Arabic-Speaking Immigrants in Argentina, 1880-1946
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Margins of the Mahjar: Arabic-Speaking Immigrants in Argentina, 1880-1946 Dissertation Presentation in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Steven Leroy Hyland Jr., M.A. Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Donna J. Guy, Advisor Kenneth J. Andrien Carter V. Findley Copyright by Steven Leroy Hyland Jr. 2011 Abstract This project examines how the Arabic-speaking immigrant community in northwestern Argentina integrated into local society while still preserving ties to their homelands. Emigration from Greater Syria (contemporary Syria and Lebanon, historical Palestine, and parts of Turkey and Iraq) was part of a global process from 1846 to 1940 in which more than 150 million people migrated to the Americas, Southeast and Central Asia, Manchuria and Siberia. Indeed, mass migration of diverse ethnic and religious groups was a signature feature of this near century of movement as 51 million people migrated from Europe (equivalent to twenty percent of its population) to the Americas, as did two million people from Asia and the Levant. After the United States, Argentina was the most popular destination for those heading west and possessed one of the fastest growing economies during the same era. By 1914, the Arabic-speaking immigrant community, comprising more than 100,000 Christians, Jews, and Muslims, became the third largest immigrant group in Argentina, trailing only Italians and Spaniards. I seek to understand how immigrants survived in a foreign and at times hostile society while maintaining links with the old country. In Argentina, the Arabic-speaking population emerged as an economic powerhouse and a maligned immigrant group. This community became the preeminent ethno-national commercial force in Tucumán, a northwestern province, by 1920, surpassing even Argentine merchants. As this ii immigrant group grew in commercial strength, members began to penetrate local Argentine social institutions despite limited avenues to political participation and power. Conversely, men from Greater Syria also had the highest arrest rates of any national group in Tucumán for disorderly conduct, aggravated assault and larceny between 1908 and 1941, suggestive of local prejudice and weak social networks for poorer immigrants. Arabic-speaking women worked as domestic servants, owned shops, formed charity organizations, and raised families passing on cultural heritage. Furthermore, as issues of social class intersected with political transformations in the homeland (Greater Syria), immigrants contested rights of association and leadership in organized immigrant groups in Argentina. My dissertation demonstrates that the composition of the Arabic-speaking community changed over time in response to a whole host of issues, including transnational politics, competing notions of gender and family roles, and economic opportunities and limitations. While some may have run afoul of the law, the community did not break down into religious divisions that might have threatened either their general identities or their connections to their new place of residence. Thus, like Arabic-speaking communities in the United States and elsewhere in the world, immigrants from Greater Syria residing in Argentina experienced years of religious coexistence and cooperation, rather than conflict. iii Dedication Dedicated to Chihiro, Ryuri, and Reina iv Acknowledgements I wish to thank my mentor Donna J. Guy, the consummate advisor. I simply would not have finished this project without her interest, friendship, care, attention to detail, and timely intervention. I greatly appreciate now her willingness to read the riot act when the situation called for it. Kenneth J. Andrien has also been critical for the success of this project. His consistent attention and wisdom have been helpful ever since my first graduate course on Latin American history in Autumn 2002. I also benefited greatly from the support, constructive criticism, and advice of Carter V. Findley. All of my advisors were instrumental in arranging introductions and contacts to scholars in the fields of Latin American and Middle Eastern history and archivists in Argentina, Lebanon, and Syria. In addition, I enjoyed the intellectual support, friendship, and interest of many faculty members in the Department of History, including Bill Childs, Mark Grimsley, Stephen Kern, Claire Robertson, Randolph Roth, Stephanie Smith, and Judy Wu. I also benefitted from the interactions with Abril Trigo, Ileana Rodríguez and Fernando Unzueta of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Lyman Johnson of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte has been very generous in his support. Many friends have helped me along this journey. On campus, I enjoyed the intellectual debates and company of José Antonio Sánchez Roman, Jim Weeks, Michael Alarid, Rob Padilla, Evan Wollen, Cameron Jones, Beau Brammer, James Helicke, Di Luo, Dave McLaughlin, Serdar Poyraz, Lisa Balabanlilar, Catalina Hunt, Melissa Guy, v Michael Hale, Ufuk Ulutas, and Yigit Akin. I have especially profited from the friendships with Julie Maiorana, Kawa Morad, Megan Strom, Nancy Egan, and Ryan Skinner. Carol Robison and Melinda McClimans are simply wonderful. I could not have survived the nine years of a doctoral program at Ohio State without the help of my boys - Isa Blumi, Andy Clarno, Carlos Morin, Danny J.T. O’Malley, and Kyle Sisk. Thank you. I am grateful for the financial support from the Social Science Research Council, the Fulbright Fellowship Program, and the College of Humanities, Department of History, the Office of International Affairs, the Middle East Studies Center and the Center for Latin American Studies at Ohio State University, which allowed to me to conduct the necessary archival research in Argentina, Lebanon and Syria. Finally, my wife and life partner Chihiro Arasaki has stood by me through it all. I am a better person, husband and father because of her influence on my life. And to Ryuri and Reina, the beautiful bookends to the dissertation writing and defense, a man could not be richer for having these beautiful ladies in one’s life. vi Vita June 1991…………………………………...Mary Carroll High School December 1997……………………………..B.A., History, The University of Texas at Austin May 2000…………………………………...M.A., Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin 2002 to present……………………………...Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: History vii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ v Vita .................................................................................................................................. vii List of Maps ...................................................................................................................... ix List of Charts ..................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Arabic-speaking Immigrants at the Nexus of Global and Local Processes ..... 1 Chapter 2: The Syrian Colony in the Argentine Mahjar, 1890-1914 .............................. 44 Chapter 3: A Community in Crisis: Commerce, Crime and Competing Political Ideologies in the Tucumán Mahjar, 1914-1922 ............................................................. 101 Chapter 4: Family, Insecurity, and Community Politics: Syrian-Lebanese Immigrants in 1920s Tucumán .............................................................................................................. 147 Chapter 5: “Un Trabajo Patriótico”: Political Participation, Gender, and Cultural Citizenship in 1930s Tucumán ....................................................................................... 187 Chapter 6: Social Integration, Local Politics, and Nationalist Movements: The Syrian- Lebanese Colony in Tucumán, 1935-1946 .................................................................... 232 Chapter 7: Epilogue ....................................................................................................... 268 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 281 Appendix A: Probability ................................................................................................ 303 viii List of Maps Map 1.1. Ottoman Administrative Divisions in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1910 ............ 5 Map 1.2. Governorate of Mount Lebanon, 1861-1920 ...................................................... 8 Map 1.3. Argentina and its Provinces .............................................................................. 14 Map 1.4. Province of Tucumán, its Administrative Units, and Railroad Lines, 1895 ..... 19 ix List of Charts Chart 2.1. Population of Principal Immigrants, Province of Tucumán, 1895, 1909, and 1914 .................................................................................................................................. 48 Chart 2.2. Ottoman Immigrants Arriving in Buenos Aires, 1903-1913 .......................... 52 Chart