The Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology (review)

This book consists of ‘a reading of a limited site of nationalist discourse’ (2), that pertaining to the Arabic language and national identity. Suleiman aims to ‘decipher’ the texts of nationalist thinkers of the last two centuries and place them in an intellectual and cultural context of both Arabic tradition and European nationalist thought. Since these texts are sometimes obscure, dense, and not entirely coherent, S aims to cull out the important factors and generate a coherent, organized body of data on this discourse about Arabic and national identity that can be used as a foundation for future discussion and research.

After an introduction in which S carefully delineates the scope of the study, he ‘sets the scene’ in Ch. 2 by reviewing the literature on (and of) nationalism, paying particular attention to the problems associated with defining a nation, as well as issues of emphasis. He contrasts ‘objective’ (criteria-based) with ‘subjective’ (belief-based) definitions and shows how some thinkers emphasize the ‘boundary-setting’ aspects of nationalisms. He also contrasts those who concentrate on civic and political aspects with those who rely more on cultural and ethnic ones. He shows that in all of these permutations, discussions of nationalism have always asserted a close association of language with national identity, since (i) it is always there, (ii) it is the primary means of socialization, (iii) it enables participation in community life, and (iv) for nations that are not coexistent with a state (such as Germany and Italy in the nineteenth century) it is really the only thing that unites them.

Ch. 3 begins with the role of the past as a legitimizing and authenticating agent in nationalist discourse and shows how the past is ‘mined, ideologized and symbolically elaborated’ (39) for current and future national purposes, specifically modernization. Then, in an impressive tour de force, S reviews aspects of medieval Arab heritage that resonate with modern nationalist concerns in regard to the role of Arabic, particularly the role of the ‘Wisdom of the Arabs’ principle that played such an important role in the lahn (error) literature of the early centuries, as well as sharp reactions of the Arabs to the shu‘ubiyya movement that tried to denigrate that principle. The pull of the ideal of linguistic purity remained strong throughout that period, and in general the arguments of the past still resonate with nationalist thought.

Ch. 4, which deals with Ottoman period developments in nationalist thought, contains an impressive evocation of the intellectual milieu of the late Ottoman Empire and an insightful juxtaposition of two emerging nationalisms: Turkish and Arab. In Egypt, Ibrahim Pasha made efforts to unite areas that spoke Arabic. Placards that appeared in the Levant in the early 1880s called for making Arabic an official language of the empire beside Turkish and demanded that Arabic be used in local schools. When proponents of Turkish nationalism gained control of the empire and implemented turkification policies, the Arab resistance became more focused and ultimately moved from demanding respect for Arab identity to calling for Arab independence. Arabic, in addition to its communicative role, started to assume a ‘heightened symbolic visibility’ (103), and efforts to reform and modernize education became intimately linked to the call for a revival of Arabic.

Ch. 5 consists of a reading of the most important writers who called for a broad, secular, linguistically based Arab nationalism, paying particular attention to the role Arabic plays in their ideologies. Most of these writers were strictly secular in their outlook, and all were deeply involved in issues of modernizing education and linguistic reform. S reviews the works of a number of these writers but concentrates most fully on Al-Husari and Al-Arsuzi, both of whom make the Arab nation coextensive with the community of Arabic speakers in all countries of the Middle East and North Africa (earlier authors having simply failed to specify the extent of the Arab nation...