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i ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK ON MIDDLE EASTERN DIASPORAS Bringing together different strands of research on Middle Eastern diasporas, the Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas sheds light on diverse approaches to investigating diaspora groups in different national contexts. Asking how diasporans forge connections and means of belonging, the analyses provided turn the reader’s gaze to the multiple forms of belonging to both peoples and places. Rather than seeing diasporans as marginalised groups of people longing to return to a homeland, analyses in this volume demonstrate that Middle East diasporans, like other diasporas and citizens alike, are people who respond to major social change and transformations. Those we count as Middle Eastern diasporans, both in the region and beyond, contribute to transnational social spaces, and new forms of cultural expressions. Chapters included cover how diasporas have been formed, the ways that diasporans make and remake homes, the expressive terrains where diasporas are contested, how class, livelihoods and mobility inflect diasporic practices, the emergence of diasporic sensibilities and, finally, scholarship that draws our attention to the plurilocality of Middle Eastern diasporas. Offering a rich compilation of case studies, this book will appeal to students of Middle Eastern Studies, International Relations, and Sociology, as well as being of interest to policymakers, government departments, and NGOs. Dalia Abdelhady is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Lund University, Sweden. Her work features the application of postcolonial analysis to the sociology of migration. Following a com- parative perspective, her work focuses on the meeting point between individual immigrants (and their communities) and institutions in receiving countries (such as schools, labour markets, media and political policies). In addition to a number of journal articles and book chapters, she is the author of The Lebanese Diaspora: The Arab Immigrant Experiences in Montreal, New York and Paris (2011), and co- editor of Refugees and the Violence of Welfare Bureaucracies in Northern Europe (2020). Ramy Aly is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Ramy’s first monograph Becoming Arab in London: Performativity and the Undoing of Identity was published in 2015. The book is the first ethnographic account of gender, race and class practices among British-b orn and -raised Arabs in London and attempts to provide an account of the everyday experiences of Arabness in the British capital. Ramy’s research interests and publications engage with the anthropology of ethnicity, migration and diaspora; anthropology and media studies; cultural studies; and youth cultures. ii ‘This volume offers an impressive range of theoretically up-t o- date studies of Middle Eastern diasporas both in the region and internationally that are particularly valuable in building on recent insights in the field of diaspora studies and applying them creatively to different communities in a time of increasing transnational movement and connection.’ Anthony Gorman, Senior Lecturer in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh, editor of Cultural Entanglements in the Pre- Independence Arab World ‘This is an excellent collection that showcases the richness of an anthropological approach to diasporic existence that never loses sight of people’s experiences. The individual chapters do justice to the diasporic communities they are investigating, and the book as a whole through its excellent curation manages the difficult task of giving a holistic sense of the multiple diasporic processes of departure and arrival that mark the Middle East.’ Ghassan Hage, Professor of Anthropology and Development Studies, Melbourne University, author of The Diasporic Condition ‘This groundbreaking volume is a tour de force, offering the single most comprehensive and transdisciplinary examination of Middle Eastern diasporas in the world today. Focusing on diasporic processes and sensibilities— or the multiple identifications and belongings of diasporans both within and well beyond the Middle Eastern region— this volume deconstructs control- ling images and highlights instead the agency, creativity, dynamism, and global consciousness of those living in a wide range of diasporic settings. Historians, anthropologists, and political scientists of the Middle East will find this volume to be an invaluable resource, as will those interested in migration, globalization, and political activism.’ Marcia C. Inhorn, William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, Yale University, author of Cosmopolitan Conceptions iii ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK ON MIDDLE EASTERN DIASPORAS Edited by Dalia Abdelhady and Ramy Aly iv Cover image: Dreamstime First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Dalia Abdelhady and Ramy Aly; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Dalia Abdelhady and Ramy Aly to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 21792- 1 (hbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 30440- 3 (pbk) ISBN: 978- 0- 429- 26610- 2 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/ 9780429266102 Typeset in Bembo by Newgen Publishing UK v To Noot and Ryan, our diasporic children vi vii CONTENTS List of figures xi Notes on contributors xii Acknowledgements xix 1 Coming to and coming from the Middle East: the unfolding of diaspora 1 Dalia Abdelhady and Ramy Aly PART I Forming diasporas 21 2 To be denied a homeland: British Mandate policy and the making of the Palestinian diaspora in Chile 23 Nadim Bawalsa 3 The AKP government in Turkey and diaspora- making: lobbying, public diplomacy and the erasure of difference 39 Bengi Bezirgan- Tanış 4 Critical events and the formation of a Coptic diaspora in North America between Al- Khanka and Al- Zāwiya Al- Hamrā 52 Michael Akladios 5 Opportunities here and there: digital diasporas and the Iranian American election moment 66 Hajar Yazdiha vii viii Contents 6 The limits of diaspora: double vulnerabilities among Eritreans in Saudi Arabia 78 Nicole Hirt and Abdulkader Saleh Mohammad PART II Making and remaking homes 89 7 The lifecycle of Amazigh diaspora activism in Europe: from institutional pioneers to the new ethnicities of the postmodern age 91 Ángela Suárez- Collado 8 The diasporic Amazigh movement in France: articulating indigeneity 104 Jonathan Harris 9 Valorising some and marginalising others: the diasporic field in the making of Lebanon 117 Paul Tabar and Wahib Maalouf 10 Transnational networks in Tunisia’s democratisation: Diaspora activism in France and Italy 130 Alessandra Bonci 11 Secularism, sectarianism and the transnational connectivity of the Lebanese diaspora in Senegal 143 Mara A. Leichtman PART III Expressive terrains of contestation 157 12 The semantics and substance of contesting Turkishness in the diaspora 159 Pinar Dinc 13 De- orientalising queer Iranian diasporic identities 171 Farhang Rouhani 14 Queering diaspora through visual art: contesting the double binds of homonationalism 181 Andrew Gayed 15 Post-t arab identities in diaspora: a sonic imaginary of Arab Canada 197 Jillian Fulton- Melanson viii ix Contents 16 Resisting marginalisation, renegotiating gender: intersectional narratives of diaspora experiences 209 Dalia Abdelhady 17 Creativity as a contested site of identity- making: careers, gender and diaspora for Sydney’s Lebanese Australians 221 Sherene Idriss PART IV Class, livelihood and mobility 235 18 Exploring the creative Israeli diaspora: reading class and profession in the diaspora 237 Nir Cohen and Steven J. Gold 19 Making middle- class lives: diaspora and belonging among Pakistanis in Dubai 250 Gennaro Errichiello 20 Diasporic before the move: China’s Hui Muslims’ trade and ties with Iran and Muslimness 262 Man Xu 21 A diasporic balancing act: Syrian entrepreneurs in Turkey, Egypt and Jordan 274 Ching- An Chang 22 Diaspora Syrians and humanitarian aid in the Syrian civil war 286 Shawn Teresa Flanigan PART V Diasporic sensibilities 301 23 Return migration and repatriation: myths and realities in the interwar Syrian mahjar 303 Stacy D. Fahrenthold 24 The emergence of diasporic sensibilities among Iraqis in London 316 Zainab Saleh 25 Healed pasts, multiple belongings and multifocal engagements: a Danish- Palestinian diaspora tour 328 Nina Gren ix