For this country-based research project, I wanted to look into Egypt. First, I had wanted to take a look at the social standing of the engineers in Egypt but then I thought the history would be more interesting to look at. It would be interesting to see the effects that the history had on the current.
So far my research about Egypt has shown me that there is influence from the French and the British, This is demonstrated in “Engineering and Engineering Education in Egypt”. This to me was interesting because as we learned in class and through the readings, France and Britain have different views when it comes to what engineering means, who is an engineer and the qualifications are also different. I have read one article on this topic and I’m actually pretty excited to see how the construction of engineering is today and how these two different countries together helped shape engineering in Egypt. The article also explains how after World War II nationalism also affected Egypt and the control of the British in Egypt. The article also goes on to explain why the British were there. They did not want to fully lose control of Egypt because then they would lose access to the Suez Canal (20). Even though they were not willing to part with that control they allowed Egypt to establish it as an “independent monarchy “ but they were still involved in Egypt. They allowed the monarchy because they saw the “… nationalist unrest of the 191 Revolution” (20) I also want to see how the Suez canal was involved in the Britain’s interest in Egypt. This also makes me winder if there were any other underlying motivations and what were the motivations of the French. I also want to investigate and understand why there was a Nationalist Revolution in 1919 and what acts led to it.
While researching the history of Egypt I also came across a lot of article the spoke of political protests in colleges and they involved mechanical engineers professors. That surprised me and I would be interested to see how the history of Egypt helped shape that as well. At the same time, I want to look into engineering before the French and the British became involved. The beginning of the article, “Engineering and Engineering Education in Egypt”, the beginning of the article begins with,” modern engineering education in Egypt…” (18) To me the raises the question what is pre modern engineering education in Egypt? Also, what makes the education “not modern”? These questions support my thesis question and will help me in my research. Did these views affect how the Egyptians saw themselves and their history?
Something that I would also like to look into would how the French and British impacted the culture. It is through education that the minds of the young people are impacted. Did this create a different generation with different ideas? How did this affect the community? The people of Egypt may have protested to the control of the British in Egypt and how all of these ideas tie into the history if engineering the Egypt.
Works Cited:
El-Sayed, O.L., J. Lucena, and G. Downey. "Engineering and Engineering Education in Egypt." IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 25.2 (2006): 18-25. Print.
Your article caught my eye when I saw the word Egypt. While trying to come up with ideas for my own country based project, I thought of all the typical European and Asia countries that could be studied. Yet Egypt was not one of them, making Egypt a great topic to study further into. Egypt I feel has great architectural engineering incorporated in their society and culture that is not studied or spoken about as much as it deserves. The first location that I thought of for engineering in Egypt is the Gaza and its level of wonder that it has over people. It would be so interesting for you to look more into depth with how these exquisite pyramids were designed and how engineering was incorporated into these buildings. It would also strengthen your project to see how the engineering from the building of Gaza has stayed with modern day engineering in Egypt today. During that point in history did Egypt even consider what they were doing as “engineering?” Did women have any part in building the Gaza? The plan for your project seems to be focused on past engineering experiences in Egypt and I think it would be really beneficial and educational for the rest of the class if you tied today’s modern Egyptian engineering into your study. It would add to the your presentation if you compared and contrasted Egypt’s historical engineering and of todays innovations to see what trends have stayed and which ones vanished. Also, it would be really fascinating to highlight if Egypt has created any modern engineering discoveries in the past 20 years that has earned them recognition with the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteDaisy, I am so excited that you have chosen to focus on Egypt, particularly given the huge protests occurring in Egypt today, protesting the undemocratic regime of Mubarak (who came to power after Sadat was assassinated in 1981). One potential direction for your research paper would focus on what led to the "politicization" of mechanical engineers in Egypt during that previous revolution (is this perhaps French influence shaping a possibility of 'state engineers'?) - and then (if you could find it) the comparative role of engineers in the critique of and resistance to Mubarak. (Relatedly, looking at the role of technologies like satellite phones, twitter, and facebook in this revolution would be a great research topic.)
ReplyDeleteI think your focus on British + French + "pre-modern engineering" + nationalism and how that has shaped dominant images of Egyptian engineering is also a fantastic and rich topic. Looking at the Suez Canal (and how the possibility and then existence of it positions Egypt as a site of conquest) would be an important contribution. Malta was actually significantly impacted by the opening of the Suez Canal, so this may be an interesting opportunity for collaboration with the ICEX students.
The bigger question you ask about "what constitutes modernity? what does it mean to be modern?" is also a fantastic thread, and may overlap with Mandy's focus on "indigenous engineering."
And it may be interesting to explore why Germany ended up in Egypt during WWII, as well as the question as to whether Egypt is "African" or "Middle Eastern" and how that might (or might not) impact engineering education and practice.
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