The author of the book under review, Eiji Nagaswa, is a well-known Arabist in Japan. Since graduating from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo in 1976, he has published many studies on different aspects of the modem and contemporary society of Egypt as well as other studies dealing with the Middle East at large.
After nineteen years at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), Tokyo, he moved in 1995 to the Institute of Oriental Culture at the University of Tokyo as an Associate Professor. From 1998 to 1999 he served as the director of JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Research Center in Cairo. In 1998, he was promoted to Full Professor at the University of Tokyo, which position he has held until now.
Nagasawa has published many articles in the socio-economic history of modern and contemporary Egypt. He has focused on Egyptian society in the belief that the country could serve, to different degrees, as a model case for the Arab world at large. Notably, he has paid special attention to questions of rural migrant workers, the cotton economy, the relation between Egyptian capitalism and communist movements, the transformation of the irrigation system in modern times, and the effects of labor migration on employment conditions in rural Egypt in the late 1970s.
At the same time, his interest in the socio-economic aspect of Egypt developed into further related areas of interest. For one thing, he came to take an interest in the sociological analysis of Egyptian society. Thus his publications include articles on topics such as family relationships, the power structure of villages, and social solidarity in the urban sector. Nagasawa also developed an interest in the intellectual history of modern Egypt. This is why his publications include articles on such topics as the attitude of intellectuals to the popular heritage.
Nagasawa's new book, Modern Egypt through Japanese Eyes, is a collection of articles on these interrelated but discrete topics published over the past fifteen years. Some might question the value of reproducing already published articles, some of which were written rather a long time ago. However, Nagasawa made the right decision in publishing this book because Arab intellectuals are interested in Japanese scholarship on Middle East studies, especially on modern Egypt. Nagasawa should be commended for trying to share his findings with the people he studies.
The articles collected in this volume discuss the most important subjects in modern history relating to Egypt and the Arab world. Included are: the 1919 Egyptian Revolution (Chapter 2); The Personality of Egypt by Gamal Hamdan in light of the author's personal history (Chapter 4); Ahmad Sadiq Sa‘d as a Jewish Egyptian Marxist intellectual and his inquiry into popular heritage (Chapter 3); the historical context of economic reform in Egypt (Chapter 6); “etatism” and the “national bourgeoisie” in modern Egypt (Chapter 5); the urban unrest and social movement under the “soft state” during the era of the open door policy in Egypt (Chapter 7); radical social movements in Japan and Egypt as a response to the crises of global modernization (Chapter 8); Arab studies in Japan after World War II with special reference to two pioneer researchers San'eki Nakaoka and Yuzo Itagaki (Chapter 9); and two book reviews on works written in Japanese, namely The Present in History and Areal Science: A View into the Contemporary Middle East by Yuzo Itagaki and Private Landownership and Egyptian Society by Hiroshi Kato (Chapter 11).
Needless to say, it is impossible to define Nagasawa's methodology in this book in terms of any single category. The articles were written over a period of fifteen years during which the author's interest shifted time and again. The topics of these articles are varied, and the concepts used for the analyses therein are not uniform. The differences sometimes involve even fundamental theoretical presuppositions and orientations. Some of the concepts used, for example, “the Asiatic mode of production,” “agrarian capitalism,” “Egyptian nationalism,” “etatism” and “national bourgeoisie,” “the soft state,” or “the open door policy in Egypt” have become somewhat dated, if not obsolete. Nagasawa is perhaps addressing too many things in one volume. He deals with global modernism, radical social movements, social movements and political dynamism in the Middle East in the era of globalization, and the comparative study between Egypt and Japan.
Nevertheless, Part Two of this book demonstrates the depth of Japanese studies on economic transformation and social movements in modern and contemporary Egypt. The author argues such difficult subjects as the concept of “etatism” as a dominant pattern of economic nationalism in the Middle East; the agrarian origins of Egyptian economic nationalism; industrialization and Egyptianization; the national bourgeoisie and non-national bourgeoisie; the role of the Arab socialist system in the development of “a strong state,” the Nasserite state and its impact on society; and the people's economic life under “the soft state.” In addition, he conducted in-depth research into how the Egyptian state coped with social problems, urban unrest and social movements after the introduction of the open door policy in Egypt.
In conclusion, this interesting book is very useful for Arab intellectuals. It represents the earnest endeavors of one Japanese scholar who has devoted more than three decades to the study of Egyptian systems and society, traveling in Arab countries, living many years in Egypt, and conducting research and teaching at many Japanese universities.
Thus, Nagasawa is following in the scholarly tradition of the great and famous Arabists in Japan such as Itagaki, Nakaoka, Akira Goto, Hiroshi Kato, and Tsugitaka Sato. His book serves as a very interesting model that demonstrates the development of Japanese study on modern and contemporary Egypt and the Middle East. It is worthy of being translated into Arabic soon.
