scholarly journals An American “Garden” in an Oriental “Desert”: The Modernity of Timber at the Syrian Protestant College of Beirut

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Yasmina El Chami
Keyword(s):  
Syrian Protestant College

PHILIP HITTI, BRAZIL, AND THE DIASPORIC HISTORIES OF AREA STUDIES

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Tofik Karam
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Syrian Protestant College ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis article rethinks area studies through the diasporic histories of influential graduates of the Syrian Protestant College. My focus is on Philip Hitti and his ties with fellow alumni who migrated to the Brazilian city of São Paulo. Examining his first visit to Brazil in 1925, letter exchanges through the 1940s, and a second trip in 1951, I ask how Hitti and São Paulo-based alumni sought to establish an Arab studies program in Brazil. In borrowing a template for studying the Middle East, Hitti and colleagues imbued it with a widespread sentiment that Arab and Muslim legacies of the Iberian peninsula had shaped Portugal, and thus Brazil's historical and linguistic formation. They relocated a model of area studies but refitted its content. In revealing how the institution of area studies moved across and merged with varied sociocultural settings, these diasporic histories provincialize the U.S. model for knowing the Middle East.

RIFA⊂A RAFI⊂ AL-TAHTAWI AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE LEXICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN LITERARY ARABIC

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Sawaie
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Intimate Contact ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
American University ◽  
Identity Crises ◽  
Syrian Protestant College ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
The 19Th Century

In the 19th century, Europe had a tangible impact on the Arab East. During this period, Arabic-speaking regions were brought into intimate contact with the West, both through military intrusion (e.g., the French in 1798–1801 and the British in Egypt in 1882), and institutional penetration (e.g., the founding of Western-style schools and higher-education institutions in the Levant in the 1800s by Christian missionaries such as the Syrian Protestant College in 1866, now the American University of Beirut, and [the Jesuit] St. Joseph University, also in Beirut, in 1874). This overpowering European encroachment on the Arab East in the 19th century resulted in cultural and linguistic identity crises. Muhammad ⊂Ali, who ruled Egypt from 1805 until 1848, dispatched groups of students to Western countries such as Italy, Austria, and France to study at their universities and technical institutions. At home, he established schools with Western-language instruction, and sponsored translations of scientific works initially into Turkish, and later into Arabic, from Italian and French, thus making available new disciplines such as various branches of engineering, military science, and agriculture. In 1822, he established a printing press in the Bulaq section of Cairo.1 From then on, Arabicized versions of European terms such as “theater” (tiy―atru), “journal” (jurn―al), “the post” (al-busta), and “politics” (al-bulit―iq―a) signaled the arrival of Western institutions and technology in Arabic-speaking regions, and such terms were adopted by writers in their writings. The cultural, political, military, and technological challenges that resulted from the European contact with the Arab East, and the institutional changes that accompanied them, proved to be a crucial turning point in the development of the Arabic language, particularly its lexicon. However, interest in language matters was central to the Arab renaissance (Nahda) of the 19th century. Arab writers; intellectuals; and translators such Rifa⊂a Rafi⊂ al-Tahtawi (1801/2–73), (Ahmad) Faris al-Shidyaq (1801/04?–87), Nasif al-Yaziji (1800–71), and Butrus al-Bustani (1819–83), among others, debated Arabic linguistic issues in terms of their own literary and linguistic heritage. These and other authors discussed the “internal” needs of Arabic, not only issues of translating the culture of the Western societies. They wrote grammars and compiled other literary textbooks to facilitate the teaching of Arabic and to overcome difficulties of learning the language associated with older, traditional ways of language teaching and to raise awareness of the literary tradition of Arabs. These intellectuals also engaged in the preparation of glossaries and dictionaries appropriate to the needs of their societies.2

“To Promote the Cause of Christ's Kingdom”: International Student Associations and the “Revival” of Middle Eastern Christianity

2019 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-163
Author(s):  
Deanna Ferree Womack
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
International Student ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Student Organizations ◽  
Student Movements ◽  
Eastern Christianity ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
Syrian Protestant College

This article traces the presence in the Arab world of international Christian student organizations like the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) and its intercollegiate branches of the YMCA and YWCA associated with the Protestant missionary movement in nineteenth-century Beirut. There, an American-affiliated branch of the YMCA emerged at Syrian Protestant College in the 1890s, and the Christian women's student movement formed in the early twentieth century after a visit from WSCF secretaries John Mott and Ruth Rouse. As such, student movements took on lives of their own, and they developed in directions that Western missionary leaders never anticipated. By attending to the ways in which the WSCF and YMCA/YWCA drew Arabs into the global ecumenical movement, this study examines the shifting aims of Christian student associations in twentieth-century Syria and Lebanon, from missionary-supported notions of evangelical revival to ecumenical renewal and interreligious movements for national reform.

scholarly journals LITERATURE AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN BEYRUT IN THE 19TH CENTURY

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-310
Author(s):  
Turgay GÖKGÖZ ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Arab State ◽  
Arab Nationalism ◽  
American University ◽  
American University Of Beirut ◽  
The People ◽  
French And English ◽  
Syrian Protestant College ◽  
The 19Th Century

Throughout history, Beirut has been the habitat of different religions and nations. The people of various nations are made up of Christians and Muslims. Today, it is seen that languages such as Arabic, French and English are among the most spoken languages in Lebanon, where Beirut is located. Looking at Beirut in the 19th century, it was seen that colonial powers such as Britain and France were a conflict area, and at the same time it was one of the centers of Arab nationalism thought against the Ottoman Empire. During the occupation of Mehmet Ali Pasha, missionary schools were allowed to open, as well as cities such as Zahle, Damascus and Aleppo, Jesuit schools were opened in Beirut. With the opening of American Protestant schools, the influence of the relevant schools in the emergence and development of the idea of Arab nationalism is inevitable. Especially in Beirut, it would be appropriate to state that the aim of using languages such as French and English instead of Arabic education in missionary schools is to instill Western culture and to attract students to Christianity. The students of the Syrian Protestant College, who constituted the original of the American University of Beirut, worked against the Ottoman Empire within the society they established and aimed to establish an independent secular Arab state. Beirut comes to the fore especially in areas such as poetry and theater before the “Nahda” movement that started in Egypt during the reign of Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. The advances that paved the way for the development of modern literature in Beirut before Egypt will find a place in the field of literature later. In this study, it is aimed to present information on literary and cultural activities that took place in Beirut and emphasize the importance of Beirut in modern Arabic literature in the 19th century.

scholarly journals Five Centuries of Astronomical Textbooks and their Role in Teaching

1990 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen Gingerich
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
University Education ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
History Of Astronomy ◽  
American University ◽  
American University Of Beirut ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Syrian Protestant College

At the turn of the century, astronomy was required of every senior in what is now the American University of Beirut, for the reason that “the heavens declare the glory of God”; this was especially appropriate for what was then the Syrian Protestant College. And in the late Middle Ages, astronomy was one of the seven liberal arts, a required part of every basic university education — for much the same reason. Thus, for many centuries, astronomy was considered essential for what every educated person should know. The organizers of this colloquium thought it would be informative to learn more about the historical background to our colloquium and asked if I would speak on the history of astronomy teaching over the ages. I demurred at such an overwhelming topic, which would require a major research program, and have offered instead something about the history of astronomy textbooks, because this subset provides answers to at least some of the broader questions of how astronomy has been taught.

Jurjī Zaydān (1861-1914)

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Sawaie
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Common People ◽  
American University ◽  
American University Of Beirut ◽  
French And English ◽  
College Now ◽  
Syrian Protestant College ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Classical Arabic

Summary This article explores Jurjī Zaydān’s contribution to questions that the Arabic language was confronted with at the turn of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. These questions pertained to the capability of Arabic as a medium of communication, its appropriateness to express new ideas, and its suitability for use in education and for naming technological items borrowed from the West. As can be imagined, the pre-occupation of the Nahḍah Arab intellectuals with linguistic matters was immense. Nonetheless Zaydān’s contribution to these debates consists of constant writings in his magazine al-Hilāl (1892–1913), and two books that specifically dealt with linguistic matters. Zaydān’s linguistic views were relevant to the on-going debate in many intellectual circles at that time. He had no doubts about the suitability of ‘simplified’ Classical Arabic in education as the case was proven at the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) in the 1860s. In order to fill the then existing vacuum, Zaydān took it as his responsibility to write (text)books in Arabic for use in Egyptian schools. The suitability of Arabic in education and the capability of the language to adapt itself to new situations was placed in a historical perspective by Zaydān. He argued that much as Arabic had adapted to new orders in the past, i.e., the rise of Islam (7th century), the translation period (9th-10th centuries), so can the language adapt itself to Western ‘imports’ at his time. Again, as if to prove his point and in order to bridge the gap between al-fuṣḥā and al-cÀmmiyyah, the language of the common people, Zaydān adopted a simple style in diction and syntax in his writings. Zaydān, unlike many of his contemporary Arab scholars, followed in the footsteps of many Western scholars, both predating and contemporary to him, by equipping himself with knowledge of many languages, Eastern and Western, and by applying some of these scholars’ methodologies of investigation. In order for Arabic to accommodate new technologies and ideas, the language must be subject to changes, in Zaydān’s view, as it was subject to changes at the rise of Islam in the 7th century and during the 9th and 10th centuries when many translations into Arabic were made. Zaydān rejected calls for the use of dialects in writing, thus arguing that al-fuṣḥā, i.e., the Classical Arabic language, was a unifying bond among Arabic-speaking lands. Zaydān’s actual treatment of language matters are innovative for his time. Arabic, in his view, was subject to change and evolution, not static. He examined the language by placing it in a wider perspective, i.e., in its context in the Semitic family, and in its relations to other non-Semitic languages that Arabic had come in contact with at its varying stages of growth such as Persian and Turkish in the earlier centuries, and French and English in the 19th century. Zaydān’s use of comparative methodology is innovative compared to the ways of studying Arabic at his time. However, Zaydān’s views on language origin and development can be characterized by the criteria of our times as superficial.

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