Narrating the Nile: Politics, Cultures, Identities (review)

This attractive and stimulating collection of studies is a Festschrift for Haggai Erlich, a distinguished historian of northeast Africa, and was organized to address several of the themes prominent in his own historical writings. Part 1 is entitled "Egypt and Ethiopia: History and Remembering History." Michael Winter discusses relations between Ethiopia and Mamluk Egypt, with an emphasis upon both the strengths and the limitations of Arabic-language sources for the examination of this historical theme. Steven Kaplan analyzes the influence of Christian Arabic writings from Egypt upon the literature of Ethiopia. He finds significant borrowings between the two fields, and these also served conspicuously as springboards for the intellectual creativity of the recipients. Meir Hatina examines the political implications of Ahmad 'Urabi's personal memoir of the Ethiopian war. Resounding defeat of an Ottoman and alien-led expeditionary force, 'Urabi maintained, could be remedied only by a thorough Egyptianization of Egypt itself and its armed forces—a program destined to prove controversial in the decades following the initial debacle.

Part 2 is titled "Egypt and Sudan: Unity and National Self-Determination." Rami Ginat details the difficulties of adapting Communism to a political discourse dominated by the idea of unity of the Nile valley. John Voll opens the door to a brief and neglected chapter in American foreign relations with non-Western countries during the period from the end of World War II to the Bandung Conference. Part 3 is titled "The Nile Valley and Collective Identities." Orit Bashkin examines the controversial roles of Egyptian intellectuals in Iraq during the interval between the World Wars. Joel Gordon surveys the output of the Egyptian film industry under Nasser's rule and finds little cultural support there for a prevailing political rhetoric advocating unity of the Nile valley. Heather J. Sharkey offers a behind-the-scenes Presbyterian and Evangelical perspective on a memorable series of concerts by Umm Kulthum at the American University in Cairo. Part 4, titled "Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan: Dissonance and Rapprochement," is conflict oriented. The late Robert Collins revisits the historical allocation of (and control over) the waters of the Nile, issues he projected as destined to prove problematic. David H. Shinn traces the torturous course of postcolonial Sudanese–Ethiopian relations, with emphasis upon uncertain borders, the mutual manipulation of refugees and resistance groups, and the calculated allocation of trading opportunities and natural resources.

In part 5 the editors offer a discursive overview entitled "Narrating the Nile." The work closes with a survey of the career and contributions of the scholar to which the effort is dedicated. Each reader will find in this volume a unique and diverse array of useful insights and original perspectives. For the present reviewer, a memorable point (152) was the photograph of the Egyptian Free Officer Salah Salim jump-dancing in 1953—while wearing nothing but a diaper—in solidarity with a group of correspondingly lightly-clad Dinka!