LA INTERPRETACIÓN JUDICIAL

4. Shepheard’s Hotel 5. Ezbekiyya Gardens 6. European Quarter 7. Savoy Hotel 8. Gezira Club 9. Anglo-American Hospital 10. All Saints’ Church 11. St. Andrew’s Church

(Based on Map o f Cairo, no. 64480 (4): Edward Stanford, 12,13, 14, Long Acre W.C., 16 June: 1906, London and General Map o f Cairo, no. 64480(6), Survey of Egypt 1920)

3. Symbols and Institutions of the Community

Introduction: The roles of symbols in community

Every community of people is defined by certain features and commonalities that distinguish it from other communities. Since members of a certain community may not necessarily know other members of their community, there need to be common mental concepts that each member of the community shares with other members. These imagined distinctives give the community meaning and identity. Benedict Anderson, in

Imagined Communities, asserts that the bonds of community are articulated in the mind -

very similar to the individual 'consciousness' described in the previous chapter,

"...All communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined...because the members of even the smallest [community] will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds o f each lives the image of their communion."1

Even though members of each community would actually meet only a small minority of their fellow members, they usually have "complete confidence in their steady,

anonymous, simultaneous activity."2

This confidence in the reality and vitality of the community comes from certain constructs shared in the imagination of each member of the community. These constructs are what we call symbols.

"Symbols of community are mental constructs. They provide people with the means to make meaning. In so doing, they also provide them with the means to express the particular meanings which the community has for them."3

This discussion centres on identifying and examining the symbols that underscored British identity and community in occupied Cairo. Here, the word 'symbol' refers to three aspects of representation. First, "ethnic identity is expressed symbolically...it is possible for...intemal diversity to be preserved, even while it is masked by common symbolic

1 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities^ rev. ed. (London, Verso, 1994), p.6. 2 Ibid., p.26.

forms.”4 Symbols express ethnic identity. They serve as emblems to "differentiate [one ethnic group] from other groups."5 They "reinforce...the specialness..,the exclusiveness....[and] even chosen-ness, of the group."6 They not only define and give shape to the identity of the community but act as the glue that keeps it together. They represent, create and facilitate commonality within a community, heighten and affirm the awareness of the community while, at the same time, they mask diversity.

Secondly, symbols represent a common memory, heritage or ancestry in a given community. Patterson refers to the inner concourse of ethnic identity as one which begins with the "consciousness of shared crisis, one symbolically validated...with a common memory."7 The crisis is normally one that creates a sense of isolation that is experienced collectively, not individually. Further, symbols validate myths.

"This is the myth of blood, the deeply held belief that the entire group has a common ancestry, common history, and sometimes a common fete. It is this myth - often having little or no basis in fact - that the specially ethnic group event ritualises. The ethnic group...is not so much a moral community as is a religious group - a community of memory."8

French sociologist Barthes' articulates this usage of myth in Mythologies'.

"Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters this message ...[Myths are created when an]...object in the world [passes] from a closed, silent existence to an oral state, open to appropriation by society. "9

Barthes states that objects can pass from a closed state to an oral state. It is in the 'speech' of objects that myths and messages emerge. Objects, monuments, buildings and rituals all tell a story within every community. Inanimate objects that point to and remind members of the group of a common history and shared crises, then, are the symbols

8 Anthony Cohen, The Symbolic Construction o f Community (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 19.

4 Anthony Cohen, "Boundaries of Consciousness, Consciousness of Boundaries: Critical Questions for Anthropology," in Cora Govers and Hans Vermeulen, eds. The Anthropology o f Ethnicity Beyond

'Ethnic Groups and Boundaries' (Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis, 1994), p.62.

5 Cora Govers and Hans Vermeulen, "Introduction", in Govers and Vermeulen, 1994, p. 4.

6 Orlando Patterson, "The Nature, Causes, and Implications of Ethnic Identification" in Charles Fried, ed. Minorities, Community and Identity (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983), p.31.

7 Ibid., p.25. 8 Ibid.. p.31.

9 Roland Barthes, Mythologies, trans. by Annette Lavers (London: Granada, 1973), p. 109 (my emphasis).

which communicate a message or 'myth'. They construct the shared concepts and memories that identify and nurture commonality within an 'imagined' community.

Third, besides acting as the enforcer of common identity and curator of common memories, symbols elaborate, enhance, manipulate and perpetuate the culture, ideas, aspirations and significant heroes of an ethnic group in front of other groups.10 Symbols not only galvanise and unify the group from within but also radiate the group's identity (in the case of the British in Egypt - power, prestige and influence) to other groups.

The following analysis attempts to identify, describe and examine the symbols within the British community in occupied Cairo which acted as rallying points for community distinctiveness and commonality, reflected a common history, and perpetuated the group's position and identity to outsiders. We will investigate the symbolic value and roles of the British flag, the English language, expatriate geographic locations, clubs and sports, military structures and activities, hotels, schools, hospitals, churches and key occasions.

The British flag

Although the flag usually acts as a clear symbol of a nation's presence and power in occupied territory, surprisingly, there seems to be little evidence to suggest that the British flag was a significant symbol in Egypt. H.F. Wood, British traveller during the 1890s, was the only observer, according the sources used in this study, who mentioned the presence (or the lack) of British flags in Alexandria and Cairo. He recalls:

"It might be inferred that above the [sign] "Headquarters British Garrison", if nowhere else, the British ensign is to be seen at Alexandria. [But] I did not see the British ensign either there or anywhere else until reaching Cairo, and then only at the premises of private tradesmen and at the masthead of Nile excursion or pleasure-boats...The stars and stripes floated from the summit of the American Consulate adjacent to the English Church [in]...Alexandria; but neither upon ordinary business structures, nor upon private or official residences, nor upon the quarters of the British commander at Alexandria, nor at the headquarters of the garrison itself, was any British flag to be perceived."11

10 Ibid.. p.32.

According to Wood, the British flag was not only absent on official buildings in Alexandria and Cairo, it was non-existent in informal events and occasions as well.

"I supposed that, as the cities of the Continent where the British colonies form their clubs for outdoor recreation, the Union jack might have harmlessly adorned the ground of the local cricket, football and lawn-tennis club. It was not so, however....[In one particular]...football match between the Alexandria Club and a crew of the gunboat Fearless...nothing o f the colours [of the club jerseys and]...nothing in any of the usual decorations to a club-house or marquee suggested the British flag."12

From the evidence of the 1890s, it appears that the British flag was rarely seen. Therefore, one may conclude that the flag, as a basic symbol of presence and predominance, was not utilised by the British in occupied Cairo most likely due to the British role as reluctant occupiers of a land that was still officially Ottoman territory.

The English language

English was not the most widely used language among the legal and business circles during the British occupation of Egypt, though certain Britons wanted to make English the official language of Egypt’s mixed courts which would symbolise Britain’s hold on power. The mixed courts tried civil cases for foreign residents while criminal cases were tried in the consular courts of their country of origin. To the chagrin o f some in Cairo’s British community,

“French was the language that most people in Egypt had in common. Although the foreign communities were cosmopolitan, and the educated Egyptians often had more than two languages to choose from, the easiest way for a foreigner, whether he was Italian, Belgian, Swiss or Russian, to converse with a local, whether he was Turkish or Egyptian, was through the medium of French. This was also the case if the foreigners wished to do business amongst themselves, and often between Turk and Egyptian also. Added to France’s cultural influence through legal writings and philosophy, and the French education that many Egyptians had enjoyed, this led to an easy assumption of the French language as a lingua franca.”13

Not only was French the primary language of education (next to Arabic) and interaction between Europeans and Egyptians, it was the main language for the mixed tribunals, government newspapers and notices, official legal documents such as tenders, railway time tables, decrees issued by the Sultan of Egypt, and cab-stand notices.14 Since French

12 Ibid., p.52-53. 13 Hoyle, p. 17.

14 Minutes o f Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Middle East & North Africa section (1916-1926), report after J.P. Foster’s address, 12/11/1917 (Manchester Central Library, Archives Department).

was the medium for the mixed courts in Egypt, the legal system was based on French codes. However,

'‘while using the vast amount of French legal thought as an aid where necessary, judges were clearly able to interpret the Codes in an Egyptian context, free from enactments not suitable to the Orient...Thus any influence of French law that may have transposed itself into the Codes was soon influenced itself by Egyptian surroundings.”15

By 1917, the Capitulations Commission was appointed to deal with the abolition of the capitulations and to formulate the judicial reforms necessary to achieve this. Much to the displeasure of British lawyers, the minutes to the meetings of the Commission were written in French and the leading British judge in Egypt, Justice Grain, was not invited to participate in its proceedings; even though Egypt was firmly under Britain’s political authority. Therefore, J.P. Foster, a British solicitor practising in Egypt, along with nine other British lawyers, strongly recommended to the Commission that

“English should be made, without delay, the judicial language of Egypt [and] that English criminal procedure and law be adopted. Justice Grain or someone familiar with English law and procedure... should [be] appointed [and] the minutes of the commission should be kept in English, and the volumnious minutes which have been hitherto kept in French should be translated into English... English should no longer be relegated to a back se a t”16

To Foster and his legal colleagues, English as the official language of the mixed courts combined with English judicial procedure symbolised the rightful place of British dominance in Egypt. How could a country under British control not utilise English as its main language in the courts? And how appropriate was French, as the primary language of the courts in a British protectorate? Disappointingly for Foster and his cohorts, the Foreign Office, though sympathetic, was dismissive of his recommendations. The Minutes of the Capitulations Commission and the Advisory Committee on Egyptian legislation continued to be recorded in French.17 Most likely, the Foreign Office felt that the symbolic installing of English as the language of the mixed courts was not worth the risk of upsetting its European allies in Egypt during the war or destabilising Egypt in any way.

15 Hoyle, p. 19.

16 Speech by J.P. Foster to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 12/11/1917, recorded in Minutes of Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Middle East & North Africa section (1916-1926). (Emphasis mine) 17 Minutes of Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 12/11/1917.

Even so, in 1918, William Brunyate the Judicial Adviser continued the campaign to implement English as the everyday language in the mixed courts. However, his recommendations were met with opposition, not least from French judges and lawyers and those who had been accustomed to French as the legal language of Egypt. After more than 100 meetings with leaders of the mixed tribunals to discuss the introduction of English as the language of the mixed courts, Brunyate’s plans were rejected.18 No doubt, the other Continent European players in the mixed tribunals were reluctant to give way for the imposition of English as the language of the courts because they already felt threatened by the establishment of Egypt as a formal protectorate of Great Britain. Though certain members of the British legal community in Cairo undertook to formalise English as the official language of the mixed courts due to its symbolic significance as the language of the occupiers of Egypt, the effort was unsuccessful during the time of the occupation.

The symbolic significance of location

Comparative studies show that spatial separation in colonial cities emerged, underlining and cementing social separation. Ross and Telkamp's work in comparing colonial cities reveals that,

"...in AIgiers...Saigon...and Dakar, there was from the beginning a spatial distinction between the 'white' town and the area inhabited by the local population, whether Algerian, Vietnamese or Sengalese; [and] the same phenomenon [occurred] not just in the French Empire, [but] in English cities [as well]...This encoded and determined social stratification and categorisation."19

Similarly, new residential neighbourhoods apart from the native quarters were established for the British community in Bengal. S.C. Ghosh writes:

"With the growth both of wealth and a new sense of security...new housing sprang up along the existing roads, the Avenue, Pilgrim Road, and row Bazer and by passing the native quarters of Dinga and Colinga."20

18 Hoyle, p. 116.

19 Robert Ross & Gerard J. Telkamp, eds., Colonial Cities: Essays on Urbanism in a Colonial Context (Lancaster: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985), p.5-6,

Jurgen Osterhammel observes that the "basic organizing principle [for colonial cities] was a segregation of residential quarters along racial lines. This segregation was partly the result of deliberate policies and partly of unplanned developments."21 He mentions that eighteenth century Calcutta was divided between ’white town' and 'black town'. The British also laid out separate residential districts in Delhi, Kingston in Jamaica, Dakar, Nairobi and Singapore. The European districts were almost always more spacious, with villas and bungalows on large lots and equipped with an elaborate sewage system. Indigenous quarters were usually cramped and lacked the sanitary structures and conditions of the European quarters.22

The same segregation was evident in occupied Cairo, Mitchell points out that tight and crammed quarters along the narrow streets and poor lighting of pre-colonial Cairo were considered chief causes for disease and crime.23 Motivated by his desire to create the Paris of the Middle East, Khedive Ismail implemented a wide-ranging construction scheme during the middle of the 19th century with the help of European engineering expertise. Wider streets and more open areas were built in order to curb disease and to aUow police to monitor 'dark' areas of crime more readily. Open spaces were created for new shops and entertainment. Cleanliness on the streets was encouraged.24 As a result, these wider spaces became areas where Europeans were more likely to frequent, away from what they considered to be the less developed, unsanitary and unsafe areas where mostly native Egyptians dwelled. Construction of European buildings and institutions in Cairo, during the time of the British Occupation, by and large remained in areas that the Khedive had already developed as European.

An analysis of the maps of Cairo during from the 1900s testifies to this segregation. According to Edward Stanford's map of 190625, the residential map of Gezira in 190726

21 JUrgen Osterhammel, Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview (Princeton, Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997), p.88.

22 ibid.

23 Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988), p.65. 24 ibid., p. 67.

25 British Map Library, no. 64480 (4): Edward Stanford, 12, 13,14, Long Acre W.C., 16 June: 1906 (London); acquired by British Museum, 4 Oct. 1906.

26 Residential Map o f Gezira, published by the Survey of Egypt, 1907, in F.T. Rowlatt’s Hanging File, (Middle East Centre, St.Antony’s College, Oxford University).

and another map published by the Survey of Egypt in 192027, most districts in Cairo were chiefly Egyptian while some areas vividly showcased European architecture. More specifically, within these predominantly European quarters, British buildings and institutions were situated on 3 main sites. The Gezira Island (which in 1906 was called Gezirat Bulak) featured a large residential quarter for British residents, the Gezira Palace Hotel and Gezira Sporting club. On the club's grounds were the racecourse and the Anglo-American Hospital. The Qasr el-Dubara quarter, just southeast of Gezira and east of the Nile River, hosted the British Consulate-General, the Semiramis and Savoy hotels and was also a leading residential neighbourhood for British residents of Cairo. Finally, the Ezbekiyya area, just northeast of the Qasr el-Dubara quarter, contained the often frequented Shepheard's Hotel, Continental Hotel, Hotel Victoria, the Anglo-Egyptian Bank nearby in ‘Ataba and the All Saint's and St. Andrew's churches were also in the same vicinity. Although facilitated by earlier aforementioned Khedival policies, the pattern of segregation between the foreign rulers and native Egyptians emerged primarily during the British Occupation when more and more Britons settled in Cairo. British residents in Cairo chose to live, work, and relax in Gezira, Qasr el-Dubara/Garden City and the Ezbekiyya area; while Egyptians inhabited regions like Boulaq, Shobra, and Old Cairo. On the outskirts of Cairo, Britons also resided in Zamalek, Heliopolis, Maadi, and Helwan, Abu-Lughod articulates this divide between the European quarter and the Egyptian parts of Cairo:

“By the end of the nineteenth century Cairo consisted of two distinct physical communities... The city’s physical duality was but a manifestation of the cultural cleavage... The native city [was] still essentially pre-industrial in technology, social structure, and way of life, [with] the labyrinth street pattern of yet unpaved [streets];...the ‘colonial’ city [featured] its steam-powered techniques, its faster pace and wheeled traffic, and its European identification...[with] broad straight streets...flanked by wide walks and setbacks, militantly crossing one another at rigid right angles...[The native city] was dependent upon itinerant water peddlers [while the residents of the ‘colonial’ city]...had their water delivered through a convenient network of conduits connected with the steam pumping station near the river. [The native city was] plunged into darkness at nightfall while gaslights illuminated the thoroughfares [of the ‘colonial’ city along with] formal gardens, strips of decorative flowers beds, or artificially shaped trees. One entered the old city by caravan and traversed it on foot or animal-back; one entered the new by