Modern History

Reprinted from the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Winter  2001 (with changes in orthography to HTML standards).
Copyright 2001 by the Middle East Studies Association of North America

Historical Dictionary of Lebanon, by As‘ad AbuKhalil. 269 pages, appendices, maps, chronology, bibliography. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 1998. $65.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-8108-3395-6

The outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in the mid-1970s severely marginalized the study of Lebanese history, politics, and society among scholars of the Middle East resident in the United States. In part, this was due to instability in Lebanon, but mostly because of US travel and funding restrictions that placed Lebanon off-limits to American scholars until very recently. Mainstream reporting on Lebanon, in the meantime, has drawn an indelible portrait of a country plagued by tribal feuds or a breeding ground for an ‘anti-American’ and ‘Iranian-backed’ Islamic fanaticism. AbuKhalil’s Historical Dictionary of Lebanon is a step towards a more sober and informed approach to the history and politics of Lebanon. His knowledge of the country and its politics is vast and will be readily apparent to readers of his dictionary. There is much to be gained and learned from this work, which spans several centuries of Lebanese history, although it is primarily concerned with recent Lebanese history and politics. AbuKhalil also includes a useful bibliography for works on the modern history, culture, economy, and politics of Lebanon.

AbuKhalil’s dictionary, however, is limited by several factors. First, the editing of the dictionary is problematic, not simply in terms of syntax, but in terms of criteria. There is no indication why certain terms are included and why others are excluded. For example, AbuKhalil does not include an entry for Charles Malik, a prominent, if highly-controversial, figure in twentieth-century Lebanese politics. In addition, AbuKhalil’s personal opinions and political convictions (especially concerning what AbuKhalil refers to as the “ultranationalists” [p. 29]) color his entries, occasionally to the point where the dictionary becomes less a source of information than a platform for AbuKhalil to dismantle what he considers to be fanciful notions of the Lebanese past. It is not that such deconstruction of various ahistorical notions of the Lebanese past—especially the myth of the Phoenicians—is wrong; rather the question is whether a historical dictionary should simply dismiss them as AbuKhalil does (pp. 168-69) or whether it should put them in a proper historical context to explain why such notions were originally conceived. Regrettably, there is no appendix that reproduces crucial documents pertaining to Lebanese history, such as the Constitution, the Taif Accord, or citizenship laws.

These limitations aside, AbuKhalil’s dictionary contains much information that will be valuable to students and scholars alike, although it will be particularly instructive to an advanced graduate class on Lebanese history. Ultimately, this work often functions less as a historical dictionary in the proper sense of the term than as a passionate meditation on modern Lebanese history and politics. Because AbuKhalil, through his dictionary, has advanced his own interpretation of Lebanon’s past, students and scholars will be confronted with questions about how, and whether it is at all possible, to objectively document the past.
Usama Makdisi
Rice University


Armenian Van/Vaspurakan, edited by Richard G. Hovannisian. (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series, Vol. 1) 308 pages, maps, illustrations, figures, index. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2000. $24.95 (Paper) ISBN 1-56859-130-6

Several years ago, the Armenian history program at UCLA, under the directorship of Professor Hovannisian, initiated biannual conferences in order to redress the eradication of Armenian culture in what were the central and western provinces of historic Armenia. The present volume focuses on Van, the cradle of Armenian civilization. It was around this great rocky basin of the highlands around Lake Van that the proto-Armenians (Urartians and others), as well as the Armenians, developed their unique civilization. The fourteen essays included here cover the geography, history, architecture, demography, travel accounts, and literature of the Van region from antiquity to the twentieth century.

The first essay, by Robert Hewsen, provides an excellent survey of the geography and history of Van from ancient times to the present day. The information from his short demographic section, however, is covered better and more completely by Anahide Ter Minassian in chapter ten and by Sarkis Karayan in chapter fourteen.

James Russell’s superb contribution deals with the incorporation of Anatolian myths, as well as biblical stories, in Armenian folklore of Van. Robert Thomson’s essay concentrates on the work of the Armenian historian Tovma Artsruni, the main primary source on the history of the region prior to the Turkish invasions in the eleventh century. Peter Cowe’s essay elaborates on material covered by Hewsen and Thomson, relying heavily on The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia, by Aram Ter-Ghewondian. Dickran Kouymjian’s contribution adds great detail to material covered by Hewsen. Kouymjian’s second essay on Van as seen through the eyes of nineteenth- and twentieth-century travelers, allows the reader to visualize Van prior to its destruction between 1915 and 1918.

Nairy Hampikian’s essay concentrates on the magnificent architectural heritage of Van and argues that it has influenced Seljuk architectural monuments and that this multi-cultural heritage must be protected by the present Turkish government. Rubina Peroomian examines the heritage of Van’s literature in the publications of periodicals by two important Armenian clerics. Anahide Ter Minassian’s first essay focuses on the daily life in and the physical description of Van immediately prior to 1915. It elaborates on the material covered in Kouymjian’s second essay. Her second essay is a detailed and harrowing account of the defense of Van from 20 April to 16 May 1915, when a small but determined group of Armenians defended their neighborhoods against the Turkish army and thus avoided the fate of their compatriots.

The essay by Clive Foss explains the modern Turkish view of the events that occurred in Van during the First World War. He states that most Turkish accounts ignore the Armenians and Armenia until the nineteenth century, when they suddenly appear as a major threat to the Ottoman Empire. In such accounts, the Armenians are viewed as terrorists who carried out terrible atrocities against the Muslim population. The final chapter, by Marc Nichanian, describes the violent protests in Armenia against Gurgen Mahari’s novel The Burning Orchards (1966), that reevaluates the defense of Van.

Despite some repetitive material, noted above, the volume is an important contribution to Armenian and Anatolian history. It explains the role of the Armenians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, and Russians in shaping the history and ethnography of Van. Unfortunately, Turkish scholars have ignored Van and other Armenian contributions to their country. It is with great anticipation that this reviewer awaits the nine or more future volumes in this important series.
George A. Bournoutian
Iona College



War in the Gulf, 1990-91: The Iraq-Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications, by Majid Khadduri and Edmund Ghareeb. 268 pages, maps, notes, index. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997. $35.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-19-508384-9

War in the Gulf is a first-rate analysis of Saddam Hussein’s reasons for invading Kuwait, without demonizing him and without ignoring the strong case against him. The text is easy to read, free of unnecessary jargon, and logically developed with four separate parts broken down into numerous chapters and subsections. Although this reviewer does not agree with all of the authors’ arguments, their analysis does provide a valuable antidote to the spate of other Western works which have treated Iraq as some type of ‘Unholy Babylon’ or ‘Outlaw State’ (these are the actual titles of two books).

In their first part on the background of the Gulf War, the authors note that “Iraq’s historical claim [to Kuwait] rests on the grounds that…since Kuwait was merely a district in the Basra province under the Ottoman administrative system,…Kuwait would ipso facto become part of Iraq when the three former Ottoman provinces (Mawsil, Baghdad, and Basra) were reconstituted as a nation-state following World War I” (p. 6). Iraq also always argued that its earlier agreements of 1923 and 1932 that seemed to recognize Kuwait “were not only unratified but were also concluded at a time when Iraq was still under foreign control [and] therefore…were not binding” (p. 72).

In their second part on the immediate causes of the Gulf War, Khadduri and Ghareeb relate how Iraq emerged from its war against Iran in 1988 “exhausted” (p. 79), “burdened with a heavy debt” (p. 80), and in “desperate need for a maritime port in the gulf” (p. 84). The authors maintain that “the Six-Day War (1967) and American support of Israel…triggered the revolutionary trend [in Iraq]” (p. 91) and the Baathist assumption of power one year later. Following the war against Iran, “groups in the [US] Congress (particularly in the Senate) and the media were denouncing Iraq, often using harsh statements, citing its rearmament program and its record in human rights” (p. 98). Furthermore, during the infamous meeting between Saddam and US Ambassador to Iraq April Glassy, she told the Iraqi leader that “we have no opinion on…your border disagreement with Kuwait” (p. 113).

In part three, dealing with the actual war, the authors argue that Saddam himself claimed there was a “double standard in American willingness to deploy military forces to drive Iraq out of Kuwait while failing to use its power to force Israel into acceptance of United Nations resolutions calling for withdrawal from occupied Arab lands” (p. 145). Finally, in part four, the authors review the responsibilities for the war shared by “the Arab countries and their leaders…and the Western countries and their leaders…on the basis of the standards of justice recognized by each one of them” (p. 225). Although they seem to apportion the most blame on those who opposed Saddam, they also conclude that “Iraq’s resort to force must be considered a violation of the U.N. Charter as well as the norms of international law for which Iraq is responsible” (p. 234). 

In making their case the authors downplay Saddam’s well-documented brutality and penchant for murder. The authors also maintain that “the abstention of China in the voting on [UNSC] Resolution 678 [which authorized force against Iraq] raises a query as to whether this Resolution is valid under the U.N. Charter” (p. 152), when it is a well-settled point that an abstention is not considered to be a veto despite the literal language of the Charter. Their assertion that “international peace and security [are not] the only primary aims of the United Nations,” that “justice and human rights are also stated as primary aims” (p. 247), is also erroneous. UN Charter Article 1(1) clearly lists the former as primary and the latter as something lesser. Typos on p. 182 confusingly call the famous UNSC Resolution 688 of 5 April 1991 that demanded Iraq end its repression of the Kurds, Resolution 788.

Despite these problems, this book will be a valuable addition to the literature and should be read by anyone interested in fathoming the full picture of what happened and why.
Michael M. Gunter
Tennessee Technological University



Changing Masters: Spirit Possession and Identity Construction among Slave Descendants and Other Subordinates in the Sudan, by G. P. Makris. (Series in Islam and Society in Africa) 432 pages, bibliography, index. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2000. $75.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-8101-1698-7

The study of spirit possession cults or ‘zar’ in Sudan is one of the most fascinating of scholarly pursuits and Changing Masters deals with the historical transformation of one such phenomenon, known as ‘tumbura.’ Together with the far more widely spread and better known female cult of “zar bore,” tumbura represents the most popular and best known practice of the zar cult complex in this largest of African countries. The term zar is Amharic in origin and refers to a type of amoral and hedonistic spirit, a collective entity answering many names, the illness such spirits can cause by possessing humans, and the rituals necessary to pacify them. Although tumbura operates in most of the major cities of the Northern Islamic Sudan—including Greater Khartoum, Kassala, Sinnar, Port Sudan, and Sawakin among others—Makris’ thesis is that tumbura is practiced not by Arab northerners, but rather by the marginalized group of black slave descendants, people from the Nuba hills and Western and Southern Sudan. Thus, tumbura can be seen as part of the resistance strategy of a subaltern group. In the practice of tumbura, therefore, this underclass of Northern Sudan have found a method of resisting the sub-humanity attributed to them by their ex-slave masters and in so doing have been able to articulate an alternative, positive self-identity or a new vision of themselves. There have been many studies of zar cults in Islamic Africa, the Middle East, and Sudan; however, according to Makris, Changing Masters differs in that he does not disregard the political repercussions of possession and their actual transformations over time. Thus, the discipline of history emerges as a new factor in this volume, and the author has studied the growth and emergence of the lesser known or understood tumbura during the last 120 years along with its relation to wider sociopolitical currents.

Historically, zar bore has always been a female cult; conversely, tumbura initially had male and female devotees. Over time, however, the latter has more and more become practiced by women and abandoned by most of its male adherents. Makris suggests that this factor is due to the processes of Islamization and Arabization among slave descendants and other subordinate populations.

Makris further argues that the version of Islam practiced by these formerly enslaved populations has differed from that of the dominant Arab culture of Northern Sudan. Although accepting the religion of their overlords, those of former slave status have been eager to maintain aspects of their own religions and culture. Furthermore, over time, it became important to emphasize their cultural and religious differences; in so doing, their own descent, traditions, and identity were also preserved and passed down through the generations.

For the most part, Changing Masters is an important addition to the scholarship of Sudan’s zar cults. It also illuminates, to use James C. Scott's term, “the hidden transcripts” of a large underclass and outcast society of Northern Sudan. For example, Makris’ informants include those whose ancestry includes the Funj from Sinnar, the Miri, Dababna, and other Nubans from the Nuba Mountains, the Fur from western Sudan, the Azande and Banda from Southern Sudan, and the Gumuz from the southern Gezira. Furthermore, unlike some other studies of zar cults, this book names its informants, clearly lending an authenticity to the collected data. It is also important for documenting women's agency in the Islamic Northern Sudan.

One detraction is the sloppy editing (on the cover, for example, the title word “Descendants” has been misspelled). Furthermore, for those who are not familiar with previous studies on zar cults, it would perhaps have been helpful to have had a conclusion summarizing tumbura and tying together all of the major points of the book. Nevertheless, Changing Masters is an important contribution to religion, history, and low-level forms of political and cultural resistance in the Northern Islamic Sudan and is highly recommended reading.
Stephanie Beswick
Ball State University