This talk will examine the history of decolonization in Egypt through the lens of the country's prized export. By following transformations in the political economy and political meaning of cotton over half a century, it will explore how the dynamics of agrarian capitalism set the stage for the construction of a postcolonial republic under Gamal Abdel Nasser, where national liberation became equated with national development.

Prof. Ahmad Shokr is Associate Professor of History at Swarthmore College. He is the author of Harvests of Liberation: Cotton, Capitalism, and the End of Empire in Egypt (Stanford University Press, 2025).