Forschungsprojekt Reviewing Industrial Heritage of Nasserist Egypt

Rapid retreat from modern colonial empires and perpetual Third-Worldism movement brought forth enduring ‘nationalist’ projects, exemplars thereof are industrial mega-projects pulsating from former colonies and setting example for others. Egypt’s 1952 coup is claimed by native scholarship to have exerted such influence on countries in the Arab region, Africa, and Asia. Inherent to such ‘decolonizing’ endeavours are propagandas that claim national economic and industrial independence. Regarding the era’s post-colonial industrialization, there has been a lack of investigation, reviewing pertinent historiographies and contesting ‘well-known’ narratives. The congress paper thus raises/discusses the following questions: How far has this ‘decolonization’ agenda influenced today’s identification and valuation of heritage? How do locals today associate with this era’s heritage? Speculating such questions allows scanning of events that surround the industrialization in question; alliances with Austrian and German entities, among others, re-raise the question of decolonization and the span of its effectiveness while reflecting on industries predating Nasser. While many locals revere President Nasser, others who have been displaced and endured the severance of cultural ties with the altered urban heritage share a ‘dissonant’ review of the era. The contribution shares first findings and is embedded within the framework of a research programme on modern industrial heritage in Egypt and Europe. Methods as secondary literature, questionnaires, and discourse analysis of archival materials help the paper investigate the intended ‘decolonization’ and its supposed deviation to (re)include colonial imprint (colonial “crypto-industrialization”) that continues to be of leverage today.