Transnationalism and the Syrian Migrant Community: The Case of the 1925 Syrian Revolt

Abstract

This article explores how the mahjar press of New York City engaged with the Syrian Revolt of 1925. Building upon Benedict Anderson’s well-known theories of imagined and long-distance nationalisms, as well as more recent debates on transnationalism, this article is part of a larger attempt to geographically decenter the study of the 1925 revolt in order to contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which nationalism and anti-colonialism were negotiated through a dialectical relationship between the homeland and the diaspora. It argues that divergent views of the revolt are better understood by framing its construction in the press in terms of: 1.) an expression of trans-border, and yet particular, loyalties, and 2.) a reflection of the diaspora’s ambiguous place in the new international order set up by the League of Nations.

Keywords

• transnationalism
• Great Syrian Revolt
• Syrian Revolt
• mahjar
• migration
• anti-colonialism