Between the Ottomans and the Entente
The First World War in the Syrian and Lebanese Diaspora, 1908-1925
Published on 11. April 2019
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-19-087213-7 (ISBN)
Description
Since 2011 over 5.6 million Syrians have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and beyond, and another 6.6 million are internally displaced. The contemporary flight of Syrian refugees comes one century after the region's formative experience with massive upheaval, displacement, and geopolitical intervention: the First World War.
In this book, Stacy Fahrenthold examines the politics of Syrian and Lebanese migration around the period of the First World War. Some half million Arab migrants, nearly all still subjects of the Ottoman Empire, lived in a diaspora concentrated in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. They faced new demands for their political loyalty from Istanbul, which commanded them to resist European colonialism. From the Western hemisphere, Syrian migrants grappled with political suspicion, travel restriction, and outward displays of support for the war against the Ottomans. From these diasporic communities, Syrians used their ethnic associations, commercial networks, and global press to oppose Ottoman rule, collaborating with the Entente powers because they believed this war work would bolster the cause of Syria's liberation. Between the Ottomans and the Entente shows how these communities in North and South America became a geopolitical frontier between the Young Turk Revolution and the early French Mandate. It examines how empires at war-from the Ottomans to the French-embraced and claimed Syrian migrants as part of the state-building process in the Middle East. In doing so, they transformed this diaspora into an epicenter for Arab nationalist politics.
Drawing on transnational sources from migrant activists, this wide-ranging work reveals the degree to which Ottoman migrants "became Syrians" while abroad and brought their politics home to the post-Ottoman Middle East.
In this book, Stacy Fahrenthold examines the politics of Syrian and Lebanese migration around the period of the First World War. Some half million Arab migrants, nearly all still subjects of the Ottoman Empire, lived in a diaspora concentrated in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. They faced new demands for their political loyalty from Istanbul, which commanded them to resist European colonialism. From the Western hemisphere, Syrian migrants grappled with political suspicion, travel restriction, and outward displays of support for the war against the Ottomans. From these diasporic communities, Syrians used their ethnic associations, commercial networks, and global press to oppose Ottoman rule, collaborating with the Entente powers because they believed this war work would bolster the cause of Syria's liberation. Between the Ottomans and the Entente shows how these communities in North and South America became a geopolitical frontier between the Young Turk Revolution and the early French Mandate. It examines how empires at war-from the Ottomans to the French-embraced and claimed Syrian migrants as part of the state-building process in the Middle East. In doing so, they transformed this diaspora into an epicenter for Arab nationalist politics.
Drawing on transnational sources from migrant activists, this wide-ranging work reveals the degree to which Ottoman migrants "became Syrians" while abroad and brought their politics home to the post-Ottoman Middle East.
Reviews / Votes
This extensively documented examination of an ethnic population during a critical time in world history should be of interest to historians. Unlike other historical analyses that restrict the examination of the early Arab diaspora to the United States, this text attempts to link movements and events in the early 1900s by civilians in the Arab American diaspora in South America and the United States through their connections to the Ottoman Empire and the Entente (the Allied powers in World War I).... Fahrenthold lays out what transpired in the diaspora juxtaposed to Ottoman actions and policies that affected Syrian communities in the Americas....The thick description and intense detail make this text important to the study of the Arab diaspora in the Americas. * Rosina Hassoun, Journal of American History * This book will be welcomed by scholars of migration history and Arab American history. It should be a recommendation for any course on Middle East migration or on the formation of race in America with reference to migrants from the Islamic world. The archival research is rich and varied, offering accounts as to how the diaspora sat between oppositional forces that tried to pull its members in several directions. Arabic newspapers and regulatory documents feature as prime pieces of information used to understand the physical and ideological trajectories of the mahjar. * Laren Banko, Mashriq & Mahjar * "Stacey Fahrenthold's innovative and engaging book analyses the politics and politicking of Syrians and Lebanese in the mahjar (diaspora) in a welcome contribution to the literature on Syrian and Lebanese history as well as diasporic nationalisms....Rather than presuming their marginality, Fahrenthold invests migrants with historical agency and centers them in their national histories.This comprehensive and compelling work will advance the study of the twentieth century Middle East and make a substantial new contribution to global history." James Casey, 10/09/2019More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
19 hts
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
520 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-087213-7 (9780190872137)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Stacy D. Fahrenthold
Between the Ottomans and the Entente
The First World War in the Syrian and Lebanese Diaspora, 1908-1925
E-Book
02/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€15.49
Available for download
Stacy D. Fahrenthold
Between the Ottomans and the Entente
The First World War in the Syrian and Lebanese Diaspora, 1908-1925
E-Book
02/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€14.49
Available for download
Person
Stacy D. Fahrenthold is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.
Content
Acknowledgments
A Note on Transliteration
Abbreviations, Dramatis Personae, and Key Terms
Introduction: Between the Ottomans and the Entente
Chapter 1: Mashriq and Mahjar: A Global History of Syrian Migration to the Americas
Chapter 2: The Mahjar of the Young Turks, 1908-1916
Chapter 3: Former Ottomans in the Ranks: Pro-Entente Military Recruitment in the Syrian Mahjar, 1916-1918
Chapter 4: New Syrians Abroad: An Emigre Project for a United States Mandate in Syria, 1918-1920
Chapter 5: Travelling Syrians, Immovable Turks: Passport Fraud and Migrant Smuggling at the Close of Empire, 1918-1920
Chapter 6: Mandating the Mahjar: the French Mandate and Greater Lebanon's Census of 1921
Conclusion
Notes
Index
A Note on Transliteration
Abbreviations, Dramatis Personae, and Key Terms
Introduction: Between the Ottomans and the Entente
Chapter 1: Mashriq and Mahjar: A Global History of Syrian Migration to the Americas
Chapter 2: The Mahjar of the Young Turks, 1908-1916
Chapter 3: Former Ottomans in the Ranks: Pro-Entente Military Recruitment in the Syrian Mahjar, 1916-1918
Chapter 4: New Syrians Abroad: An Emigre Project for a United States Mandate in Syria, 1918-1920
Chapter 5: Travelling Syrians, Immovable Turks: Passport Fraud and Migrant Smuggling at the Close of Empire, 1918-1920
Chapter 6: Mandating the Mahjar: the French Mandate and Greater Lebanon's Census of 1921
Conclusion
Notes
Index