[Bilimsel Haber] Book review: Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

Maya Shatzmiller, ed. Nationalism and Minority Identities in Islamic
Societies. Series in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Montreal and
Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2005. xiii + 346 pp.
Bibliography, index. $80.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7735-2847-4; $27.95 (paper),
ISBN 0-7735-2848-2.
*Reviewed by:* Karen M. Kern, Assistant Professor, Department of
History, Hunter College, City University of New York.
*Published by:* H-Nationalism <http://www.h-net.org/%7Enational>
(September, 2006)
Accommodation or Resistance? Strategies in Minority-State Relations

This volume of essays, edited by Maya Shatzmiller, is a timely, solidly
researched collection on the topic of national identity formation among
religious and ethnic minorities in Muslim-majority countries. These
essays were presented on December 8-9, 2001 at a conference called "to
discuss current research and to analyze recent developments in the field
of ethnicity in Islamic societies" at the University of Western Ontario
(p. xiii). Shatzmiller establishes the volume's thematic basis by noting
that the secular model of nation-building excluded any minority identity
that was not aligned with state ideology. Therefore, minority
communities separated themselves from the Muslim majority by creating
identities that were based on culture, religion and language.
Shatzmiller suggests that certain factors such as state-sponsored
hostilities and exclusion from institutional structures resulted in the
politicization of minority identities.

The editor's declared aim is to create a broader framework for
comparative analysis, and with this goal in mind she has chosen essays
in political science, history and anthropology. The minority populations
included in this volume have been examined before by other scholars from
various disciplines. Studies of minorities in the Middle East have a
long history dating back to Albert Hourani's seminal work Minorities in
the Arab World (1947). More recent books focus on minority communities
in specific countries, on religious intolerance and religious-state
relations. Broader regional surveys concentrate on civil rights and
conflict resolution, and the rights of minorities under national and
international law. Shatzmiller's volume is in a close dialogue with a
recent volume of essays, Minorities and the State in the Arab World
(1999), edited by Ofra Bengio and Gabriel Ben-Dor. These two books
include many of the same groups but have different unifying thematic
reference points. Bengio and Ben-Dor's theoretical approach involves
studying the regional and global factors that lead to ethnic
politicization. Shatzmiller considers the dynamics between religious and
ethnic minorities and the state, and how these relationships have
propelled the formation of national identity within minority
communities. Five essays focus on religious minorities including the
Copts of Egypt, Maronite Christians in Lebanon, Christian communities in
Pakistan, and the Baha'is of Iran. The last set of four essays concern
two ethnic minorities that cross national frontiers and are united by
culture and language, the Berbers in Morocco and Algeria, and the Kurds
in Turkey and Iraq.

In chapter 1, Richard C. Martin undertakes the difficult task of
defining the term "minority." His essay frames the succeeding chapters
by examining how Islamic law and theology delineated minority status
during the formative Islamic centuries. According to Martin, religion
was the only determinant of minority status. Polytheists who refused to
accept Islam could be enslaved or killed. However, Peoples of the Book,
who included Christians, Jews, Sabaeans and later Zoroastrians, were
dhimmia. They received protected status and were allowed to regulate
their own affairs and to live under their own religious laws. The
concept of dhimmia was later transformed into the millet system of the
Ottoman Empire which brought non-Muslim subjects into its administrative
structures. Minority status among Muslims included groups such as the
Kharijites and the Shi'a who were formed in the early sectarian
divisions that refused to accept the line of political succession to the
Prophet Muhammad. Another Muslim minority were non-Arab converts,
clients of Muslim tribes who were not accorded the financial or cultural
advantages that benefited the earliest Arab converts. Martin maintains
that "the textual record of modern discourses about Kurds, Armenians,
'Alawites, Baha'is, Hindus, Christians, Jews and the Shi‛a, among
others, reflect the theological and legal classifications that developed
in the first centuries of Islam" (p. 7).

The following two essays discuss identity formation among the Copts in
Egypt and in the diaspora. Pieternella Van Doorn-Harder's research
relies on published sources and interviews with important intellectuals
and religious officials in both the Coptic and Muslim communities. She
begins with a brief description of the Coptic religion, history and
culture and then emphasizes the importance of the Coptic revival in
maintaining and strengthening Coptic identity, and solidifying their
identification as nationals of the Egyptian state. Even Copts who have
moved, or been born abroad, continue to consider themselves fully
Egyptian. The Coptic community is not considered a protected (dhimmi)
community, and is guaranteed equality and basic civil rights.
Nevertheless, when she discusses the relationship between the community
and the state, she notes the low representation of Copts in government
positions, anti-Christian polemics in the state-sponsored media, and the
lack of protection of the Coptic community that leads to inter-religious
conflict.

Van Doorn-Harder does not suggest that the Coptic revival has created a
separation between Copts and Muslims. She argues just the opposite.
Utilizing Anthony D. Smith's theory of "ethnic survival potential,"
outlined in National Identity (1991), she maintains that the church's
revival has brought about various projects that strengthened
inter-communal relations between the Copts and Muslims. But this revival
has also developed its own nationalism, one that is peaceful and expects
full civil rights. According to Van Doorn-Harder, the main challenges
for the Coptic community today are anti-Christian, Islamist thinking and
the lack of basic human rights that affects all citizens of the Egyptian
nation. Whether the Copts receive full equal rights, especially freedom
of religion and of expression and laws to protect them from hate crimes,
depends on the development of a transparent democracy in Egypt,
something that is outside of their immediate control.

In chapter 3, Charles D. Smith analyzes the role of the state in
defining Coptic identity. Smith begins by contrasting the Coptic
experience to Thomas Hyland Eriksen's definition of ethnicity that
"refers to groups considering themselves culturally as well as racially
distinctive."[1] The Copts do not easily fall into this definition
because "other than religion, they are neither culturally nor ethnically
distinctive" (p. 59). Smith also presents an interesting challenge to
Benedict Anderson's theory of secular nationalism when he maintains that
modern communications technology such as the computer and fax machine
has turned loyalty away from secular nationalism and back to religious
identity. In discussing Anderson's territorial nationalism, Smith
contrasts the Copts of Egypt, who are more firmly bound religiously and
historically to the territory of Egypt, to other minorities represented
in this volume. For example, according to Smith the Berbers in Morocco
are integrated into the society while the Berbers of Algeria are not. In
addition, no state accepts Kurdish national ambitions even though those
communities have long-standing territorial claims. Smith maintains that
the question for the Copts is not one of territorial nationalism but
instead the attainment of full civil rights. He is concerned that
without this equality they may be forced into dhimmi status under an
Islamic legal system.

In chapter 4, Paul S. Rowe draws a comparison between the Christians of
Egypt and Lebanon. He notes that scholars have historically described
Egyptian Christians as "passive and cooperative" and Lebanese Christians
as "aggressive and at times militant" (p. 85). According to this model,
Egyptian Christians accept their place within a secular Egypt, while the
Christian sects of Lebanon do not accept any national identity that is
not connected to Christian domination. Rowe rejects reductionist
analysis and demands a more nuanced approach that recognizes the
diversity of development, beliefs, doctrines and historical experiences
of the Christian groups. He refers to the current status of the
Christian community in Egypt as a "neomillet system" whereby the state
accepts the authority of church leadership as designators of Coptic
identity and as partners with the state. Rowe notes that the lack of
church authority in Lebanon led the development of religious-based
political parties, the creation of militias and, eventually, to civil
war. Only recently, after the end of the civil war, has a "neomillet
system" begun to function in Lebanon since various church authorities
have begun to reclaim their position as the holders of traditional
values and spokesmen for their communities.

In chapter 5, Linda S. Walbridge takes on the marginality of the
Christian community in Pakistan. Walbridge's discussion is informed by
Clifford Geertz's view that identity is formed both by the desire to
have a recognizably acknowledged nation-state and by local bonds such as
blood, race, language locality, religion and tradition. She also applies
Samuel Huntington's thesis, that religion is the primary motivating
force in peoples' lives, to the Pakistan context. [2] After a detailed
historical description of the status of the Christian minority,
Walbridge turns to the most important challenges to Christians today.
She highlights the discriminatory blasphemy laws which prohibited any
words or actions that would desecrate the Qur'an or denigrate revered
persons in Islam. The punishment for these crimes included life
imprisonment or the death sentence. The Christian community has been the
main target of these laws and this has led to their further
marginalization within Pakistani society. Christian human rights workers
have joined forces with secular Muslims in an attempt to overturn these
discriminatory laws. Walbridge also points to the ineffectiveness of the
separate electoral system which gives proportional representation to
minorities. Christians are often scattered among Muslim villages, and
they are represented by Muslims who have little regard for their needs.
Both the blasphemy law and separate representation has eroded the sense
among Christians that they are members of the nation.

Walbridge does not ignore the role of caste as an important factor in
the marginalization of Christians. Most Punjabi Christians are chuhra,
or from the lower class. Noting Benedict Anderson's discussion of the
use of racist terms to "erase nation-ness," Walbridge stresses the
racist connotation of the word chuhra, which is connected to poor
economic conditions that force Christians into jobs which were
considered unacceptable in the past. However, Walbridge does not intend
to focus on the role that the economy plays in this marginalization.
Instead, her analysis is based primarily on religious ideology and its
use to persecute the Christian community. In conclusion, she maintains
that an end to discriminatory practices would allow for more integration
between Muslims and Christians.

In the final essay on religious minorities, Juan R. I. Cole examines the
position of the Baha'is in post-1990s Iran. Cole outlines the history of
the problematic relationship between the Baha'i community and the state,
which has swung between accommodation and persecution. With the rise of
Khomeini, however, the Baha'is were confronted with persecution on a
level not seen before. Khomeini's exclusionary nationalism called for a
pan-Islamic union of all Muslims. In a challenge to Partha Chatterjee's
thesis of the separation of the public and spiritual realms presented in
his seminal work The Nation and Its Fragments (1993), Cole maintains
that in the post-Khomeini theocracy the "spiritual" realm was moved into
the public sphere and overthrew Western discourses of national identity.
Khomeini's exclusionary nationalism has impacted minority communities,
particularly the Baha'i. Cole places them within Bengio and Ben Dor's
definition of a "diffuse minority" who have no strong regional base or
access to the centers of power. The Baha'is have been denied dhimmi
status because they are not considered a religion but a political party
that was formed at the behest of the British, cooperated with the Shah's
regime, and is a part of Israeli imperialism. Many have emigrated, or
were jailed or executed. In recent years, as Iran has moved towards an
opening of the economy and rapprochement with some European countries,
persecution of the Baha'is, and religious minorities in general, has
become less frequent. However, the sect is still considered "misguided"
and the Baha'is have been excluded from consideration as Iranian
nationals. Their situation remains precarious and dependent on the
dynamics between liberalization and isolationism.

David Crawford begins the discussion of ethnic minorities with his
research on the place of the Berber communities in Moroccan national
consciousness. The vehicle for his study is the October 2001 decree by
King Mohammed VI establishing a Royal Institute of Amazigh (Berber)
Studies (IRCAM). Because this decree is so recent, it is impossible to
know its impact on Berber national consciousness. Therefore Crawford's
essay focuses on the potential for change in Berber politics. Crawford
disagrees with Ernest Gellner's assertion in Saints of the Atlas (1969)
that the Berbers are more tribal than ethnic. He notes the diversity in
Berber culture and dismisses the long held view that Berber-Arab society
is divided along rural-urban modalities since not all Berbers are rural
and not all Arabs are urban. Furthermore, Berber culture lives within
Arabic, French and Spanish-speaking societies. He suggests that the
royal decree will take different forms in different regions, and that
Berber identity will be just as diverse. However, Crawford maintains
that this diversity does not diminish the possibility for a Berber
identity. The main thrust of Crawford's chapter is to show that the
rural-urban/Berber-Arab binary division is a false construct and that
Berber society is not monolithic. But it can play an important political
role in the diverse social and political map of Morocco. Crawford
emphasizes that Berber culture has been given important fundamental
human rights by the royal decree which aims to address linguistic
discrimination in the legal and educational systems. This decree is the
first such experiment in North Africa with the goal of creating a
multicultural national identity, and it is an important example for the
rest of the region.

Azzedine Layachi, in chapter 8, attempts to answer an important question
about recent Berber activism in Algeria: whether the Berber movement in
the Kabylie region forms an ethnicity or is, instead, a civic movement
searching for full citizenship rights. Ethnicists believe that the
Berbers are a minority that should be granted independence, whereas the
civic view seeks a more socially and economically democratic society.
Layachi also seeks to answer a number of other important questions,
including whether it is possible to distinguish between Arabs and
Berbers, if there is an "imagined" Berber community, and what factors
have mobilized the Berber community? Like many of the other authors in
this volume, Layachi carries on a dialogue with Benedict Anderson. He
notes that the Berber community does not have all of the necessary
ingredients of Anderson's "imagined community." For example, the Berber
of the Kabylie are not a sovereign state, the majority of the people are
not politically conscious or mobilized, and political action is at the
"pre-national" stage, otherwise described as "ethnicity" (p. 196). In
fact, the question of Berber minority identity is complex. Intermarriage
and internal migrations make it difficult to be certain about a person's
Berber origins. Additionally because of the Arabization program begun
after independence from France, many young Berbers do not speak the
Berber language. There is also no obvious economic or social
discrimination, because many Berbers form the elite among political,
economic and cultural leaders. Nevertheless, ethnicity remains the main
identifying force among the Berber. Layachi cites Walker Connor's view
that "an ethnic group turns into a nation when its members become aware
of their uniqueness."[3] In contrast, Berber activists have not called
for nationhood because they consider Algeria to be their nation.
Instead, these activists seek to remake Algeria into a more inclusive
civil society--a cause that requires identifying the country as a Berber
nation, officially acknowledging the Berber language, and granting full
citizenship rights to all Berbers.

In conclusion, Layachi calls for the state to acknowledge the diversity
of Algeria and to transition to a democratic system based on a just and
fair economic and social system. He cautions that without this
transformation, Algeria faces a growing Berber secessionist movement on
the scale of the Islamist rebellion of 1992.

Kurdish minority groups are the subject of the final two chapters of
this volume. In chapter 9, M. Hakan Yavuz discusses Kurdish nationalism
in Turkey. Yavuz finds the origins of Kurdish "ethno-nationalism" in the
final years of the Ottoman Empire when the multiethnic and multicultural
model was undermined in favor of a Turkish national identity. In the
centralizing policies of Atatürk's nation-building process, ethnic
groups such as the Kurds, who refused to assimilate, became
"ethno-political movements" that developed their own identity in
opposition to the dominant culture. Relying on Anthony D. Smith's
definition that "a group must qualify as an ethnie (i.e., share a
collective name, a myth of descent, a history and culture, a specific
territory, and a sense of solidarity) if it is to form a nation," Yavuz
explains that the Kurdish sense of nationalism is derived from sharing
"common ethnic roots, shared myths, and collective memories and values"
(p. 232).

Yavuz's essay presents a detailed description of the development of
Kurdish identity through five historical stages that identify the impact
of imperial and republican centralization projects on the politicization
of Kurdish national identity. He also mentions the importance of
Articles 62 to 64 in the Treaty of Sevres at the end of the First World
War that called for "local autonomy for the land where the Kurd element
predominates" (p. 236). According to Yavuz, although this article never
became a reality for the Kurds, the both the Kurds and Turks remember it
in their historical memory. For the Turks it represented the intention
of the major powers for dismemberment of the state. For the Kurds it was
a dream unfulfilled. Kurdish national identity was thus formed through a
slow process that resulted from both domestic and international causes.

The challenge to Kurdish tribal structures by state centralization, as
well as Kurdish involvement with the left in the 1960s and 1970s, led to
a development of a sense of Kurdishness. As Turkish nationalism hardened
against the establishment of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1978
and the resulting civil war, Kurdish nationalism grew more
sophisticated, creating political parties and calling for political and
cultural rights. Yavuz's fifth stage is currently underway and marked by
Turkey's candidacy for admission into the European Union (EU), which has
demanded resolution of the Kurdish crisis. According to Yavuz, there is
a possibility of accommodation between the Turks and Kurds as the result
of the internationalization of the Kurdish question.

Michael M. Gunter examines the Kurdish minority in Iraq in chapter 10.
He maintains that the Kurds share history, language, territory, religion
and culture, and form a nation more than any other minority in the
Middle East. He discusses in detail the ancient origins of the Kurds,
and calls on the historical record from seventh-century Arab conquerors,
to Saladin, and early chronicles that described a land called Kurdistan.
Like Yavuz, Gunter notes the geographic, linguistic, religious and
cultural diversity of the Kurds, and he also maintains that Kurdish
identity remains strong. However, Kurdish nationalism is a vision
without realization because of the immutability of national borders.

Gunter gives a very detailed survey of the history and current situation
of the Kurdish minority in Northern Iraq. He describes the rise of the
two main families and their associated political parties that have
dominated Kurdish politics--the Barzanis and the Kurdish Democratic
Party (KDP), a conservative nationalist party located mostly in the
mountains of the northwest, and the Talabanis and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), a socialist party based mostly in the southeast. After
the Gulf War in 1991, the United States carved out a safety zone that
led to the creation of a Kurdish state in all but name. In 1992, the
Iraqi Kurds declared a federated state but quickly denied that this was
a step towards independence. Turkey reluctantly accepted the
establishment of the federated state, but has continually refused to
allow a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, fearful of the rise of similar
nationalist fervor within its own territory. Gunter noted with some
optimism that a new generation has grown up under Kurdish administration
where freedoms are enjoyed in a vibrant civil society with independent
newspapers, television, radio, and numerous new political parties
contesting local elections. His predictions about the future of the
Kurdish state are predicated on the Iraqi Kurds remaining a federated
state and attempting to forge mutually beneficial relations with Turkey
that will outlast the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

This volume is a valuable contribution to a growing field examining the
interaction between minority status, ethnicity and national identity
formation. The contributors' essays are firmly grounded in empirical and
documentary evidence, while also utilizing some of the most important
recent studies on nationalism, ethnicity and minority issues. They carry
on a dialogue that reinforces, and often challenges, the seminal works
of Benedict Anderson, Partha Chatterjee, Walker Connor, Clifford Geertz,
Ernest Gellner, Samuel Huntington and Anthony D. Smith, to mention only
a few of the works cited. Richard C. Martin's theoretical discussion of
the meaning of the term "minority" in theology and law is an important
contribution in defining the term in theory and practice. However, there
is still much work to be done in understanding the term "minority" in
Islam. A more theoretical discussion of the meaning of "minority
status," examining the particularities of time, place and geopolitical
exigencies, and particularly with reference to the minorities included
in this volume, would help to further unify this collection.
Additionally, important terms such as "dhimmia" and "millet" are
repeatedly used throughout this volume. These terms are contested and
have meanings that shift across time and place. These essays would be
aided by nuanced descriptions and definitions of their meanings. But
these comments are minor in comparison with the important contribution
that these authors have made to the field. This book will be a welcome
addition for scholars in many disciplines who are searching for a
comparative framework in which to examine minority national identify
formation in majority-Muslim countries. It will also be a valuable
contribution for advanced seminars on Islam, the Middle East and North
Africa.

Notes

[1]. Thomas Hyland Eriksen, Ethnicity, Race, Class, Nation, 3-7, cited
in Ethnicity, eds. John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 28-34.

[2]. Clifford Geertz, "The Integrative Revolution," in Nations and
Identities, ed. Vincent P. Pecora (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001). Samuel
P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World
Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).

[3]. Walker Connor, "A Nation is a Nation, is a State, is an Ethnic
Group, is a …,"Ethnic and Racial Studies 1/4 (1978): pp. 377-99.


Citation: Karen M. Kern. "Review of Maya Shatzmiller, ed, Nationalism
and Minority Identities in Islamic Societies," H-Nationalism, H-Net
Reviews, September, 2006. URL:
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=170751165945436.