Online
Speaker: Stacy Fahrenthold (History, UC Davis), Discussant: Amy Fallas (PhD Candidate, History, UC Santa Barbara)
In this talk, Stacy Fahrenthold examines the politics of Syrian and Lebanese migration during the First World War. Some half-million Arab migrants, nearly all still subjects of the Ottoman Empire, lived in a diaspora concentrated in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. They faced new demands for their political loyalty from Istanbul, which commanded them to resist European colonialism. From the Western hemisphere, Syrian migrants grappled with political suspicion, travel restriction, and outward displays of support for the war against the Ottomans. From these diasporic communities, Syrians used their ethnic associations, commercial networks, and global press to oppose Ottoman rule, collaborating with the Entente powers because they believed this war work would bolster the cause of Syria’s liberation. Based on her new book, Between the Ottomans and the Entente, Fahrenthold discusses how Syrian emigrant communities became a geopolitical frontier between the Young Turk Revolution and the early French Mandate, transforming the diaspora into an epicenter for Arab nationalist politics.