372 Resisting Publics
living on the largesse of the others, or on money raised by an organized
party, that consensus could—at least theoretically—be bought or extorted.
urthermore, as Lyotard has pointed out, the need for consensus F
reinforces a “metanarrative,” a way of knowing that is totalizing in scope—
in this case not the one of the imperial power but of the nationalist activ-
ists.^43 The set of shared assumptions that Habermas requires for a pub-
lic sphere to develop is the same set of shared assumptions that defines
the limits of knowledge and truth in Lyotard’s narratives. The Egyptian
Watanists’ original narrative included a special place for the Ottoman and
Islamic legacy on Egyptian identity; questioning this aspect of the
Egyptian Nationalist program was akin to questioning the anti-imperial
movement in toto for many of the young men involved. Thus, the argu-
ment among Egyptians about the role of the Khedive in their movement
split the group more than once. During World War I, a similar contro-
versy over the role of Ottomanism in Egyptian nationalism would destroy
many of the alliances forged in this pre-War era. Also, some competing
strands of nationalism were so secularist that the Watani Party remained
distant from them even during the interwar period, when their goals were
compatible with the Watanists’ on many other points. It was the narra-
tive of the secularists of the interwar era that became the template for the
metanarrative of Egyptian nationalism that exists even today.
nother obvious class excluded from the expatriate nationalist A
discourse, as it was from much of the hegemonic narrative as well, was
that of women. More than one European woman was involved in these
student-cum-nationalist groups, often through a romantic relationship;
but women from the colonies were largely absent. Not only was it rare
for females from colonial societies to be sent abroad to study, but those
that were abroad were usually subject to strict supervision. Thus, the
only “native” women to appear at the nationalist conferences were sisters,
daughters, or wives of a student activist.^44 Madame Cama lamented this
fact during her speech at the 1910 Egyptian Congress, pointing out that
she saw no Egyptian women in the assembly. She also complained that
many of the talented sons of the colonies were marrying foreigners while
abroad and not returning to the women of their homeland.^45
onetheless, the experience in Europe also gave these students an N
opportunity to bridge differences within their communities and with