The population census of 1917 and its relationship to Egypt's three 19th century statistical regimes

Journal of Historical Sociology

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 457-472

  Owen, Roger ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0030300443     PISSN: 09521909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6443.1996.tb00107.x     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. See Michel Foucault, 'Governmentality' in Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon and Peter Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1991), pp.87-104 and Peter Miller and Nikolas Rose,'Governing economic life', Economy and Society, 19/1 (Feb 1990), pp. 1-31.
2. See Michel Foucault, 'Governmentality' in Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon and Peter Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1991), pp.87-104 and Peter Miller and Nikolas Rose,'Governing economic life', Economy and Society, 19/1 (Feb 1990), pp. 1-31.
3. For information concerning the registers see Michael J. Reimer, 'Les fondaments de la ville moderne: un tableau socio-démographique entre 1820 et 1850', Revue d'Occident Musulman et de la Mediterranée, 46 (1987), pp. 110-20.
4. The registers are currently being analysed by members of the Centre d'Etudes et d'Economie Judiciaire in Cairo. For an example of hostile comment, see Helen Rivlin, The Agricultural Policy of Muhammad Ali in Egypt (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP 1961), Appendix A.
5. Huri Islamoglu-Inan, 'Lessons from the 19th century Ottoman temettuat' (Paper prepared for the Workshop of 'Land and Land Records', Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard Unversity, 1-3 March 1996).
6. François Ireton, 'Eléments pour une sociologie historique de la production statistique de l'Egypte', Peuples Méditerranéens, 54/55 (Jan/June 1991), p.55.
7. Ibid.,p.76.
8. Egypt, Ministre de l'Intérieur, Statistique de l'Egypte: Année 1873-1320 de l'Hégire (Cairo: Imprimerie Francaise Mourès et Cie. 1873), pp. iii-iv.
9. Ibid., pp. x-xi.
10. Ireton, 'Eléments', p.77.
11. Statistique de l'Egypte: Année 1873, pp. xviii-xxxiii.
12. This is the use of the word 'modern' to be found in the work on Justin McCarthy. See, for example, his The Population of Palestine; Population Statistics of the Late Ottoman Period and the Mandate (New York: Columbia UP 1990), pp. 2-3. Note, however, that there is another influential student of historical demography, Professor Kamal Karpat, who applies the same word to all the Ottoman population counts of the 19th century. For example, his Ottoman Population 1830-1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1985), pp. 18-25.
13. This is the use of the word 'modern' to be found in the work on Justin McCarthy. See, for example, his The Population of Palestine; Population Statistics of the Late Ottoman Period and the Mandate (New York: Columbia UP 1990), pp. 2-3. Note, however, that there is another influential student of historical demography, Professor Kamal Karpat, who applies the same word to all the Ottoman population counts of the 19th century. For example, his Ottoman Population 1830-1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1985), pp. 18-25.
14. For some little information about the conduct of the census see, I.G. Lévi, 'Statistique officielle de l'Egypte: Ses travaux et des développements: son organisation présente et à venir', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 2/11 (1912), pp.317-40 and J. Randone, 'Le développement des recherches statistiques en Egypte', Bulletin de l'Institut Internationale de Statistique, XVII (1908), p. 127.
15. For some little information about the conduct of the census see, I.G. Lévi, 'Statistique officielle de l'Egypte: Ses travaux et des développements: son organisation présente et à venir', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 2/11 (1912), pp.317-40 and J. Randone, 'Le développement des recherches statistiques en Egypte', Bulletin de l'Institut Internationale de Statistique, XVII (1908), p. 127.
16. I am indebted to Dr Ghislaine Alleaume of the Centre d'Etudes d'Economique Judiciaire, Cairo, for this information.
17. Ireton, 'Eléments', pp.78-9; Randone, 'Le développement', p. 124.
18. Ireton, 'Eléments', pp.78-9; Randone, 'Le développement', p. 124.
19. Cromer, 'Annual Report for 1905', Parliamentary Papers, 1906, CXXXVII, p.571.
20. J.I. Craig, The census of Egypt', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 7/32 (April 1917), p.210.
21. The printed version of the 1907 census contains only one page about its actual conduct, see Egypt, Ministry of Finance, The Census of Egypt Taken in 1907 (Cairo: National Printing Department 1909, Appendix A). As with the two previous censuses it was regarded as an essentially one-off affair after which all the materials, such as the census forms themselves, were destroyed in order to convince the population that the information would be used for only national statistical purposes. For Craig's account of the conduct of the 1917 census see Egypt, Ministry of Finance, Statistical Department, The Census of Egypt Taken in 1917, II (Cairo: Government Press 1920), Introduction, pp.i-liv.
22. The printed version of the 1907 census contains only one page about its actual conduct, see Egypt, Ministry of Finance, The Census of Egypt Taken in 1907 (Cairo: National Printing Department 1909, Appendix A). As with the two previous censuses it was regarded as an essentially one-off affair after which all the materials, such as the census forms themselves, were destroyed in order to convince the population that the information would be used for only national statistical purposes. For Craig's account of the conduct of the 1917 census see Egypt, Ministry of Finance, Statistical Department, The Census of Egypt Taken in 1917, II (Cairo: Government Press 1920), Introduction, pp.i-liv.
23. See in particular, Ibid., p.x.
24. Ibid., pp.x-xiii.
25. Ibid., p.xv, especially Note 1.
26. Modern Egypt, II (New York: Macmillan 1908), chpts 34-8.
27. The importance of the way in which census data was interpreted at the moment of tabulation is now widely recognised. See, for example, Edward Hogg, 'Occupational censuses and the agricultural workforce in Victorian England and Wales', Economic History Review, XLVIII/4 (Nov. 1995), pp.702-4.
28. Census of Egypt Taken in 1917, II, Introdution, pp.xi and liii.
29. Idem, p.liii.
30. This view is supported by Alan Richards, Egypt's Agricultural Development 1800-1980: Technical and Social Change (Boulder CO: Westview 1982), pp.59-60.
31. The Census of Egypt Taken in 1917, II, Introduction, p.xvii.
32. Ibid., p.xxi.
33. Ibid, p.xix.
34. Ibid., p.xi.
35. Printed in L'Egypte Contemporaine, 13 (April 1917).
36. Concerns of a similar kind had been raised as early as Lord Cromer's 'Annual report for 1903' in which he argues that population pressure among cultivators was acting to force up rents, Parliamentary Papers, 1904, XC, pp.220-1.
37. The Census of Egypt Taken in 1917, II Introduction, p.x.
38. Ibid., p.xl.
39. Robert T. Tignor, State, Private Enterprise and Economic Change in Egypt, 1918-1952 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1984), p.55.
40. Egypt, Rapport de la Commission du Commerce et de l'Industrie (Cairo: Imprimerie Nationale 1918), p.2.
41. Ibid., pp.55-6.
42. Ibid., pp.55. Translation by Margaret Owen.
43. I take the notion of a 'social fact' from Alain Desrosières, La politique des grands nombres: histoire de la raison statistique (Paris: Editions de la découverte 1993), Conclusion, pp.395-9.
44. Wingate (High Commissioner) to Foreign Office, 1 May 1918, Public Record Office (London), FO368/1904.
45. La politique des grands nombres, p.384.
46. Rapport de la Commission, p.46.
47. Michael Foucault, 'Governmentality': English translation of a lecture given in 1978 to be found in Burchell, Gordon and Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect, pp.87-104.
48. Ibid., p. 102.
49. Nicholas P. G. Thomas, Colonialism's Culture: Anthropology and Government (Cambridge: Polity Press 1994), p.42.
50. 'Governing economic life', p. 10.
51. Ibid., p.4.
52. 'L'augmentation de revenues de l'état: possibilités et moyens d'y prevenir', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 13/68 (1922), pp.596-624. See also the criticism of Lévi's method by James Baxter, Notes on the estimation of the National Income for Egypt for 1921-1922', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 14/73 (1923), 405-27.
53. 'L'augmentation de revenues de l'état: possibilités et moyens d'y prevenir', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 13/68 (1922), pp.596-624. See also the criticism of Lévi's method by James Baxter, Notes on the estimation of the National Income for Egypt for 1921-1922', L'Egypte Contemporaine, 14/73 (1923), 405-27.
54. For example, Egypt, Ministry of Public Works, Nile Control Works by Sir M. Mcdonald, 1919 (Cairo: Government Press 1920). See especially Mcdonald's Introduction, p. 1.
55. For example, Egypt, Ministry of Public Works, Nile Control Works by Sir M. Mcdonald, 1919 (Cairo: Government Press 1920). See especially Mcdonald's Introduction, p. 1.