‘Abbas Hilmi II and the Anatomy of a Siwan Murder

This chapter advances the book’s argument about territoriality by examining the layers of contested sovereignty in Siwa after the Khedive ‘Abbas Hilmi’s historic visit to the oasis in 1906. In part through his Da’ira Khassa (the administration of the Khedivial properties), the Khedive mobilized a network of political operatives to serve his own political designs and project his sovereign authority and legitimacy far and wide. In Siwa, this took the form of buying up local property, building a grand new mosque, and providing employment for the Siwan population at large. The Khedive also successfully integrated his private network into the traditional hierarchy of local shaykhs in the oasis. This allowed him to garner sovereignty legitimacy where the colonial Egyptian government failed—a development that is thrown into relief with my careful reconstruction of a little-known Siwan murder case in 1909.