Description
Book SynopsisExplores the larger political and social implications of what being modern meant in the non-West in the first half of the twentieth century. This book makes a critical contribution not just to Middle East history, but also to the global study of class, mass violence, ideas, and revolution.
Trade Review"Keith David Watenpaugh has broken ground with this study of the middle class in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Aleppo... Being Modern in the Middle East is an insightful and thorough narration of Aleppo's middle class that paves the way to further understand and question the ever shifting dynamics and implications of modernity in the Middle East and beyond."--Sherene Seikaly, Arab Studies Journal "It is refreshing to read nowadays a book that does not simply repudiate modernity, but rather explores the anticipations and reactions of the studied agents themselves towards modernity ... Being Modern in the Middle East is a superb work of cultural, political, and social history instructed political-sociological questions pertaining to modernity, civil society, and the middle class in the context of the Middle Eastern region especially its East-Mediterranean cities in the Ottoman, colonial and post-colonial era. The book, which alludes to an ample number of theoretical issues and whose forte is its scrutiny of history, will be of interest both to those concerned with the 'middle class' as a social phenomenon and with the Middle East as a modernizing region."--Uri Ram, Middle East Journal "Watenpaugh's style is clear and effective. The book is a considerable achievement that will benefit both Middle East specialists and others who wrestle with themes of nation, empire, minorities, and modernity."--Donald Malcolm Reid, International History Review "This is an original study that should be of great interest both to historians of the Middle East and to scholars working on the evolution of 'modern' lifestyles and modes of expression globally."--James Jankowski, Historian "Watenpaugh has utilized the available sources well for his study, including French, Ottoman and British archives. He approaches his history rather in the manner of the French Annales school in that he also makes good use of contemporary newspaper articles, speeches, autobiographies and advertisements to construct a picture of contemporary society."--Derek Hopwood, Journal of Islamic Studies "In sum, Being Modern in the Middle East is an important, interesting, and instructive contribution to the history of ideas, while also being social and cultural history at its best. It is the laudable result of years of research. Overall, it reflects the author's empathy with his subject, a quality that definitely contributes to the depth of his insights and conclusions."--EyalZisser, H-Net Reviews
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments ix Note on Translation and Transliteration xiii Abbreviations and Acronymns xv CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: Modernity, Class, and the Architectures of Community 1 CHAPTER TWO: An Eastern Mediterranean City on the Eve of Revolution 31 SECTION I: Being Modern in a Time of Revolution: The Revolution of 1908 and the Beginnings of Middle-Class Politics (1908-1918) 55 CHAPTER THREE: Ottoman Precedents (I): Journalism, Voluntary Association, and the "True Civilization" of the Middle Class 68 CHAPTER FOUR: Ottoman Precedents (II): The Technologies of the Public Sphere and the Multiple Deaths of the Ottoman Citizen 95 SECTION II: Being Modern in a Moment of Anxiety: The Middle Class Makes Sense of a "Postwar" World (1918-1924)--Historicism, Nationalism, and Violence 121 CHAPTER FIVE: Rescuing the Arab from History: Halab, Orientalist Imaginings, Wilsonianism, and Early Arabism 134 CHAPTER SIX: The Persistence of Empire at the Moment of Its Collapse: Ottoman-Islamic Identity and "New Men" Rebels 160 CHAPTER SEVEN: Remembering the Great War: Allegory, Civic Virtue, and Conservative Reaction 185 SECTION III: Being Modern in an Era of Colonialism: Middle-Class Modernity and the Culture of the French Mandate for Syria (1925-1946) 210 CHAPTER EIGHT: Deferring to the A "yan :The Middle Class and the Politics of Notables 222 CHAPTER NINE: Middle-Class Fascism and the Transformation of Civil Violence: Steel Shirts, White Badges, and the Last Qabaday 255 CHAPTER TEN: Not Quite Syrians: Aleppo's Communities of Collaboration 279 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Coda: The Incomplete Project of Middle-Class Modernity and the Paradox of Metropolitan Desire 299 Select Bibliography 309 Index 317
