -- Race and space in ELC camps -- Listening in on the ELC -- The men of the ELC take action -- "I will not accept slavery!" -- The ELC and the 1919 revolution.

"Despite their promise not to involve Egypt in the war effort, Britain ended up bringing about half a million Egyptian men, predominantly from rural communities, into the Egyptian Labor Corps (ELC), which worked across Europe and the Middle East during World War I. The ELC performed tasks such as loading and unloading ships in France, running camel supply lines in Syria and Palestine, and building railroads across the Sinai Desert. Despite their enormous contributions to the war effort and the creation of infrastructures that lasted long after the war, the ELC, along with other "coloured" labor forces from colonized areas, were rarely recognized or commemorated in any official capacity, with the bulk of the attention going to the white solders. Scholars have only just started to pay attention to non-white laborers and soldiers during that war, and Anderson adds to this effort through his study of the ELC, culminating in the role of these dissatisfied rural workers in the revolution of 1919, which eventually led to Egypt's independence"-- Provided by publisher.

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