The invention of identities in the Arab Middle East. (c2010)

Abstract

This thesis examines Antoun Saadeh' s national ideas by using Benedict Anderson's concept of "imagined community." It aims at unpacking Saadeh's thoughts by using a new perspective to clarify his vision of what a nation is and the basis on which he had constructed his theory on Syrian nationalism. The study examines critically Saadeh's concept of nationalism with particular emphasis on the relationship of this concept to both Arabs and Islam. It also traces the origins of Saadeh's thought and the sources from which he derived his national and historic.al writings to formulate the concept of Syrian nationalism. The current research also provides an epistemological evaluation of Saadeh's ideas via resorting to scholarly studies which reveal some of his historical fallacies. The main contribution of this thesis is meant to expose the way through which Saadeh had formulated the Syrian "imagined community". The current study unveiled that Saadeh's version of Syrian nationalism was a novel case. It is a form of what Benedict Anderson considered to be an "official nationalism." In this case Saadeh's political party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, was and remains to be a "state within a state." By implementing Anderson's model, Saadeh's ideology attempts to place the inhabitants of the "fertile crescent" in one "organic body," by providing them, through its propaganda and party discipline, with a new vision on "life, the universe and art." This was conducted through reviving the heritage of the ancient civilizations in the region and avoiding the Arab-Islamic tradition. SU,ch a view overlooks the Arab presence and assumes that it was both trivial and unnecessary within the realm of the Syrian nation. Accordingly, Saadeh vigorously indicated that Syrian nationalism proved to be a channel through which segments of minority groups within the Arab Middle East were able to illustrate their vision of the past, the present and the future. Saadeh's nationalist discourse sought to create a unifying identity for the inhabitants of the "Fertile Crescent" region. This was conducted through promoting an anthropological biological interpretation of what nation is, based on the effect of geography and racial fusion on the course of development of the Syrian nation. The current study also proved that Benedict Anderson's interpretation of the rise of nationalism remains to be viable even in colonial states. Saadeh was one example of the validity of Anderson's historical paradigm. He was indulged in creating a specific "Syrian" nation by attempting to impose his national theory through his party. "Syrian" nationalism remains to be a source of understanding contemporary Arab intellectuals' mindset. This is evident in the eclectic nature of both Saadeh's social and economic ideas. He is an example of what can be perceived as the "Arab attitude of mind," where western ideologies are fused with traditional ones. The implications of this ideological process are embedded in the formation of hybrid ideology that neither represents the old ideas nor the modern ones. Instead such an outlook creates a distorted form of intellectual consciousness. Finally, the study proves that Saadeh's ideology and historical perspective regarding the existence of a unique civilization in the Fertile Crescent extending from the ancient past, intersects with several modern Arab historians and writers' studies and research. This clarifies that Saadeh's national ideology is currently active in the Arab Middle East notwithstanding the fact that Saadeh's party is politically weak.