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Anti-Colonial Muslim Activists in Argentina, 1920-1940
Abstract
The Great Syrian Revolt (1925-1927) led to significant and sustained institution building among the sizable Muslim colonies in Argentina. In the process of organizing the communities, several activists and community leaders organized fund drives, battled French and British sympathizers in the robust Arabic-language press, primarily located in the port city of Buenos Aires, connected with like-minded Muslims throughout the Atlantic world, and tried to forge alliances with the various anti-colonial movements in Argentina. These actions provoked the close surveillance by French diplomats and the intervention of the Argentine state at particular moments. The result was a variety of strategies pursued by numerous activists during the interwar period that had two concurrent effects - creating moments of unity among a fractious Muslim colony and driving a wedge through the larger Syrian-Lebanese colonies in Argentina. While the French in Syria and Lebanon produced tension within this immigrant colony, Muslim activists were deeply influenced by Argentine popular political culture, in particular the frames of reference generated by a vibrant anti-imperialist sentiment. This paper asserts that to fully understand this Islamic transnational activism, the study must be grounded in the social realities, popular politics, and political contexts of Argentina. The paper is built upon Arabic- and Spanish-language newspapers as well as Argentine and French diplomatic source materials.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
None
Sub Area
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