4 The Italians of Egypt: Return to Diaspora

Abstract

From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth century Italians constituted one of the prominent resident foreign communities of Egypt. Attracted by the economic opportunities and the political safe haven that the country offered, their presence was part of a broader movement of migration that included other Mediterranean peoples, Greeks, Maltese, Cypriots, Jews and Levantines, facilitated by the modernising policies of Egyptian rulers and the expansion of European influence in the Middle East. Over time the Italians of Egypt would become a well-established if heterogeneous community, the nationals of a European state but sustained by a rich local associational life that developed its own particular identity. Often cast as a colony, and therefore implicitly an extension of Italian state power and influence, this chapter argues that the Italians of Egypt are better conceived within a diasporic framework that recognises both their attachment to an Italian homeland but also their locally rooted character that was framed by local community associations, institutions and informal practices. In the period after 1945 under the impact of significant political and economic changes in Egypt much of this community departed, some to ‘return’ to their titular homeland, others to resettle elsewhere in the world. In this reconfiguration, what had been an element of the Italian diaspora in Egypt now became a new diaspora of Egyptian Italians scattered globally that sought to maintain its collective sense of identity and keep alive the memories of life in Egypt. The Italian Diaspora The long record of movement of Italians that stretches back to the medieval period and beyond guarantees them a well-established place in the literature of migration. This is particularly so in respect of the last century and a half when Italians migrated in large numbers to New World countries, such as the United States, Argentina and Australia, as well as within Europe where labour needs particularly after the Second World War encouraged migration. The character of this international movement, however, has been much contested in the scholarly literature. In his typology of diasporas, Cohen classified the Italians as forming a labour diaspora, prompted by the need to seek economic prosperity beyond the limited opportunities of the Italian homeland.