Criticizing Antonius: A Different Perspective On The Official Arab Nationalist Narrative
Mehmet Fahri DanışGeorge Antonius’s 1938 book Arab Awakening serves as a foundational text, methodically defining, restricting, and shaping the history of the Arab national movement. Antonius’ work established a sacred “origin” for Arab nationalism; he presented the activities of a literary-cultural circle (Nahda) and how they accelerated the political nationalist movement. The literature frequently criticizes the Arab Awakening, emphasizing its historical justifications or subjective perspective flaws. The goal of this research is to examine how the Arab Awakening has historically helped to develop Arab nationalism around two key concepts. The intellectual foundations of the concept of “national awakening” will be revealed in this regard, following a brief summary of Antonius’ historical sketch and an evaluation of the critical canon compared to the Arab Awakening. The issue of Antonius’ relationship to territorial nationalism, which he opposes to ethnic nationalism, will then be examined as a frequently overlooked aspect of his writing. It will be argued that the distinction between qawmiyya and wataniyya represents an important breaking point revealed by the Arab Awakening.
Antonius’u Eleştirmek: Arap Milliyetçiliğinin Resmî Anlatısına Alternatif Bir Bakış Denemesi
Mehmet Fahri DanışGeorge Antonius’un 1938 yılında yayımlanan Arap Uyanışı başlıklı çalışması, Arap ulusal hareketinin tarihini sistemli bir şekilde tanımlayan, sınırlayan ve bu vesileyle de şekillendiren bir kurucu metindir. Antonius’un Arap milliyetçiliğine mukaddes bir “köken” kazandırma niteliğine hizmet eden çalışma; 19. yüzyıl ortalarında Beyrut’ta temelleri atılan edebî-kültürel bir çevrenin faaliyetlerini (Nahda) ve bu faaliyetlerin siyasî bir milliyetçi hareketi ivmelediği tezlerini ileri sürer. Arap Uyanışı, literatürde çokça eleştirilir, muhteviyatındaki tarihsel argümanların yanlışlığı ya da objektif olmayan bakış açısı sıklıkla vurgulanır. Fakat tüm kritiklere rağmen Antonius’un metni, Arap milliyetçiliğinin öyküsünün resmî vesikası, ulusal hareketin izlediği tarihsel güzergâhın yegâne kaynağı ve daha da ötesinde modern Arap kimliğinin “ne”liğini tespit eden çok önemli bir yapıt olmayı günümüze kadar sürdürür. Bu çalışmanın amacı; Arap Uyanışı’nı, Arap milliyetçiliğinin inşası aşamasında oynadığı tarihsel rolü başlıca iki husus etrafında analiz etmektir. Bu doğrultuda Antonius’un çizdiği tarihsel eskizin kısaca özetlenmesi ve Arap Uyanışı karşısında oluşan eleştirel kanonun değerlendirilmesinin ardından, “milli uyanış” fikrinin felsefî temelleri ortaya koyulacaktır. Ardından Antonius’un yapıtının genelde görmezden gelinen bir parçası olarak, etnik milliyetçiliğin karşısında konumlandırdığı teritoryal milliyetçilikle münasebeti meselesi incelenecek ve kavmiyye-vataniyye ayrımının, esasında Arap Uyanışı’nın ortaya koyduğu önemli bir kırılma noktası olduğu ileri sürülecektir.
George Antonius’ Arab Awakening was one of the first works to narrate the development of modern Arab nationalism and identity systematically. Up until the last quarter of the twentieth century, this book was considered a privileged work of literature. It profoundly impacted the official historiography of the newly formed nation-states in the post-Ottoman Middle East and the new wave of Arab nationalism that arose in response to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Finding a study comparable to this endeavor is impossible, given that the book was published in 1938. The study demonstrates that European sovereignty still exists in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq—areas Antonius frequently refers to as “northern Arab lands”—that the international community takes the Palestine issue seriously, and that this particular occasion raises awareness of the fragmented nature of post-Ottoman Arab geography. The story of the Arab national movement, which began in the nineteenth century, is also a concrete expression of the ideal of unity or the collapse of Arab nationalism based on ethnicity and language, known as “qawmiyya.” One of the book’s most distinguishing features is Antonius’ personal connections, which allow him to speak directly with key leaders from Nahda and the 1915 Rebellion. In some ways, this transforms the Arab Awakening into a record of the testimony of the most influential figures of the time.
Antonius chose to highlight and leave out certain topics in his historical narrative based on his own worldview and the cultural context of his upbringing. Antonius does not wish to present an unbiased account of the Arab national story. The goal of writing the Arab Awakening was to establish an Arab identity and the ideal of Arab nationalism that would resurrect it broadly as a foundation, origin, and beginning.
There have always been critical works that challenge Antonius’ story, and prominent figures in contemporary Middle Eastern studies have not shied away from methodically dissecting the Arab Awakening, particularly in light of its overemphasis on external influences. Nowadays, it appears difficult to write anything about the subject without praising or denouncing Antonius and his masterpiece. Since the middle of the twentieth century, many who oppose the Arab Awakening have questioned the book’s fundamental ideas, focusing primarily on Antonius’ impartiality. Zeine Zeine, Albert Hourani, A.L. Tibawi, Elie Kedourie, and others have criticized the role of Beirut’s cultural revival. However, Ernest Dawn has a more limited literary effect. Dawn argued that Turkish nationalism played an important role in the rise of Arab nationalism. In addition to these important avenues, notable figures include Philip Khoury and Michael Provence, who emphasized notables’ politics as the foundation of Arab nationalism; Bassam Tibi, who highlights the impact of European-centered ideas on Bilad al-Sham; and Martin Kramer, who emphasizes Islamic modernism’s significance.
Finally, those criticizing Antonius, including the text’s content, tend to focus on Nahda’s historical significance and the relationship between Turkism and Arab nationalism. The purpose of this article, however, is to examine how the Arab Awakening shaped Arab nationalism throughout history, focusing on two main themes. This will initially expose the conceptual underpinnings of “national awakening.” The “awakening” motif, which pervades nearly all nationalist rhetoric, gives the national community a sacred origin while emphasizing some “premodern” ideas about the nature of national identity today. The question of Antonius’ relationship to territorial nationalism, which he opposes to ethnic nationalism, will then be examined as an often overlooked aspect of his work. It will be argued that the distinction between qawmiyya and wataniyya represents an important breaking point revealed by the Arab Awakening.
Because Antonius’ work contains so many problematic issues, it is important to criticize him. His worldview and the cultural milieu in which he grew up were the only factors that impacted the concerns addressed and ignored in the historical narrative he wrote. Antonius is the result of his political and cultural surroundings, having grown up in a cosmopolitan setting in Lebanon and receiving a Western education as a Christian intellectual. Thus, criticizing Antonius is analogous to criticizing “Antonius-type” late nineteenth-century Arab thinker. This issue, which many critics have previously ignored, necessitates a thorough examination of the intellectual milieu of the time.
In actuality, Antonius does not want to provide an unbiased account of the Arab national struggle. The goal of writing the Arab Awakening book was to provide a foundation, origin, and beginning for the Arab identity and the ideal of Arab nationalism, which will resurrect it globally. Antonius examines the past through his own lens, attempting to interpret the pertinent events in accordance with a single ideal to construct a narrative that will lend historical legitimacy to the Arab national cause.
The goal of this study is to provide an introduction to an alternative interpretation of Antonius’ magnum opus. The first section of the article provides a brief overview of the historical trajectory of the Arab national movement as described in the Arab Awakening and divides text criticism into several sections. A comprehensive assessment of the Arab Awakening criticisms reveals that they follow multiple broad trajectories, and a chronological analysis reveals a clear distinction between past criticisms and current complaints. The discourse that established the Arab identity as a contemporary form of belonging and the concept of “awakening,” which was deemed the most important component of the work, were then subjected to philosophical and sociological analysis. Finally, research has begun on the textual foundations of the distinction between territorial nationalism (wataniyya) and ethnic nationalism (qawmiyya), which should be viewed as one of the most important issues of the Arab Awakening and a pivotal paradigm for the entire twentieth-century Middle Eastern history. Comparing the nation-state nationalisms of Western-dominated mandate states is required to highlight the differences between these two types of nationalism, which also served to stifle this ideal in the face of unitary Pan-Arab nationalism.
