B151871 Tutorial Paper #2 1

B151871
Modern Middle Eastern History A
Dr Anthony Gorman
Tutorial Paper #2
13 October 2021

On Shauna Huffaker’s ‘Represntations of Ahmed Urabi: Hegemony, Imperialism, and the British
Press, 1881-1882’ from the Victorian Periodicals Review

In her article, Huffaker explores the ways colonial Britain represented Ahmed Urabi during the time
of the uprising known as the Urabi revolt. She presents ideas from the British press at the time, and
how they used the image of Urabi and Egypt to push their agenda for expansion and unstated
Imperialism. She notes how Urabi is represented as childish, immature, and from primitive origins,
not cable to govern a disorganised and backwards Egypt and Egyptian society, however, Urabi
could sometimes also be strong, having the ability to ‘stir up the masses’1. These representations
justified Britain’s ‘white man’s burden’ for expansion and invasion. Once the revolt has been
settled, Egypt and Urabi serve consequences, and Britain emerges triumphed, as shown in the
newspapers (See Fig. 9 in Huffaker, 2012).

Huffaker uses sources from the British press in 1881 and 1882 to acutely present her argument in an
effective way. Besides the negative views of Egypt and Urabi in newspapers and magazines,
Huffaker also notes on the limited ‘positive’ views of Egypt, presenting a well-constructed
argument. Press during Imperial Britain preforms propaganda, to legitimise Britain’s presence in
colonised countries. These punitive views support and showcase political action and thought, in line
with the views of Gladstone and his council members, suggesting Egypt incapable as a whole2.

Britain’s need and justification for God, Gold, and Glory is present precisely in Huffaker’s article.
Propaganda as a tool for Imperial values showed Muslim Egypt as punitive and backwards, and
Britain’s triumph over Urabi and the Alexandria in 1882 as justification for invasion and control
(political and commercial, i.e. Suez Canal). And although, Imperial Britain is a thing of the past, it
remains persistent in post-colonial countries. The consequences of being colonised for the Middle
East and Asia are still experienced. The loss of an opportunity to be presented an equal playing field
with the Industrial West has been lost, or more accurately, been stripped from colonial countries.

1 Huffaker, 2012, p. 376.

2 Galbraith, John S. and Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot, ‘The British Occupation of Egypt: Another View’,
International Journal of Middle East Studies 9: 4 (Nov 1978), 471-488.
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The aftermath can be seen moving forward in history especially when such notions of inferiority are
false, as noted by Huffaker in her closing sentences and in truer representation, such as Urabi’s own
writings3.

Word Count: 360

Bibliography

Huffaker, Shauna, ‘Representations of Ahmed Urabi: Hegemony, Imperialism, and the British
Press, 1881-1882’, Victorian Periodicals Review 45: 4 (Winter 2012), 375-405.

3 Wilfred S. Blunt, Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt (1907), 367-375.