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Armenian Communities in Lebanon, Syria: Same Origin Different Paths?

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  • Armenian Communities in Lebanon, Syria: Same Origin Different Paths?

    Nicola Migliorino. (Re)constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria:
    Ethno-cultural Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee
    Crisis. Forced Migration Series. Oxford Berghahn Books, 2007.
    Tables. 256 pp. $75.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84545-352-7.

    Reviewed by Ahmet H. Akkaya
    Published on H-Genocide (November, 2009)
    Commissioned by Elisa G. von Joeden-Forgey

    Armenian Communities in Lebanon and Syria: The Same Origin, Two
    Different Paths?

    In _(Re)constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria_, Nicola Migliorino
    provides a comprehensive narrative of the formation of Armenian
    communities in Lebanon and Syria (the Levant) while tracing the
    political development of these two intertwined colonies during the
    Mandate period. Migliorino situates these narratives within a broader
    analytical framework that deals with the question of cultural
    diversity and incorporation, particularly the various options that
    immigrants may have aside from simple assimilation and exclusion.
    Migliorino asks, "Does the case of the Armenians in Lebanon and Syria
    tell us a different story, of how a community of 'different' people
    can successfully 'find its place' in the contemporary Middle East
    without being either assimilated or excluded?" (p. 4).

    Migliorino explores this question from three main perspectives. The
    first focuses on the historical background of the formation of
    Armenian communities in the Levant, which Migliorino calls a "refugee
    story" (p. 2). The second discusses the different dimensions and
    meanings of the presence of those communities, namely, "nationalism
    in exile" and "diasporic transnationalism" (p. 3). As part of this
    diasporic perspective, Migliorino compares the host states, Syria and
    Lebanon, in terms of their approach to ethno-cultural diversity. Up
    to this point, he notes, diversity in the Middle East generally has
    been analyzed "with the tools of ethno-politics and ethnic conflict
    theory, and mostly from the perspective of the state, the political
    system, or the regime" (p. 3). Migliorino points out that the
    Armenian communities in the Levant present an interesting case in
    that they are neither a threat to nor a primary strategic resource
    for those states. At this point, he proposes a different
    ethno-political approach as a third perspective. His new approach
    entails the study of the Armenian communities in the Levant on the
    basis of their distinctive cultural identity and their interaction
    with the broader social, political, and cultural structure of the
    host societies.

    Within this framework, this book is composed of five main chapters in
    addition to an introduction and conclusion. The first chapter
    discusses mainly the historical background of the origins of Armenian
    presence in the Levant. The Armenian community grew rapidly during
    the First World War, when there was a mass exodus of Armenians to
    Syria and Lebanon brought about by the genocide in the Ottoman
    Empire. Nevertheless, Migliorino notes that "the migration and
    displacements seem to be a distinctive feature of Armenian history
    from old to modern times" (p. 9). As a direct consequence of the
    ongoing waves of Armenian refugees after the genocide of 1915-16, the
    modern Armenian community in the Levant was formed. Migliorino
    discusses this process rather briefly and does not go into any
    details about the genocide and its impacts on the refugees.

    In the subsequent four chapters of the book, he traces the
    development of the Armenian community in the Levant in conjunction
    with the political history of Lebanon and Syria, that is, from the
    years of the French Mandate to the present. Migliorino's
    periodization marks the common turning points of both Lebanese and
    Syrian societies, namely, the French Mandate (1920-46)=3B the
    postindependence phase until the end of the 1960s (1946-67)=3B the
    period between 1967 and 1989=3B and lastly the period since the 1990s.
    A chapter is devoted to each period, allowing Migliorino to discuss
    continuities and changes in community-state relationships between the
    Armenians and government authorities by analyzing six dimensions of
    these relationships. These include "religion and the religious policy
    of the state=3B the Armenian participation in public life=3B the
    production and diffusion of Armenian culture and cultural policy of
    the state=3B Armenian education in the context of national education=3B
    Armenian associations and the state policy on the civil society=3B and
    the economic and class dimensions of the Armenian presence" (p. 5).
    In each chapter, Migliorino evaluates the Armenian communities on the
    basis of these six dimensions. It is interesting to note that in each
    chapter he changes their ordering according to the importance of the
    role that dimension played in that period. In this sense, in terms of
    the formation and preservation of a distinct community identity, the
    religion/church and the political structure have played the most
    decisive roles in each period. Among them, he notes that the
    political bodies, namely, Armenian political parties, have gradually
    surpassed the church, which, however, has maintained its traditional
    position as the representative of the Armenian people. Armenian
    educational institutions and associations that have been tied either
    to the church or to political parties have also played a very
    important role in consolidating Armenian communities in the Levant.

    Throughout these chapters, Migliorino makes an argument concerning
    the divergent approaches of Lebanon and Syria to this culturally
    distinct Armenian community. In this sense, he discusses the
    political development of both countries, which diverges especially in
    the postindependence period. Since the 1950s, Syria has followed a
    much more authoritarian statist path, while Lebanon has adopted a
    "power-sharing, consociational political model" (p. 4). This
    divergence has led to two different paths of development for Armenian
    communities in each country. On the one hand, the Armenian community
    in Lebanon has flourished on many counts, including all dimensions
    that Migliorino analyzed in this book. In his words, "from an
    Armenian point of view, Lebanon could be undoubtedly regarded as a
    success story" (p. 147). On the other hand, the Syrian case presents
    a different and much more disadvantageous path for the Armenian
    community, namely, the virtual disappearance of Armenians from public
    life in Syria. These two paths changed the development of the
    character of the Armenian community within each society as well as
    between them. In the immediate postindependence period we see the
    beginnings of a migration wave from Syria to Lebanon. After the
    1970s, however, the direction was reversed: the achievements of
    Armenians in Lebanon were significantly damaged due to the civil war,
    which resulted in the exodus of almost half of the Armenian
    population "to the countries of the Western world," whereas the
    Armenian community in Syria has enjoyed a relatively stable period
    since then (p. 165). As the title of the fifth chapter summarizes,
    the Armenian communities in both countries has faced a "difficult
    recovery and uncertain future" since the 1990s (p. 179).

    In sum, Migliorino gives a detailed picture of the experience of the
    Armenian communities in Lebanon and Syria from the 1920s to the
    present. In doing this, he answered his main question, posed at the
    beginning of the book, in the following way: "The Armenians appear to
    have successfully maintained, for more than eight decades since their
    mass-resettlement in the Levant, a distinct identity as an
    ethno-culturally diverse group, in spite of being a relatively small
    minority within a very different, mostly Arab environment" (p. 221).
    At the same time, he offers a vivid analysis of the evolution of two
    post-Mandate states, Lebanon and Syria, concerning primarily their
    approaches toward ethno-cultural diversity wherein he sees the main
    possible deadlock for the future of Armenian communities in the
    Levant. In his words, "this book suggests that neither in Lebanon nor
    in Syria does a sustainable or consistent model for the accommodation
    of ethno-cultural diversity appear to be in place" (p. 222). In light
    of this, Migliorino argues that it is mainly within the framework of
    such concepts as "cultural rights" or "rights to diversity" that a
    sustainable approach can be genuine.

    Migliorino's book includes numerous detailed tables pointing to
    various aspects of the Armenian presence in the Levant, ranging from
    the number of refugees, to the number and location of schools,
    churches, Armenian members of Parliament, associations, journals,
    etc. These tables make it possible to trace changes in Armenian life
    in both countries over time. Such socioeconomic data are also
    complemented by the "impressionistic and anecdotal material collected
    through interviews and personal visits" (p. 198). Migliorino also
    consulted a broad literature on Armenians as well on Lebanon and
    Syria, in English, French, Arabic, and Armenian. However, he would
    have done well to translate the French quotations into English.

    The main criticism I have of Migliorino's book lies in the author's
    "conceptual analysis," which proves unconvincing in a sense that it
    is very much confined to an analysis of the political history of the
    host countries. Regarding the development of the Armenian communities
    in those countries, the book lacks any rigorous conceptual tools.
    This is surprising, since the concept of diaspora as an analytical
    tool has been developed quite intensely in the humanities and social
    science disciplines over the last decade. It has been used for a much
    longer time with reference to traumatic experiences of Jews and
    African slaves. Later on, new cases of genocide and expulsion, like
    Armenians during World War I, and the waves of millions of other
    people displaced by forced and voluntary migration, have increased
    the number of diasporas. It has been argued that "the term [diaspora]
    has lost its stigmatic connotation and on the contrary it turned out
    to be a resource for identity politics."[1] The Armenian case has
    occupied a critical role within diaspora studies, first as an example
    of "Victim Diaspora" and then as a resource of identity. Therefore,
    the experiences of the Armenian community in the Levant would have
    been an interesting case for the studies of diaspora and
    transnationalism. Although Migliorino makes some references to the
    study of Khachig Tölölyan, a prominent scholar of diaspora studies,
    and discusses the shift of the Armenian community's self-perception
    from a "nation in exile" to a "permanent transnational diaspora," he
    does not employ these concepts in detail (pp. 124, 180). This main
    deficit also weakens his claim to be studying the Armenian identity
    as a distinct identity in the Levant.

    Nevertheless, in spite of these critical remarks, this book makes
    useful reading for those who are interested in Armenian communities
    dispersed around the world and in the Levant specifically. It would
    be my hope that Migliorino and other interested scholars will
    continue to follow through on the important themes addressed by this
    book.

    Note

    [1]. Rainer Münz and Rainer Ohliger, eds., _Diaspora and Ethnic
    Migrants: Germany, Israel and Post-Soviet Successor States in
    Comparative Perspective_ (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 3.

    Citation: Ahmet H. Akkaya. Review of Migliorino, Nicola,
    _(Re)constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria: Ethno-cultural
    Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee Crisis_.
    H-Genocide, H-Net Reviews. November, 2009.
    URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=3D2503 1

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
    Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
    License.
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