Tarrying with the Leviathan: body and temporality in modern Egypt

Abstract

This dissertation will answer what is the impact of modern state institutions (medicine, factory and communication technology) on the construction of the Egyptian body and time and how did the Egyptians react to these efforts? This dissertation argues that the Egyptian state aimed to produce docile subjectivities for the sake of efficiency through three institutions: the first is medicine which produced a healthy desexualised Egyptian body, made reproduction its main purpose and controlled the Egyptians’ intimate time; the second is the factory which controlled the behaviour of body and disciplined the Egyptians’ time (initiated by Muhammad Ali and continued later by Egyptian capitalism with the support of the state); the third is modern transportation (e.g. railroads) which standardised the time of the Egyptians and regulated their movement in space. But, by using everyday acts of quiet assertiveness, Egyptians tried to regain control over their own bodies and tarried the monotonous time.