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  • Arab France: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe, 1798–1831
  • Nadia Kiwan
Arab France: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe, 1798–1831. By Ian Coller. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. xi + 288 pp., ill. Pb $24.95; £16.95.

In this fascinating book Ian Coller explores what he calls the ‘making’ and ‘unmaking’ of Arab France between 1801 and 1831, taking as his starting point the arrival of several hundred men, women, and children of mainly Egyptian and Syrian origin who accompanied the French army back to Marseille in 1801, following Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt. The first part of the book focuses on the experiences of the ‘Egyptian refugees’ in Marseille and Paris during the Empire and the political transition of 1814–15, while the second part examines the changing political and global circumstances affecting the lives of these Arabs and their descendants in France during the 1820s and the immediate aftermath of the 1830 Revolution. What clearly distinguishes Coller’s sociohistorical analysis from other related studies of Arab France is the fact that he does not focus on the already well-documented postcolonial presence of [End Page 261] Algerians, Moroccans, and Tunisians in France; instead, he concentrates on those Arabs whose heterogeneous origins lay mainly in Egypt and the Levant. The richly textured discussion of these Arabs’ experiences in France before the ‘colonial turn’ (p. 217) — that is, before the French conquest of Algiers in 1830 — draws on the life stories of prominent intellectuals, soldiers, and merchants whose trajectories were for the most part forgotten, ignored, or silenced in the wake of nationalizing historical narratives that became increasingly dominant as the nineteenth century progressed. In theoretical terms, Coller’s book makes a significant intervention into ongoing debates about concepts such as community and identity. Indeed, his attention to the mobilities and multi-sited ties of the French Arabs he discusses builds on existing debates that challenge notions of community primarily theorized in relation to fixed spatial parameters. As such, this book should be read as a transnational history that maps the political, social, and intellectual networks between France and its Mediterranean neighbours. Despite the engaging and original nature of this book, Arab France opens up two questions, the first of which concerns the choice of title. The book’s subtitle is Islam and the Making of Modern Europe and yet the vast majority of the Arab population under discussion actually belonged to the various Egyptian and Syrian Christian minorities. Although Coller argues that, nevertheless, these individuals came from an ‘Islamicate society’ (p. 10) and were thus necessarily part of the Muslim world, it seems odd that Islam is accorded such a prominent place in the book’s title but is treated in a fairly marginal manner in the text itself. Secondly, given that the author is keen to underline how the book contributes to ongoing debates about community, identity, and mobility, it is surprising that he does not engage more systematically with the vast theoretical literature on diaspora. These quibbles aside, Arab France is an important and original book that will be of interest to scholars as well as to curious, non-specialist readers.

Nadia Kiwan
University of Aberdeen
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