The same khedive who bankrupted Egypt also financed its cultural renaissance

Evidence

Nationalist writers like Sanüa helped create Khedive Ismaïl’s reputation for deceit and greed, and held him culpable for bankrupting Egypt and eventually causing it to be occupied by the British. But it is important to understand that, without Ismaïl, there might not have been the schools to educate these writers, nor the opportunities for cultural renaissance like the opening of local theaters and newspapers. In many important ways, the autocratic and careless Ismaïl was himself the engine behind Egypt’s nahda (renaissance). He was also the first to manipulate the language of nationalism, to employ double meanings when referring to Egypt’s position in the Middle East and Africa. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 340

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines nahda (renaissance) as it applies to Egypt’s cultural context.
• SEED: Essay angle: how figures demonized for imperial financial ruin simultaneously midwife the culture that condemns them.