Stolen Husbands, Foreign Wives: Mixed Marriage, Identity Formation, and Gender in Colonial Egypt, 1909-1923

Abstract

This paper explores the multiple ways in which Egyptian women and men conceptualized mixed marriage between Egyptian men and European women from 1909 to 1923. It argues that mixed marriage in colonial Egypt was a contested site of national identity formation that attracted the growing attention of writers. The debates on mixed marriage provide convincing evidence of the political and cultural anxieties which often underwrote experiments in colonial modernity. I aim to situate mixed marriage—where these anxieties particularly coalesced—as a place in which notions of colonial modernity were produced and reproduced as a condition for the enlightenment and progress of the Egyptian nation and its citizens, most notably its women. As the sources make clear, tensions about marriage between Egyptian men and European women evolved out of the particular circumstances of the British occupation. These anxieties coalesced particularly in critiques that often portrayed mixed marriage as endangering the marital futures of Egyptian women, and the political and cultural identities of mixed marriage offspring, the family, and the Egyptian nation by extension. An analysis of these debates will reveal that mixed marriage was often portrayed as an impediment—and sometimes as a facilitator—to Egypt's path of modernity. I argue that these writers used mixed marriage to critique Egyptian men's and women's gendered roles as fathers, husbands, mothers, and wives. In doing so, they aimed to construct a new vision of the family and society as sites of modernity where the Egyptian colony could reform and prove to be 'modern' and, thus, worthy of political independence.

From the “Republic of Cousins” to foreign spouses: Transnational marriages in Türkiye

“…This is because being a foreign woman is associated with low morals and the presence of them in Türkiye creates competition in the local marriage market (Kaya, 2017; Yıldırım, 2015). For this reason, it is seen that especially foreign brides are presented as “thieves” who “steal” local men in Türkiye as well as in countries like Egypt (Akyüz & Tursun, 2019; Kholoussy, 2003).…”

Muslim Marriage and Non-Marriage

“…The objections of the notary are reminiscent of the texts of standardized interfaith marriage contracts used in the family court of Alexandria in the early twentieth century. Historian Hanan Kholoussy (2003) argues that these warnings have been used as a deterrent, or to preemptively discipline non-Muslim wives. These contracts, in contrast to the contracts used for two Muslim spouses, included lengthy explanations about the rights and responsibilities of non-Muslim wives (both Egyptian and foreign citizens), and emphasized rights of the husband that a foreign or Christian wife may not be accustomed to.…”

Sound and Desire: Race, Gender, and Insult in Egypt's First Talkie

“…Hanan Kholoussy has examined this angst and argues that the debates generated ideal visions of female and male gender roles. 49 Indeed, the matter even reached legislators' ears, and in 1933 a law was passed prohibiting Egyptian diplomats from marrying foreign women to prevent them from causing shame to the nation. 50 In 1927, the wife of a certain ʿAli Shukri Khamis Bey wrote an article subtitled "Khatar Yuhaddid al-Qawmiyya al-Misriyya" (A Danger Threatening Egyptian Nationalism) in the woman's magazine al-Marʾa al-Misriyya (The Egyptian Woman).…”