Rebels and Rivals in a Syrian Town
Musa al-Naddaf, Syrian Nationalist Rebel, Colonial Fugitive, West Virginia Grocer, 1899–1963
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8966424 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Provence (0000-0003-4417-2472, University of California San Diego, corresponding author), Reem Bailony (Agnes Scott College) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 424-447 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0020743825100950 |
| OpenAlex | W4414523555 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
A century ago, in summer 1925, the Great Syrian Revolt erupted in opposition to French mandate rule. In Saydnaya a village murder happened to coincide with the outbreak of the revolt. The young killer, in avenging his father’s earlier murder, became, first a fugitive, then an unlikely revolutionary hero, and eventually, during his long absence, a legendary figure, and repository for a number of mostly erroneous historical claims and memories. After ten years on the run, he surrendered and was defended by a famous nationalist lawyer. He was tried, jailed, and released. An American brother paid his legal bills and helped him emigrate to West Virginia. He never returned to Syria. This article is based on a French mandate archival court record, extensive interviews with eyewitnesses, American consular records, and finally, interviews and documents from surviving family in West Virginia. It offers a dizzying microhistory of rural Syria in upheaval, colonial myopia, sectarianism, revolution, international migration, and the immigrant experience in the United States. The article argues for the colonial origins of sectarian rule, but shows how a tool of colonial fragmentation changed and collided with revolution, colonial and postcolonial politics, migration, and memory in unpredictable ways
Brother · Colonialism · Expansionism · Immigration · Mandate · Nationalism · Opposition (politics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |