Preserving the Old City of Damascus

2. “Villagers Do Not Become Shuwam”

75 2 “Villagers Do Not Become Shuwam” I return to the series Dhikryat for a specific scene that illustrates the impact of the Old City on new rural immigrants, and that will set the theme for the discussion to follow on the Shami–rural binary that has long defined social hierarchies in the city. In this scene, a young female migrant narrates her introduction to Damascus. Born in a village to ignorant and “backward” parents she realized at an early age she wanted more of life then the limited opportunities of the village. She did well enough in school to graduate and enter the university in Damascus to study law. On her way to the city, she vowed never to go back to the village but to make al-Sham her new home. But the city was not hospitable; instead, she was met with Shami snobbery toward rural migrants. One day, on her way to the court to sit in on hearings, she slipped and fell. Only one young man came to her aid who, she found out, lived in the Old City. She asked him whether there were any rooms for rent in his neighborhood, because she believed that if she lived in the Old City, the heart of Damascus, “she will understand the city and it will understand her.” Hence, to overcome social alienation and ostracism in Damascus, she had to unlock the key to the city, which was only possible by dwelling in the Old City. Althoughadramatizednarrative,severalelements resonatewithmany rural migrants to Damascus, especially for people seeking to improve their social standing. Upward social mobility was mediated through the urban setting because opportunities existed in the city, but more importantly , urban dwellers ranked higher than residents of villages. The fictional lawyer already assumed that her presence in Damascus would be 76 • Preserving the Old City of Damascus transformative. No longer will she be a country “hick” but will become a sophisticated urban dweller. However, this transformation could not occur without living in the Old City because that is where the “essence” of being a Damascus dweller, a Shami, originates. It is assumed rural migrants transform into urbanites by embodying the Old City. The young man who came to her assistance lived in the Old City and demonstrated Shami civility, and though it is not clear whether he was Shami, he at least was “Shamified,” or had undergone the process of becoming a “civilized” urban subject. Moreover, the marginalization she experienced outside the wall could be mitigated in the Old City because she will be embedded in the daily practices of the neighborhood. By dwelling there and by being seen in the alleys, she will be less unfamiliar to the city. At the same time, the city and its ways will become familiar to her. However, the Old City is where cheap accommodations are found; therefore, it makes sense for recent arrivals to Damascus to live there. In this chapter, I examine the evolution of the Shami identity as a distinct social category with the “other” located in the rural migrant. This examination entails an analysis of how being Shami came to stand not only for people of a certain origin but also for a civility and sense of aesthetics associated with living in the Old City and the bayt ‘arabi. In the next chapter, I discuss how being Shami evolved through dwelling in the courtyard house, while in this chapter, I focus on the often contentious relationship between the city and the country in its historical context. What further complicates the urban–rural binary in Damascus is the rise of the Ba‘th party, with its predominantly rural membership and leadership. When Hafiz al-Asad became president in 1970, the presence of Alawites was noticed in state institutions , and many Shuwam believed they dominated the local bureaucracy. Hence, a new subset of the urban–rural binary arose, the Shami–Alawite division, and some Shuwam worried the regime’s urban policies endangered the Old City and Damascus (Salamandra 2004, 33). Whatisfascinatinginthenarrativeofurban–ruralrelationsinDamascus is even though the city has always been a magnet for rural migrants throughout its long history the political transformations of the previous century altered the relationship between the city and the countryside. Before the rise of the Ba‘th party, rural migrants eventually assimilated “Villagers Do Not Become Shuwam” • 77 and adopted the urban way of life, and many prominent Shami families are...