Xiaoyue Li

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of History

2022 Co-Winner (Social Sciences)

Taming the Iron Horse: Austerity, Subversion, and Revolution in Colonial Egyptian Railways, 1876-1924

Xiaoyue Li’s dissertation uses the colonial Egyptian railway as a lens for examining social, cultural, and economic change in Egypt under Britain’s veiled protectorate. This is a study of both material and social infrastructures, analyzing how railway policies affected the daily and civic lives of everyday Egyptians. He deftly uses archival data on passenger volumes, administration, and crime networks to draw insights on the construction of colonial order and on how various groups engaged the railway infrastructure in ways that challenged that order. The analysis goes far beyond traditional studies of railways and breaks new ground at the intersection of technological and labor histories.  

 

The dissertation was completed at the University of Michgan in the Department of History under the supervision of Juan Cole 

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