It is no coincidence that some of the most evocative and influential early examples of historical analysis of the architecture of colonialism in the Middle East and Africa used world expositions as one of their primary objects of study. Arguably, these international displays were relatively unfiltered representations in architectural form of the geopolitical ambitions of the most powerful Western empires, and as such their critical analysis has offered a compelling basis for the examination of architecture in colonial lands. This work was influenced by the emerging field of postcolonial studies, which has sought to recognize the way Western institutions, practices, and manners of thought exerted control over the non-West. One such example is historian and political theorist Timothy Mitchell's Colonising Egypt (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988), in which the first chapter “Egypt at the Exhibition” explores how the idea of the “world-as-exhibition” tied to such displays reflects a new ontology of representation within the modern world. A second case is architectural historian Zeynep Çelik's Displaying the Orient: Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth-Century World's Fairs (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992), which offers an expansive exploration of world expositions to disrupt the tendency to read binary and oppositional relationships in the interpretation of Islamic architecture by Western architects.
These two foundational examples provide an important backdrop to a review of the present book by István Ormos, Cairo in Chicago: Cairo Street at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. However, due to the book's focus on the Chicago world exposition, an example from the field of American studies also bears mentioning—Robert W. Rydell's All the World's a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876–1916 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984). Rydell's arguments attend to the racial connotations of these expositions, which are described as “symbolic universes” that affirm the economic and political hegemony of late 19th- and early 20th-century America.
In taking on the challenge of this material and the approach of these scholars, Ormos offers what he describes as a more comprehensive and balanced view. As a scholar of Semitic and Arabic philology, much of his attention is spent contextualizing Cairo Street at the 1893 World's Exposition in Chicago. To briefly outline the contents of the book, it begins with a broad introduction to world's fairs, with a particular focus on the representation of foreign populations. The following two chapters—on the architecture of world's fairs and interest in the Orient—complete the broad framing of the World's Columbian Exposition. This opening section is immediately followed by a chapter on the basic facts of the fair. The discussion then moves from the general layout of the larger exposition to the Midway Plaisance of entertainment and attractions, and then to a succession of topics related to Cairo Street. At this point, rather than coming to a point of culmination, the book fractures into a series of separate discussions, beginning with a lengthy excursus on the belly dance; then a discussion of the end of the Chicago World's Fair and its afterlife; followed by a brief report on the opinions of Egyptians and Arabs about the exposition; and a final section on photography at the fair.
In presenting this generous range of topics, Cairo in Chicago would be best described as a source book for scholars that purports to gather all the relevant material. It contains an impressive collection of original documents on the Chicago World's Fair and especially the Cairo Street exhibit—including translated and transcribed documents and newspaper reports, as well as photographs, drawings, and reproductions of publications of the time. The impact of this approach is similar to that of a previous book by Ormos, Max Herz Pasha, 1856–1919, His Life and Career, also published by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (2 volumes; Cairo, 2009). However, the monographic format of this earlier publication, which documents the life and career of the Hungarian-born architect and preservationist, seems better suited to its topic than it is to Cairo in Chicago, which could benefit from a stronger narrative and more analytical approach. The book's questioning of general issues related to world's fairs, and especially the architecture of world's fairs, are too brief and remain largely disconnected from the most detailed investigations that are offered later in the volume. There also is an uneven coverage of topics, in which some are treated briefly, and others have extensive discussion. This quality is especially evident in the chapters on the history, description, and activities of Cairo Street, which often bog down in long tangential passages.
The book thus does not present a reasoned historical argument, but instead assembles historical evidence to create what the author argues is a complete picture of Cairo Street set within the context of the Chicago World's Fair. As a reader, we are left to wander through a fragmentary and digressive text—and certainly that wandering has its rewards. One such example is the chapter on the activities of Cairo Street, which offers a vivid picture of the rich and varied human and interpersonal dimensions of this display. Naturally, this fragmentary approach also has its drawbacks, as it is difficult to sustain a consistent historical thread—an effect reinforced by images placed separately from the text. Most importantly, however, although the book acknowledges some of the political and social issues that are found in recent scholarship, it tends to minimize their significance relative to Cairo Street by immersing itself in historical facts. It seems to do so based on the assertion that the book is comprehensive, while not acknowledging the implicit agenda that comes from the curation of the material.
In a final reflection, it is important to recognize that there is considerable promise to elements of the book, such as the chapters that look at the final days of the fair and its aftermath. This may be because the digressive nature of the subject matter closely matches the writing style of the author. In addition, the book was the product of an extensive research effort that brings together a rich array of sources, and as such it has significant value as a reference text. Indeed, as a work of research and erudition, Cairo in Chicago offers an impressive collection of historical material on a topic that should be of great interest to scholars of Middle East studies and American studies. Nevertheless, considering this book more broadly, the author's historiographic approach does not seem a good fit for the material—which requires a more nuanced treatment of some of the most pressing issues that it raises, such as the gender and racial implications of Cairo Street and its related representations. In this regard, as a work of interpretation and critical reflection it is a somewhat uneven offering that will likely not prove either as impactful or as enduring as the scholarship that initiated this important field of historical study.
