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UID:pretalx-wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026-URL9PZ@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=KST:20260626T091000
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DESCRIPTION:The nineteenth century was a period of rapid acceleration\, glo
 balization\, and technological change. In particular\, steamships\, canals
 \, and railways “opened” new areas of imperial interest and rule\, tra
 nsforming global geographies. Drawing on travel narratives\, letters\, dia
 ries\, and official correspondence\, this paper examines how western offic
 ials\, soldiers\, and tourists—both men and women—experienced travel t
 hrough Egypt\, a critical fulcrum of global connectivity\, between the 182
 0s\, with the emergence of the first overland routes between Europe and As
 ia\, and the 1870s.\n\nEven before the epochal changes inaugurated by the 
 Suez Canal (1869)\, new infrastructure such as the Maḥmūdiyya Canal (18
 20)\; desert rest stations for relays of horse-drawn caravans (1837)\; and
 \, crucially\, the Alexandria–Suez railway (1858)\, displaced earlier mo
 des of travel like Nile feluccas and desert camel treks along established 
 Hadj pilgrim routes. In doing so\, these infrastructural interventions phy
 sically altered the terrain and transformed the experience of travel throu
 gh foreign landscapes\, reconfiguring relations between European travelers
  and local Egyptian communities. New technologies facilitated global mobil
 ity and fostered cosmopolitan identities\, while simultaneously narrowing 
 the terms of cross-cultural contact by reducing reliance on local knowledg
 e\, expertise\, and native intermediaries. While forging unprecedented glo
 bal connections\, Western modes of transport often disembedded travelers f
 rom local social and cultural milieus. And as Europeans traversed Egypt wi
 th greater speed and security\, they increasingly articulated hardened rac
 ial and xenophobic worldviews.\n\nAt a moment when borders are hardening\,
  and international cooperation under an America-led rules-based order appe
 ars increasingly fragile\, this paper turns to an earlier era of global co
 nnectivity under the banner of Pax Britannica\, assessing both the opportu
 nities it enabled and the imperial violence\, racism\, and xenophobia it s
 ustained.
DTSTAMP:20260412T140055Z
LOCATION:Room 208 (Seats 40)
SUMMARY:Railroading the Desert: Imperial Travel and the Alexandria-Suez Cor
 ridor - Aidan Forth
URL:https://pretalx.com/wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026/talk/URL9PZ/
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