The Origins Of Arab Nationalism

Contributors, including C. Ernest Dawn, Mahmoud Haddad, Reeva Simon, and Beth Baron, provide a broad survey of the Arab world at the turn of the century, permitting a comparison of developments in a variety of settings from Syria and Egypt to the Hijaz, Libya, and Iraq.

In this new edition Professor Tibi analyses the impact and function of nationalism and its contribution to social and political change in the Third World, taking the rise of nationalism in the Middle East as a historical example. He concentrates on the period after the First World War, when many Arab intellectuals became disillusioned with Britain and France as a result of the occupation of their countries. Professor Tibi's careful study of the writings and influence of Sati' al-Husri illustrates the connection between modern Arab nationalism and nineteenth century German Romantic nationalism, which will be of particular interest to the English reader. Professor Tibi concludes that while nationalism has played a necessary and important role in the movement for national independence in the Middle East, it has since developed into an ideology which seems to obstruct further social and political emancipation. This book will be of particular interest to historians and social scientists as well as to specialists in the area itself.

A loyal servant of the Ottoman Empire in his early career, Sati' al-Husri (1880-1968) became one of Arab nationalism's most articulate and influential spokesmen. His shift from Ottomanism, based on religion and the multi-national empire, to Arabism, defined by secular loyalties and the concept of an Arab nation, is the theme of William Cleveland's account of "the making of an Arab nationalist." Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Arab nationalism has been one of the dominant ideologies in the Middle East and North Africa since the early twentieth century. However, a clear definition of Arab nationalism, even as a subject of scholarly inquiry, does not yet exist. Arab Nationalism sheds light on cultural expressions of Arab nationalism and the sometimes contradictory meanings attached to it in the process of identity formation in the modern world. It presents nationalism as an experienceable set of identity markers – in stories, visual culture, narratives of memory, and struggles with ideology, sometimes in culturally sophisticated forms, sometimes in utterly vulgar forms of expression. Drawing upon various case studies, the book transcends a conventional history that reduces nationalism in the Arab lands to a pattern of political rise and decline. It offers a glimpse at ways in which Arabs have constructed an identifiable shared national culture, and it critically dissects conceptions about Arab nationalism as an easily graspable secular and authoritarian ideology modeled on Western ideas and visions of modernity. This book offers an entirely new portrayal of nationalism and a crucial update to the field, and as such, is indispensable reading for students, scholars and policymakers looking to gain a deeper understanding of nationalism in the Arab world.

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject History - Miscellaneous, grade: 68, University of Strathclyde, course: History, language: English, abstract: Exploring the origins of Arab nationalism is a challenging project. To assess this particular subject is to enter a huge arena of discussion; the multifaceted nature of the word ‘nationalism’ itself - which as Z. Lockman notes ‘always means different things to people in different contexts’ – presents difficulties when engaging the subject from a variety of different historical perspectives. The objective of this essay will be to assess several aspects surrounding the genesis of Arab Nationalism in the Middle East from various political, cultural and intellectual dimensions in order to gather a basic understanding as to when and why this movement occurred. Complications emerge in such a study when one considers that the genesis of this movement was by no means a single and stable birth of ideas overnight, but rather a fragmented series of awakenings, occurring across the Arab heartlands at different times and for slightly varying reasons from surrounding neighbours. For example, Egypt presents an interesting case. J. Jankowski notes the nationalist movement of the Egyptians to pre-date collective Arab nationalism by roughly a generation and recognises the Egyptian variant of nationalism to be a distinct and separate phenomenon which gathered strength from the 1870s onward. The area’s historical and cultural distinctiveness from that of her neighbours meant she appeared to work against rather than for ‘Arab’ orientation and instead focused upon her own individual ideals in promoting ‘Egypt for the Egyptians.’ As separate instances of territorial nationalism such as the case of Egypt illuminate, no definitive answers to the question of what caused nationalism to occur may accurately represent the Arab community as an entirety. However, by assessing general factors which bound the Arab peoples together in spirit as one, this essay will attempt to piece together a basic understanding of what pushed an undercurrent of Arab awareness to the surface in the early decades of the 20th century.

This study attempts to correct the imbalance and, in the process, provides a fascinating interpretation of the rise of the ideology of nationalism within the Arab world. The book focuses on the social and political life of the great notable families of Ottoman Damascus, who, before World War I, played a crucial part in translating the idea into political action.

This remarkable book on a complex and controversial subject is widely regarded as the best full account of the rise of the Arab national movement. After several years of travel and research in all parts of the Arab world, the author managed to gain access to all the relevant material necessary to the writing of a book such as this–much of the material having been unavailable to other writers on the subject. The fruits of Mr. Antonius’ research have been embodied in this unique story of the origins and development of the national movement from its earliest beginnings in the nineteenth century down to the post-World War I era. In addition to the narrative account and assessments of military and political leaders, including Lawrence of Arabia, the book contains a set of documents of fundamental importance to the history of the Arab revival. “Never has the story of the origin and growth of the Arab national movement been told with such brilliance or with such a wealth of detail.”—The Nation “A good book written by a scholar, an expert on the subject and a resident in the country.... A very excellent and extremely able book.” -- The Observer, London “The whole of this brilliantly written book moves at the same plane of objective and critical scholarship.” --Daily Telegraph, London

This book is the only work of its kind devoted exclusively to the institutional framework of Palestinian politics from 1856 until December 1920, when the third Palestinian Arab Congress was held in Haifa to decide the future of Palestine. Muslih's book is also the first to present in detail the ideologies of Ottomanism and Arab nationalism and the ways in which they relate to Palestine. In the groundbreaking analysis that considers the entire context of Arab politics, Muhammad Muslih articulates a new interpretation for the emergence of Palestinian nationalism, and one which will forster a better understanding of centuries-old attachment of the Arab Palestinians to their land and their struggle for its independence.