From West To East: The Identity Shift Of Egyptian Secularist Intellectuals In The 1920s And 1930s

Since Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798,the contradiction between tradition and modernization has profoundly affected Egyptian society.In the 1920 s and 1930 s,Egyptian secularist intellectuals were the dominant force in shaping the Egyptian national ideology,and their views and solutions to the contradiction between Egyptian tradition and modernization were crucial.At the beginning of the 20 th century,the conditions for the rise of Egyptian liberal nationalism included three aspects: the promotion of political situation,the emergence of the Effendi class,and the influence of western modern thoughts.Under the conditions of this era,the concrete manifestation of liberal nationalism advocated by Egyptian secularist intellectuals was to construct a new system of collective cultural identity adapted to it,and to deny the traditional Arab-Islamic cultural identity.In the 1930 s,the cultural identity of Egyptian secularist intellectuals tended to be orientalized,which was manifested in three aspects: attacking blind westernization,turning to Arab identity,and creating Islamic literature.The reasons for their cultural identity shift can be summarized as the following four aspects: the failure of liberal constitutional government;economic difficulties and social crisis;the failure of public education and the emergence of the new Effendi class;the relationships between Egypt and the Arab world were strengthening.Because of the dominant position of secularist intellectuals in Egyptian society,their identity shift not only accelerated the decline of liberal nationalism,but also promoted the rise of Arab nationalism and objectively stimulated the revival of political Islamic identity.The thesis draws the following conclusions: Firstly,regarding how to deal with the conflict between eastern and western cultures,Egyptian secularist intellectuals gave different answers in the 1920 s and 1930 s,and there was a significant change from the overall westernization to the orientalization in their attitude towards eastern and western cultures.Secondly,the identity shift of Egyptian secularist intellectuals was inseparable from the modernization process of Egyptian politics,economy and society.Thirdly,Egyptian secularist intellectuals didn’t correctly recognize their mission in the era and the most important social conflicts still to be resolved in Egyptian society.Therefore,their specific practices lacked pertinence,were too simple and mechanical,and could not effectively relieve the contradiction between Egyptian tradition and modernization.Fourthly,due to the dominant position of Egyptian secularist intellectuals in Egyptian politics and society,their rapid and clear changes in attitudes towards Eastern and Western cultures herald a major change in the overall direction of Egyptian society and culture.