Paper 4
History Paper
“Choices made regarding Ani’s preservation cannot escape political implications, and contests over the site’s meaning should be acknowledged rather than ignored and engaged in rather than silenced. It is possible that once admitted, the difficult issues at Ani can become opportunities for creative solutions.” Heghnar Watenpaugh speaks these words about the Turkish-Armenian archeological site of Ani. She believes that Ani’s preservation bodes well for dialogue, reflection, and maybe even reconciliation. Her work relates to physical conservation, but still underlines the importance of preserving memories. This sort of preservation in the Arab world may also be likened to the rich autobiographies of Anbara Salam Khalidi and Sasson Somekh. Somekh, a renowned literary critic and Arab scholar, in his autobiography, Baghdad, Yesterday provides a look into his early life. He provides a masterful portrayal of his upbringing in the French-styled education and English sense of developing an identity. Similarly, Anbara Salam Khalidi, in Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist, writes how she moves throughout her life trying to uphold the high ethical ideals of independence, the female spirit, and generosity in the patriarchal Lebanese and Palestine societies. This paper examines the difficult issues that the authors face and how these difficulties can be acknowledged and even used to change Middle Eastern Society.
First, autobiographers and the participants, as well as authors of documents in the Middle East, have always faced the very serious problem of a denied right of expression. Undoubtedly, Somekh’s Baghdad Yesterday and Khalidi’s Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist are no different. Despite being brave accounts of oppressed freedom, these autobiographies still fail to capture the full extent of government oppression upon the citizen’s rights. These texts were written at a time when media freedom was overwhelmingly denied. According to Akram Fouad Khater, rights have been curbed. In a politically-charged atmosphere, where media freedoms and the right of expression are not present, autobiographers had to operate in a manner that did not make their work seem as opposing to the administration; though they were writing long after the administration had fallen, there would have still been cause for concern in current government leaders who had reason to control the masses. Being a Jew in an Arab country did not help in this regard. As such, the authors have hidden some of the details that could enrich their autobiographies not as a failure, but as a challenge. Similarly, participants in these biographies would be wary of their security and not readily present themselves as witnesses to information regarding the Israeli-Arab politics of the time. For example, some stories shared in the autobiographies are simply based on the stories of “individuals” and not of people by name, in an effort to protect their anonymity. While they are still afraid to share their identity, they want the world to know their story in hopes of changing life in the Middle East.
Loss of important documents was a considerable hindrance for the authors of these autobiographies. For example, Salam Khalidi writes in the introduction to her 1978 version that a considerable number of papers, which may have provided more detailed information to circumstantial evidence, lost of were destroyed. Some of them were destroyed by her family members as they sought to keep the Ottoman authorities away from them. Her family members did not want the Ottoman authorities to incriminate her father who was an Arab nationalist. Also, the French Mandate was cracking down on any political resistance and could use such documents to incriminate the Khalidi family. Some of the documents also got lost when the Khalidi family had to run away from Jerusalem in 1948. As such, even those close to authors who were revealing their identities and risking everything to change the world were attempting to sabotage them in order to keep things the same. Information, therefore, was sometimes inadvertently withheld, or destroyed.
Another challenge that autobiographers and authors face is attempting to remain objective in the face of obvious cultural influences. Some question if they are even trying to remain objective, or if it is even possible given the subject content. For some, it seems they are making genuine efforts by showing both sides and complete timelines. Every primary source provides a given perspective. The author attempts to provide their point of view regarding a certain subject. Even when the reader may think that a source has adopted an objective tone, the author is not always objective, however. All primary sources have an element of bias, but this fact does not question their value in reconstructing the past. For example, Somekh’s Baghdad Yesterday is his formation that is influenced heavily by a French sense of education, as he spends the bulk of his time speaking about how the culture is influence by institutions. His story may be told differently by a person with a different perspective and cultural background and speaks to the differences in cultures, as well as how one acts based on how they are treated.
The issues faced by autobiographers and authors of primary sources while composing their works should be acknowledged. For example, Khater notes that our awareness of some of the biases that exist in writers may force us to use their primary sources “advisedly and carefully.” Readers must always acknowledge that author’s work under the influence of overbearing and unavoidable cultural assumptions. It is worth noting that a primary source only gives a snapshot at best of a larger historical context. Any single documents should not be overly relied upon or isolated from its context. Therefore, while each author is important in their own way, we should also do independent research, and even experience things for ourselves before forming an opinion of any one place or situation.
Autobiographers, authors and participants of primary sources often face different issues while preparing their works. The works of Middle Eastern autobiographers such as Anbara Salam Khalidi and Sasson Somekh. Somekh is no different in this regard. First, their works have been limited to some extent by the curtailing of the freedom of expression in their countries. Another issue is the loss of important documents that may have provided critical information to enrich their work. Khalidi lost important information that would have enriched her autobiography as she sought to evade the Ottoman administration in 1948. Another issue that autobiographers have to contend with is the attempt to be objective. Their perspectives are shaped by cultural biases that influence their work. These challenges should be acknowledged and leveraged in research. Researchers should use primary sources taking into account the larger context of their work.
Works Cited
Khater, Akram Fouad. Sources In The History Of The Modern Middle East. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Khālidī, ʻAnbarah Salām, Marina Warner, and Tarif Khalidi. Memoirs Of An Early Arab Feminist. London: Pluto Press, 2013.
Watenpaugh, Heghnar Zeitlian. "Preserving The Medieval City Of Ani." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 73, no. 4 (2014): 528-555.
