Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya

125 Pages·2005·1.18 MB·English

by  Ali Abdullatif Ahmida

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Forgotten Voices
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Forgotten Voices
Power and Agency in Colonial
and Postcolonial Libya
Ali Abdullatif Ahmida
New York London
RT49874_RT49866_Discl.fm Page 1 Monday, June 20, 2005 4:15 PM
Published in 2005 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4RN
© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-94986-6 (Hardcover) 0-415-94987-4 (Softcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-94986-6 (Hardcover) 978-0-415-94987-3 (Softcover)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ahmida, Ali Abdullatif, 1953–
Forgotten voices: power and agency in colonial and postcolonial Libya / Ali Abdullatif Ahmida.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-94986-6 (hb : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-415-94987-4 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Libya--politics and government--19th century. 2. Libya--politics and government--20th century.
I. Title.
DT233.A35 2005 2005004312
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For my wife Beth,
and young children Haneen and Zach

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on the Transliteration xi
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1 From the Ottomans to the Italians:
A Political Economy Approach to State
Formation in Nineteenth-Century Libya 1
Chapter 2 The Rediscovery of the State of Awlad
Muhammad: Sources and Significance,
1550–1813 11
Chapter 3 From Tribe to Class: The Origins and the
Politics of Resistance in Colonial Libya 19
Chapter 4 Italian Fascism—Benign?
Collective Amnesia Concerning Colonial Libya 35
Chapter 5 Identity and Alienation in Postcolonial
Libyan Literature: The Trilogy of
Ahmad Ibrahim al-Faqih 55
Chapter 6 The Jamahiriyya: Historical and Social Origins
of a Populist State 67
Glossary 87
Notes 91
Index 105
vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to thank several institutions and people who have given me
support, valuable criticism, and suggestions during the last three years
of working on this book. I am grateful to my Routledge/Taylor & Francis
editors Karen Wolny and Rob Tempio. Karen saw potential in my orig-
inal proposal, and Rob was patient and understanding of my requests
for more deadline extensions for completing the book due to the death
of my mother and my responsibility as a teacher and a father of two
young children.
Chapters 5 and 6 of the book were published before and have been
updated. I would like to thank both Palgrave and Heinemann Presses
for permission to print an updated version of the two chapters. Chapter
5 appeared originally as “Identity, Alienation, and Cultural Encounter
in Postcolonial Libyan Literature” in my edited book, Beyond Colonial-
ism and Nationalism in the Maghrib: History, Culture and Politics
(Palgrave, 2000). Chapter 6 appeared as “Libya, the Jamahiriyya:
Historical and Social Origins of a Populist State” in the Abdi and
Ahmed Samatar edited book, The African State: Reconsiderations
(Heinemann, 2002). Also, I am grateful to my friend Ms. Frances Stickles
and the Libyan Studies Center in Tripoli, Libya for permission to
include copies of photos in this book.
In Libya, I continued to find support and assistance at the Center of
Libyan Studies in Tripoli. I am grateful to my good friend Mohammed
Jerary, the director of the Center and the Center’s staff, especially Salem
Kubti, Nasr al-Din Jerary, Mahmood el-Deek, and Ghada al-Zaruq,
who assisted me during my short visits to Libya while I researched
material for this book. At the Libyan Studies Center I was given access
to files of the original collected oral history project and the historical
ix