State, Memory, and Egypt’s Victory in the 1973 War: Ruling by Discourse

328 Pages·2017·2.87 MB·English

by  Mustafa Menshawy (auth.)

STATE, MEMORY,
AND EGYPT’S VICTORY
IN THE 1973 WAR
Ruling by Discourse
MET
MUSTAFA MENSHAWY
Middle East
Today
Middle East Today
Series Editors
Fawaz A. Gerges
Department of International Relations
London School of Economics
London, United Kingdom
Nader Hashemi
Center for Middle East Studies
University of Denver
Denver, Colorado, USA
Aim of the Series
The Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, and the
US invasion and occupation of Iraq have dramatically altered the geopo-
litical landscape of the contemporary Middle East. The Arab Spring upris-
ings have complicated this picture. This series puts forward a critical body
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include Iran and Turkey as emerging pre-eminent powers in the region,
the former an ‘Islamic Republic’ and the latter an emerging democracy
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their petrol economies and regional ambitions; potential problems of
nuclear proliferation in the region; and the challenges confronting the
United States, Europe, and the United Nations in the greater Middle
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and revolution, international relations, occupation, radicalism, democracy,
human rights, and Islam as a political force in the context of the modern
Middle East.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14803
Mustafa Menshawy
State, Memory, and
Egypt’s Victory in the
1973 War
Ruling by Discourse
Mustafa Menshawy
Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Westminster
London, United Kingdom
Middle East Today
ISBN 978-3-319-50120-8 ISBN 978-3-319-50121-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-50121-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016960708
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For Emir
A
cknowledgements
I have been a fortunate recipient of great support from many people.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Professor Fawaz Gerges who, after
several hours of fruitful discussions, encouraged me to write this book
to fill an obvious gap in the literature. Thanks extend to Dr Maria Holt,
with whom I discussed the project of this book tirelessly, and to Professor
Dibyesh Anand for all his provocative comments. I am incredibly thank-
ful for the unique contribution Dr Ali Tajvidi made to this project. I owe
much to Dr Elisa Randazzo who offered thoughts, time and effort on
the entire study. Greg Aesen’s support and dedication always gave me the
confidence to continue. Rob Cowley, Ashley Kitchen and Sanna Melin
Schyllert deserve special thanks for being helpful with reading and com-
menting on the manuscript and for providing an outstanding environ-
ment in which to complete this study during my stay in the University
of Westminster. Yusuf Abd El-Razzaq, Mahmoud Abdel-Raheem and Dr
Hanan El-Guindy helped a great deal. My gratitude has always extended
to Professor Laleh Khalili of SOAS, who inspired me to conduct research
on this interplay of language and politics, and to my colleagues and
friends in the University of Westminster’s Department of Politics and
International Relations (DPIR), including Dr Thomas Moore, Dr Farhang
Morady, Dr Atef El-Shaer, Dr Paul Kendall and Professor Abdel-Wahab
El-Affendi. Thanks also extend to Galal Nassar, Gamil Afiffi, Mohamed
El-Sayyed and Injy El-Naggar. My small family is owed particular thanks.
In Cairo, my mother provided me with enough food and kind thoughts.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In London, Zeynep was always supportive and patient. Emir joined us at
the end and I am grateful to him as well. Finally, I express appreciation for
any individual who did not question the wisdom of my academic pursuits.
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Critical Discourse Analysis
and the Power of the 1973 War in Egypt 1
1.1 The Objectives 9
1.2 Book Layout 21
1.3 Conclusion 25
2 State and Memory Under Sadat: Language, Politics
and the 1973 War Discourse in Egypt 27
2.1 Textual Patterns: Macro-themes 30
2.1.1 Egypt Had a Massive and Consistent Victory 30
2.1.2 War Religionised/Miraclised 55
2.1.3 War Personified/Personalised 71
2.2 Linguistic Features: Grammar, Semantics and Pragmatics 84
2.2.1 Transitivity 85
2.2.2 Modality 90
2.2.3 Metaphor and Wording 95
2.3 Conclusion 101
3 State and Memory Under Mubarak: Language, Politics
and the 1973 War Discourse in Egypt 103
3.1 Textual Patterns: Macro-themes 104
3.1.1 Egypt Secured a Massive and Consistent Victory 104
3.1.2 War Personified/Personalised 111
3.1.3 War Religionised/Miraclised 129
ix
x CONTENTS
3.2 Linguistic Patterns: Grammar, Semantics
and Pragmatics 136
3.2.1 Transitivity 136
3.2.2 Modality 138
3.2.3 Metaphor and Wording 140
3.3 Conclusion 147
4 Socio-Political Practices Under Sadat 149
4.1 Authoritarian President 150
4.2 Authoritarian Media System 159
4.3 ‘Islamist Revival’ 175
4.4 National Narrative Fidelity 181
4.4.1 Other Newspapers 182
4.4.2 General Books 184
4.4.3 School Textbooks 192
4.4.4 Features and Arts 195
4.5 Conclusion 199
5 Socio-Political Practices Under Mubarak 201
5.1 Authoritarian President 202
5.2 Getting Closer to Sadat 206
5.3 Authoritarian Media System 210
5.4 National Narrative Fidelity 219
5.4.1 Other Newspapers 219
5.4.2 School Textbooks 220
5.4.3 General Books 227
5.4.4 Features and Arts 231
5.5 Conclusion 235
6 The Death of War Discourse? Explaining Change
and Continuity 237
6.1 Official Discourse: Mubarak in 18 Days 239
6.2 Failed Socio-Politics 242
6.3 The War Discourse Upgraded 259
6.4 Explaining the Metamorphosis: Discourse and Memory 271
6.5 Conclusion 276