Please, Come In: Furniture and National Identity in Postcolonial Egypt (1952-1981)

n 1952, a military coup d'état overthrew the monarchy, declared independence from British occupation, and established Egypt as a republic. The years that followed were formative to a new national identity, the broad outlines of which are still lived today. This research will investigate the formation and practice of postcolonial Egyptian identity during the Nasser and Sadat eras by studying the intimate and material world of domestic furniture. The research will be the first to engage with the topic from a bottom-up approach centralising the role of ordinary Egyptians -specially women- in the historic narrative of postcolonial nationalism. This interdisciplinary project draws together the home, material culture, and design history to question how national identity was lived through everyday practices inside Egyptian homes. The impact of this research extends beyond academia as its findings will be particularly relevant to contemporary narratives of identity in Egypt and the region.