Foundations of Modern Arab Identity

246 Pages·2009·0.9 MB·English

by  Network Admin

Foundations of Modern Arab Identity
Copyright 2004 by Stephen Sheehi. This work is licensed under a
modified Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative
Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to electronically
copy, distribute, and transmit this work if you attribute authorship.
However, all printing rights are reserved by the University Press of Florida
(http://www.upf.com). Please contact UPF for information about how to
obtain copies of the work for print distribution. You must attribute the work
in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that
suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or
distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the
University Press of Florida. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the
author’s moral rights.
university press of florida / state university system
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

Foundations of
Modern Arab Identity
g
Stephen Sheehi
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers
Copyright 2004 by Stephen Sheehi
Printed in the United States of America on recycled, acid-free paper
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sheehi, Stephen, 1967–
Foundations of modern Arab identity / Stephen Sheehi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8130-2732-2 (cloth : alk. paper); ISBN 978-1-61610-134-3 (pbk.)_
1. Arab countries–Intellectual life–19th century. 2. Nationalism–Arab countries.
3. Arab countries–Colonization. 4. National characteristics, Arab.
5. Globalization. I. Title.
ds36.88.s55 2004
909'.0974927083‒dc22 2004043740
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State
University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic
University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida
State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University
of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611–2079
http://www.upf.com
To my sublime children, Jad and Shadee
g
Had I not chanced upon the 1874 copy of the
Lebanese journal al-Jinan, I would not have known
that my father had actually been correct in his calculations.
Anton Shammas, Arabesques
“Knowledge for its own sake”—that is the last snare of morality:
with that one becomes completely entangled in it once more.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Unpacking the Native Subject 15
2. Inscribing the National Subject 46
3. Desiring Selves, Desiring Others 76
4. The Hybridity of Reform 107
5. The Great Debate 135
6. Doubleness and Duality: Allegories of Becoming 159
Epilogue: Towards an Aesthetic of the Colonial Self 189
Notes 199
Selected Bibliography 223
Index 231

Acknowledgments
The history and motivations of this research are intertwined with my own
personal journey and the journey of those I love. Rather than dwell on senti-
mentality, however, I want to focus our attention on the importance of the
current moment. The struggles of those intellectuals in this manuscript are not
romanticized or fetishized. They are the foci of this research because we live the
effects of their thoughts, work, and experience today, the effects of the dilem-
mas that they faced if not also participated in creating. If this research is about
history’s force on the present, then acknowledging the past contributions, at-
tention, loyalty, and affection of those who assisted me in completing this study
testifies to my current good fortune.
Therefore, I express my deepest and most profound appreciation to Michael
Beard, Muge Gocek, Michelle Hartman, Samir Khalaf, Alexander Knysh, Kristin
Koptiuch, Brinkley Messick, Deborah Porter, James Poulton, Lisa Salem, Anton
Shammas, Peter Sluglett, Sasson Somekh, and Ruth Tsoffar. My indebtedness
to, admiration of, and affinity for them all extends well beyond my communi-
cative abilities.
I want to acknowledge the comradeship of Leo Ching, Abbie Langston,
Wahneema Lubiano, Diane Nelson, Senay Ozden, Pam Terterian, Jing Wang,
Eric Zakim, and my students, who made my time at Duke fruitful and a plea-
sure. Likewise, I am grateful to Robert Sikorski and the John Hope Franklin
Center at Duke University for their financial assistance in the completion and
refinement of this study.
In Lebanon, the administration of the American University of Beirut helped
facilitate research while the staff at Jaffet Library and the libraries of the
Université de St. Joseph and the Near Eastern Seminar of Theology were most
generous in allowing me access to printed and archival materials. Likewise, the
Center for Behavioral Studies at AUB supported me throughout this project.
x · Acknowledgments
Amy Gorelick and the staff at the University Press of Florida have been most
helpful, efficient, patient, and ambitious in publishing this book.
I would like to thank my brothers, comrades, and confidants Kenneth Lang,
Walid R(cid:2)ad, Walid Sadiq, and Ara Sarafian, for their loyalty, friendship, and
advice. Their companionship serves as the richest emotional, intellectual, and
political sustenance.
I thank my parents for their continued validation of my work and me. They
instilled in me the consciousness and pride that has sustained me in a rewarding
but often daunting and discouraging profession. Finally, but not least, my deep-
est love and gratitude must be expressed to my wife, Marguerite, and our chil-
dren, Jad and Shadee, who are the inspiration for my everyday life. Their faith
and love are the fuel that drives my scholarship, teaching, and convictions. The
revelations in this book, as humble as they are, hope to enable them to live
contented, fulfilling, loving, undisparaged, and unharassed lives as Arabs, as
brown people, and as citizens of the world.
I acknowledge the permission of the following journals for allowing repub-
lication of selections from articles that I previously published:
“Desire for the Self, Desire for the West,” Jouvert: Electronic Journal for Post-
colonial Studies 3, no. 3 (1999).
“Doubleness and Duality: Allegories of Becoming in Jurji Zaydan’s Al-Mamluk
al-sharid,” in the Journal of Arabic Literature (Leiden) 30 (spring 1999).
“Inscribing the Arab Self” in the British Journal of the Middle East 27 (spring
2000): 7–24.