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Book talk and lecture by Dr. Evgeniya Prusskaya "The French Campaign in Egypt, 1798–1801: Facing the ‘Other’"

The French invasion of Egypt in 1798 became the first colonial project of post-revolutionary France. The French army, headed by Napoleon Bonaparte, arrived in Egypt under banners proclaiming “liberty” and “equality” as core revolutionary values, only to engage in a violent colonial conquest that contradicted those very ideals. Why did this contradiction emerge, and what shaped the course of the French campaign and their policies during the occupation of Egypt (1798–1801)? Evgeniya Prusskaya addresses these questions in her recently published book, which examines the cultural encounter and conflict that arose during the French invasion of Egypt by analyzing mutual perceptions of the French and Egyptians. The book demonstrates how French visions of an imagined ‘Orient’ informed colonial policy in Egypt, explores Egyptian responses to the occupation, and examines the legacy of the Egyptian campaign during the French invasion of Algeria in 1830.

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