Episode
Julia Elyachar | On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance & Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo
- Podcast
- The afikra Podcast
- Published
- Dec 15, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 3567
- Processing state
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- https://afikra.simplecast.com/episodes/julia-elyachar-Pg1cNQLh
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Summary
The discussion covers the evolving role of debt as an instrument of empire, the emergence of sovereign wealth funds, and the ways financial instruments and flows of money subtly shape political realities and people's lives in the region. Professor Elyachar discusses her latest book "On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo" and how she challenges the notion that global finance originated solely in the West. The conversation delves into the history of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their role in economic development, particularly in "pushing debt as a form of development". A Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University whose work examines the intersection of finance, political economy, and the Arab world, Elyachar also shares her family's history as sarrafs (bankers/brokers) in Ottoman Palestine, and how this tradition sparked her interest in finance and economics. She also explains the historical legal category of the "semicivilized," a term used in international law to describe the Ottoman Empire and other non-European powers who were recognized as legitimate sovereigns.