VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

In recent years, the Egyptian authorities have embarked on a sustained demolition campaign in the City of the Dead, a sprawling necropolis located within the boundaries of the World Heritage Site of Historic Cairo. The campaign is part of a broader endeavor to build a network of new roads, and, in the City of the Dead, this has meant the construction of two new highways that now slice through the heart of the cemetery. The projects have entailed the razing of hundreds of tombs and the forced removal of countless remains, and they have engendered widespread anger among citizens and heritage professionals. However, the government authorities have justified the demolitions by braiding together a narrative of progress with one of heritage preservation, arguing that the infrastructure projects are necessary for Egypt’s growth and development while simultaneously contending that the area’s “monuments”–a reference to structures that have been officially registered–have been left untouched. Drawing on recent fieldwork conducted in Cairo, this paper analyzes the sociopolitical dynamics of this discursive maneuvering, which positions the Egyptian government as the final arbiter of heritage-making–and unmaking. Through this analysis, I show how architectural heritage may be mobilized to advance a given state’s political ambitions–not through the preservation of culturally-significant buildings and structures but through its discursive deployment as a legal framework that enables selective demolition and destruction.