Education and Identity in Late Ottoman Syria A
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Arabs into Frenchmen: Education and Identity in Late Ottoman Syria A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Edward Allaire Falk Committee in charge: Professor Hasan Kayalı, Chair Professor Michael Provence, Co-Chair Professor Thomas Gallant Professor Cynthia Truant Professor Winifred Woodhull 2017 Copyright © Edward Allaire Falk, 2017 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Edward Allaire Falk is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Chair University of California, San Diego 2017 iii DEDICATION Patrick Healy was my friend and comrade for the first few years of graduate school before he passed away in 2012. His love and passion for history, etymology, cartography and other deeply nerdy things continue to inspire me to keep searching to find good stories. It is to him I dedicate this dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page………………………………………………………………………...iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………....v Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………..vi Vita…………………………………………………………………………………..viii Abstract of the Dissertation…………………………………………………………....x Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter I – The Orient in the French Imagination……………………………….……18 Chapter II – Lyon to Liban: Language, Nation, and Faith in the Jesuit Schools of..…66 Ottoman Syria Chapter III – Poetry and Politics: Chekri Ganem and Belle Époque Orientalism…....97 Chapter IV – A Post-Ottoman Future: Dissidents and the War Lobby……………...135 Chapter V - Lebanism and the Phoenician Imagination……………………………..179 Appendix I – Map of Greater Lebanon………………………………………………214 Appendix II – Map of the Major Cities of Ottoman Syria……………………………215 Glossary of Terms…………………………………………………………………...216 Dramatis Personæ……………………………………………………………………218 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………222 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The journey from first tracing an Arabic alif to researching and writing a dissertation on identity in Ottoman Syria was far from a straightforward process, and I’m indebted to many friends, colleagues, and mentors who encouraged me in these efforts and helped me along the way. As an undergraduate at Carleton College, I was lucky to get a work-study job as a research assistant in the Department of History, and it was there than I learned I wanted to research and teach history. Victoria Morse encouraged me to explore the world beyond Europe starting with Ibn Jubayr and Arabic chronicles of the Crusades. Bill North taught me to use a microfilm reader to skim Biblical exegesis, while tutoring me in Italian during his lunch break. Serena Zabin trusted me not to laugh too much when searching historical newspaper databases for dancing masters in colonial Boston. Adeeb Khalid and Louis Fishman introduced me to Ottoman and Islamic history and the unique challenges therein. Lacking an Arabic program at Carleton, Stephanie Galaitsis first taught me the Arabic alphabet before I went to Beloit College’s summer language program, where Tarek El-Sayed indoctrinated me to Egyptian nationalism and the cult of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Studying in Damascus, my mediocre Classical Arabic fusha was unintelligible to all save the students of fiqh, Islamic Jurisprudence. Hüseyin Elmehimid had the patience to speak to my third grade level, welcoming me into his home as a brother. We spent many long nights drinking tea and arguing about gay marriage or whether the trinity is polytheistic. His teacher Khalil Al-Turkumany allowed me to sit in on his lectures and was my tutor outside of class. In Jordan during my Watson fellowship, Father Raymond Moussalli of the Chaldean Church of the vi Sacred Heart and Maroun Najm of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Amman helped facilitate my early research on Arab minorities, gifting me many Iraqi aunties in the process. In Tunis, Joseph Bismuth introduced me to the Jewish community of La Goulette, and Marc Fellous welcomed my participation in a cemetery record project. Slim Wahhabi and I shared an apartment in Tunis, as well as a love of seafood and comedy. In Paris, Reem Bailony was a faithful friend at the microfilm reader banks. Unprompted, she also acquired documents for me relating to Chekri Ganem in the British National Archives. In Istanbul, Nagihan Haliloğlu and Sabrien Amrov were anchors saving me from archive madness. Nicole Beckmann-Tessel, Pauline Lewis, and Alex Schweig were reliable companions for çay once per hour when I was going document-blind at the Ottoman Archives. Laurel Friedman hosted me in Çengelköy during a housing emergency and counseled me through the trying process of writing a dissertation. Tim Eddy was the perfect roommate in our frequently water and electricity-free apartment in Geitawi, Beirut. Noura Haddad and Nick Axelrod- McLeod were the jaded friends I believe and hope everyone finds in Beirut. I would like to thank the staffs of the Bibliothèque Orientale at Université Saint-Joseph, the Jafet Library Special Collections at AUB, the Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi in Kağıthane, the Archives Diplomatique in La Courneuve, and the Archives Jésuites in Vanves. Father Robert Bonfils of the Archives Jésuites was especially generous with his time and magnifying glasses. I would not have been able to conduct the research that built this work without the support of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, the U.S. Fulbright Program, the Council for Library and Information Resources, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Council of American Overseas vii Research Centers. In spite of its origins in the so-called “Global War on Terror,” the Critical Language Scholarship Program was an extraordinary experience during my summers. The Ankara University - TÖMER classes in Izmir and Ankara gave me a working knowledge of Turkish and many dear friends including Bengi Hürriyetoğlu, Özge Hekimoğlu, Lydia Kiesling, Meredith Rahn-Oakes, David Fossum, Osman Balkan, Lisel Hintz, Phil Dorroll, and Courtney Dorroll. For reasons that are now unfortunately clear, my parents Bill and Laurie were hesitant about letting me study Arabic in Syria at age twenty-one. In spite of their concern during that trip and many subsequent, they have supported me in every step of this journey, from Arabic summer camp in Beloit, Wisconsin to visiting me in Istanbul and successfully ordering their own coffee. I am infinitely grateful for their support and their faith that I would try not to ride motorcycles or get tattoos. While graduate school and law school were years of hard work and long hours, my wife Hannah and I have shared these experiences, along with many train and car rides from San Diego to Los Angeles and back again. Her love, support, and temporal flexibility during my summers in Turkey and archival research in Paris, Beirut, and Istanbul made the challenges I faced much more manageable. Jordan Cunnings, immigration attorney extraordinaire, shared an apartment with Hannah and me for two years in Los Angeles. She was my outlet to talk about Catholic history and immigration over bowls of cactus salsa. At UCSD, I couldn’t have asked for a better cohort in the Middle East field. Pat Adamiak, Barış Taşyakan, Ben Smuin, Nur Duru, and Johanna Peterson were thoughtful and collaborative seminar-mates, roommates, and backgammon opponents. viii Hasan Kayalı and Michael Provence co-advised us, setting an example for collaboration that made seminars insightful and occasionally hilarious as we read accounts of Nerval and Flaubert’s Orientalist libidos. Outside of the History Department, Marion Wilson, Ted Gideonse, Eun Jung Park, and Jason Farr mentored me teaching in the Muir College Writing Program at UCSD. Erin Cory was my Lebanese fairy godmother, regaling me with tales of Radio Beirut and her adventures in graffiti tagging as I labored through my qualifying exams. She also hosted me in Odense, Denmark when I needed a writing retreat. Violeta Sánchez has been my teaching, writing, and oyster-eating companion for the last seven years. My life is richer for knowing Erin, Violeta, and their families. Chapter two, “Lyon to Liban,” contains material that previously appeared in Entangled Education, a volume from the Orient-Institut in Beirut edited by Julia Hauser, Christine Lindner, and Esther Möller. Chapter three is currently being prepared for submission to journals. I was the sole author of this material. ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Arabs into Frenchmen: Education and Identity in Ottoman Syria by Edward Allaire Falk Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, San Diego, 2017 Professor Hasan Kayalı, Chair In the final decades of the Ottoman Empire, a group of authors in the Syro- Lebanese diaspora including Chekri Ganem, Nadra Moutran, and Joseph Saouda constructed an Orientalizing discourse to promote a Francophile Catholic vision of Syria’s future, emulating the values and rhetoric of their adopted homeland. At various points, these authors demanded self-rule, increased representation in the Ottoman administration, and independence. In both political publications and literary works including poetry, novels, and theater, these authors drew upon their missionary educations in the schools of the Jesuits, Lazarists, and other French orders in Syria, as well as the memory of the 1860 civil unrest to create and express a hybrid identity. They revered France as the pinnacle of civilization and culture, while drawing Orientalist images of Syria