This talk attempts to challenge and contrast the Eurocentric vision of the Holy Land by exploring the agency of migrant Arabs, mainly Christians, in Western and Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1960. Their influence on Europe’s view of and links to the Holy Land have been overlooked, while being essential during the formative years of imperialism and nationalism in the Middle East. This paper hypothesizes that, within the context of European ambitions and religious links with the area, Arabs consistently challenged the imperial cultural paradigm and European political expectations.
Karène Sanchez Summerer is Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies and Co-director of the Centre for Historical Studies at Groningen University, The Netherlands. Her research and teaching interests include Christian Arab communities of and in the Middle East, a relational cultural and social history of Ottoman and Mandate Palestine, and minorities in and from the Middle East. One of her last publications include (with Irving, S., Nassif, C.), The House of the Priest. A Palestinian life (1885–1954), Leiden/ Boston: Brill, CJMS 7, 2022.
Esther Moeller is the German vice-director of the Franco-German research institute in Humanities and Social Sciences Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin and a visiting professor of history at Humboldt-University Berlin. Her research interests include the history of the the Middle East and North Africa, in particular Lebanon and Egypt, with a focus on education, humanitarian aid and (forced) migration. Among her most recent publications are the articles “Multiple Mittelmeer-Missionen: Religiöse, wissenschaftliche und humanitäre Begegnungen und Besitznahmen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert”, in Geschichte und Geschichte (forthcoming 2024) and, written together with Shaimaa Ismael El-Neklawy, “Between Traditions of Aid and Political Ambitions: Endowments and Humanitarian Associations in Egypt, Late 19th-mid 20th Century”, in Endowment Studies 6/2022, 192-220.
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