Reckoning with the Past: the History and Historiography of the Kisrawan Uprising
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Reckoning with the Past: The History and Historiography of the Kisrawan Uprising by Daniel Martin Department of History and Classical Studies McGill University, Montreal August, 2012 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts © Daniel Martin, 2012 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter One: Narrating Revolt: A Revision of the Historiography of the Kisrawan Uprising ..................... 11 Chapter Two: Historicizing “Integration” and Social Change in Ottoman Mount Lebanon ....................... 41 Chapter Three: Imperial Boundaries and the Political Economy of Revolt, 1830-1860 ............................. 66 Chapter Four: The Kisrawan Uprising: Popular Mobilization in the Age of Reform ................................. 112 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 141 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................. 149 2 Abstract Nearly two decades after the restoration of Ottoman rule in Greater Syria and the proclamation of the Tanzimat reform project, Mount Lebanon became the site of large sustained popular mobilizations. In the district of Kisrawan, villagers banded together under a central committee and expelled the ruling landowning families while claiming a space in the political structure of the Qa‘immaqamiyya in direct reference to the Tanzimat reforms. This study positions itself against two dominant tendencies in the scholarship of the revolt which present the event either as a reaction to the destructive effects of European commercial action on Mount Lebanon’s society, or as a result of new forms of political consciousness generated at the site of various imperial encounters which inadvertently opened the door to “popular” participation in the formerly closed domain of politics. This study seeks to locate the historical conditions which made this phenomenon possible at the interstices between longue- durée shifts in the region’s social structure, and rapidly emerging dynamics in the period 1830-1860 which shaped the vast expansion of commercial relations and the political re-ordering of Mount Lebanon. I argue that the form, timing, and content of the political movement known as the “Kisrawan uprising” of 1858-1860, was intricately shaped within the context of expanding commercial relations and shifting boundaries of the “state” and “reform” as they were experienced by local actors. In doing so, this study attempts to re-think the forces shaping political movements in Mount Lebanon which have been characterized as a new form of popular engagement with "Tanzimat politics”. Résumé Près de deux décennies suivant la restauration de la souveraineté Ottomane en Syrie, et la proclamation du projet de réforme Tanzimat, le Mont Liban est devenu le lieu des plus grandes mobilisations politiques populaires de l’histoire moderne de la région. Dans le district du Kisrawan au Mont Liban, les villageois se sont regroupés en un comité central et ont expulsé les cheikhs de la famille Khazin, les célèbres fermiers d’impôts du district, en revendiquant une place dans la structure politique du Qa‘immaqamiyya, et ce en faisant directement référence aux discours des réformes Tanzimat. Cette étude se positionne contre deux tendances dominantes dans l’historiographie de la révolte : celle-ci présente l’évènement soit comme une réaction aux effets destructeurs de l’action commerciale européene sur la société du Mont Liban; soit une manifestation de nouvelles formes de conscience politique générées suite à diverses rencontres impériales qui, par inadvertance, ont ouvert la porte à la participation « populaire » dans un domaine autrefois fermée de la politique. Cette étude cherche à analyser les conditions historiques qui ont rendu ce phénomène possible dans les interstices des changements de longue-durée dans la structure sociale du Mont Liban, et des dynamiques émergentes dans la période 1830-1860, qui ont façonné le phénomène d’une vaste expansion de relations commerciales et de la politique de « restauration » au Mont-Liban. Je soutiens que la forme, et le caractère des demandes du mouvement politique de 1858-1860, a été façonné dans le contexte de l’expansion des relations commerciales, des frontières des institutions de « l’état », ainsi que l’expérience vécue des réformes par les acteurs locaux. Cette étude tente de repenser les forces historiques qui ont donné lieu à une nouvelle forme d’engagement populaire avec la politique du «Tanzimat.» 3 Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the sustained encouragement and help of a large number of individuals. First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Malek Abisaab, for the guidance and encouragement he provided me throughout my studies at McGill. His sustained interest in my well-being and success, and his expressed belief in my abilities helped orient me to graduate studies. Without his help and patient mentoring, I would not be where I am today. For this, I owe him a debt of gratitude which will carry through to my future endeavours. I would also like to thank Professor Manoukian for his support and the insightful discussions he stimulated, both in the context of his seminars on Anthropology and History, and during his free time. The comments he provided on an early draft of the first chapter were invaluable and helped refine the conceptual approach of this thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Nicolas Dew, whose insightful comments and guidance provided during his Historical Methods seminar helped me develop the topic and methodological angle I subsequently took. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Laila Parsons, and Khalid Medani, whose lectures and seminars were formative in my training, and inspired me to pursue history as a field of study. I also extend a special thank you to Shokry Gohar for his role as my Arabic professor throughout my Masters. The staff of the McLennan, and Islamic Studies Libraries have been of much assistance throughout my research as has the staff at the Interlibrary Loans office at Mcgill, who provided me with countless requests as well as invaluable microfilm from the Public Record Office in London. I would also like to thank Yazan al-Weshah, for his kindness, hospitality, and the limitless patience he demonstrated as my language partner during my stay in Jordan in the summer of 2009. A debt of gratitude is also owed to Osama Maria as well as Hussam Eldin Ahmed for helping me decipher the complexities of the sijillat of the qa‘immaqam. I also owe thanks to Pascal Abidor, whose friendship and comments on early drafts of this thesis were invaluable and helped me through the often difficult process of writing. This thesis would not have been possible without the unbounded support of my family, whose constant help and words of encouragement have meant more than I can possibly convey in any short acknowledgment. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the endless support of Chelsea Moore, to whom I dedicate this work. Your kindness, selflessness, and compassion are truly exceptional. You continue to inspire me, and I could not have found a better intellectual partner to help me carry this through. This work is as much yours as it is mine. 4 Introduction “The news is known to have reached your noble ears of the disputes existing among the family of Their Excellencies the Khazin Shaikhs because of their devious plans about which they have their secret thoughts. (...) All this time we kept quiet, hoping that this was a temporary incident and would pass away and cease, and desiring to keep the peace and taking into consideration the nobility of their forefathers. Now, upon thorough consideration and deliberations upon that matter by all of us, we have found that the past, as compared to the present and the future, is to be reckoned as nothing.”1 In the early months of 1858, the districts of Mount Lebanon, a mountainous region in the province of Saida (Sidon) in Ottoman Syria, became the site of widespread political unrest. Conflict over the successor to the deceased qa‘immaqam (district governor) of the “Christian districts” of Mount Lebanon, Haydar Abi Lami‘, had steadily built up over the course of the previous year, and now threatened to tear apart the political structure of the northern qa‘immaqamiyya (sub-governorate) of Mount Lebanon. The political-administrative entity faced its biggest challenge as members of the districts’ predominant landowning families rallied villagers to successfully drive out the ruling qa‘immaqam of the northern districts. The de facto suspension of the ruling qa‘immaqam was quickly followed by the expansion of an autonomous “popular” movement which began to coalesce among the villages of the Kisrawan district, taking an altogether different trajectory. By Christmas Eve of 1858, the villages elected wakala (delegates)