The Erasure of Arab Political Identity

This book discusses how present day struggles in many Arab countries to redefine polities and politics is related to the past colonization of Arab lands by Mamluks and Ottomans. The book argues that, before European colonization, these earlier Turkic colonizations had already altered the nature of Arab Islamic society, changing legal and social norms, affecting religious practices, notions of individualism and the state, and attitudes towards minorities. The book considers how the political consciousness of Arabs which resulted from Mamluk and Ottoman rule continued during European imperialism and continues still, with unfortunate adverse consequences for politics in Arab countries.

Salam Hawa is an independent scholar, whose latest scholarly affiliation was to the Institute of Globalization and the Human Condition at McMaster University, Canada.

1. Introduction 2. Pre-Islamic Arab Political Identity 3. Founding the First Arab Empire 4. Of Friendship and Politics 5. Politics of Hospitality 6. Arrival of the Turks 7. Erasing Arab Identity