Category Archives: Resources

Article: Prolegomena to the study of the Libyan Isawiyya | معلومات تمهيدية لدراسة العيسوية الليبية

Leave a reply

One of the few anthropologists to carry out work in Libya in the past decade, and the only one working on Libyan Sufis, Igor Cherstich is currently working on a book based on his fieldwork among the ‘Isawiyya order in Tripoli, Libya. Here is one of his earlier articles on the topic.

Igor Cherstich, “Struggling for a Framework: Prolegomena to the study of the Libyan ‘Isāwiyya”, Libyan Studies 42 (2011), 59–68.

Abstract: As a consequence of the importance of the Sanusiyya in Libyan history, the literature on Sufism has shown a scarce curiosity for other Libyan [Sufi] brotherhoods. One of the reasons for this is the fact that, being characterised by a lack of central authority, these orders were considered unorganised entities that could not sustain the comparison with the Sanusiyya. The article problematises this view by concentrating on the ‘Isawiyya, a Libyan brotherhood constituted by local leaders who do not recognise a common authority. In particular, the paper  relies heavily on the recent re-conceptualisation of the idea of ‘Sufi order’ put forward by Rachida Chih, who suggests that Sufi brotherhoods could be best understood as ensembles of different local patron relationships. The article discusses the weaknesses and strengths of Chih’s framework in an attempt to propose a set of preliminary conclusions for the study of the Libyan ‘Isawiyya.

“بحثا عن هيكل: معلومات تمهيدية لدراسة العيسوية الليبية”

نتيجة لأهمية السنوسية في تاريخ ليبيا أظهرت الأدبيات عن المذهب الصوفي فضولا نادر عن الصوفيات الليبية الأخرى. إحدى أسباب ذلك هو عدم وجود مرجعية مركزية لها واعتبرت هذه الصوفيات كيانات غير منظمة وغير قابلة للمقارنة مع السنوسية.   تتعامل المقالة مع هذه الظاهرة كمشكلة وذلك بالتركيز على العيسوية وهي صوفية ليبية شكلتها مجموعة من القادة المحليين الذين لا يعترفون بمرجعية مشتركة. تعتمد المقالة بثقل على إعادة تنظير تمت مؤخرا لفكرة الصوفية من قبل رشيدة شيح التي تقترح بان الصوفيات يمكن ان تعتبر مجاميع لعلاقات رعوية محلية مختلفة. تناقش المقالة نقاط الضعف القوة في الهيكل الذي وضعته شيح في محاولة لاقتراح مجموعة اولية من الإستنتاجات لدراسة العيسوية الليبية.

You can read a version of the article at this link.

Book: The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980

Leave a reply

Lisa Anderson, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980. Princeton University Press (1986).

Publisher’s blurb: The book traces growing state intervention in the rural areas of Tunisia and Libya in the middle 1800s and the diverging development of the two countries during the period of European rule. State formation accelerated in Tunisia under the French with the result that, with independence, interest-based policy brokerage became the principal form of political organization. For Libya, where the Italians dismantled the pre-colonial administration, independence brought with it the revival of kinship as the basis for politics.

This is one of the few books (along with this one) about Libyan history to be based on extensive research with primary sources in Libyan, Ottoman, and European archives.

Article: A sketch of the life of Ramadan al-Swayhli | مختصر حياة رمضان السويحلي

Leave a reply

Image from Libyanet.com

Ramadan al-Swayhli (رمضان السويحلي) was a major figure of the early Libyan resistance to Italian colonization, and played a role in the formation of the first Arab republic to declare its independence from the Ottoman Empire, but he is practically unknown outside of Libya. In this sketch, Lisa Anderson provides the first (and so far only) overview of his life in a Western language. Although several books about al-Suwayhli have been written in Arabic, she rightly notes that “it is a reflection of the fate of leaders of unsuccessful efforts to resist European imperialism that there is no account of his life in a Western language.”

Lisa Anderson, “Ramadan al-Suwayhli: Hero of the Libyan Resistance”, in Struggle and Survival in the Middle East, ed. E. Burke (1993), pp. 114-128.

Article: The Arab city and municipal administrative modernity: Tripoli (Libya)

Leave a reply

For those who read French, here is another essay by Nora Lafi about the history of Tripoli. It is freely available online.

Nora Lafi, “Ville arabe et modernité administrative municipale : Tripoli (Libye actuelle), 1795-1911.” [The Arab city and municipal administrative modernity: Tripoli (Libya), 1795-1911] Histoire urbaine 1, no. 3 (2001), pp. 149-167.

Abstract: This paper aims both at presenting a short bibliographical essay on Arab towns and, from the case of Tripoli (Libya), at examining the matter of the administrative modernity of such towns. The role in this process of modernization of the various traditional institutions of urban government is studied with the help of new archives, mostly local. A presentation of the machîkha al-bilâd – the cheikh albilâd (chief of the town) and its jamâ’a al-bilâd (town council) – as an organization of municipal kind is proposed in this paper, and the forms of a possible comparatism with Ancien Régime European towns are explored. The 1867 Ottoman municipal reforms (tanzimât) are then studied in the context of the inheritance of traditional forms of urban government.

Article: Gender and state-building in Libya

Leave a reply

Although this blog shies away from contributing even more noise to the (often incoherent) Western din that is writing on politics in modern Libya, it is important to draw attention to less common but absolutely necessary approaches to any topic within Libyan studies. Here is a recent article on the politics of gender and inclusion by the well-known scholar and activist, Zahra’ Langhi (whom we’ve already mentioned here), co-founder of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace.

Zahra’ Langhi. “Gender and state-building in Libya: towards a politics of inclusion.” Journal of North African Studies 19/2 (2014), pp. 200-210.

Abstract: The Libyan Revolution marks a watershed moment in Libyan history and more specifically in the history of women’s participation in the public space. Women were at the forefront of the demonstrations as protesters, medical workers, and aid providers, as well as organising behind the scenes and in the diaspora calling for political change and a just inclusive transition to democracy. However, they have been systematically excluded from the public sphere facing intense de-politicisation and silencing at a crucial moment in their national political transformation process. The Libyan Revolution appears here, similar to other Arab revolutions, to present a ‘gender paradox’. On one hand, women are the politically empowered agents of the Revolution and change. On the other hand, they are the victims of a new kind of political violence and exclusion. Thus, there is a need to address women’s participation in the public sphere from a different approach than the usual ‘women’s empowerment’ approach. The suggested approach here is a more inclusive participatory integrated one of political and normative frameworks. Women’s role should not be limited to defending women’s rights issues or just their formal numerical representation in decision-making bodies. Rather they should struggle to become influential shapers of a new discourse of politics of inclusion which rests upon inclusive state-building, gender-equitable institutional reform, inclusive social transformation, demilitarisation and peace-building.

*For an electronic version of the article, contact me.

PhD Thesis: Italy and France in the Fezzan

Leave a reply

A PhD thesis concerning the transition in the Fezzan from colonial rule by the Italians to the immediate post-colonial administration by the French has recently been completed.

Palmieri, Tomasso. Étude comparative de l’administration militaire de l’Italie et de la France au Fezzan libyen. Un cas de modèle colonial en continuité (1930-1951). Ph.D. dissertation Aix-Marseille Université / Università di Pisa (2015). [PDF, in French]

Abstract: The goal of the present research is to analyze the structural development of a brief colonial presence. Beginning from a comparative historical study, it describes the process of installation, creation, and governance of a double European colonial administration: that of fascist Italy and of France, in the Fezzan region of the southwestern Libyan desert. We show, in a longue durée perspective, how the urgency of controlling the Sahara’s extensive spaces deteremines, from the Empire’s perspective, the strategic necessity of creating a colonial macro-region to be directed solely by the military. The kernel of this thesis analyzes both the manner in which the structures of these administrations were conceived and put in place by European militaries and their real impact on the region’s social fabric. Finally, by way of conclusion we evoke elements of rupture and continuity throughout the two experiences and the consequences of colonial administrative actions in terms of independent Libya’s identity formation.

Article: Complaints from Libya at the Turn of the 20th Century

Leave a reply

With apologies for a series of posts of articles that are not easily accessible, though worth reading if you have access, I present the following:

Henning Sievert, “Intermediaries and Local Knowledge in a Changing Political Environment: Complaints from Libya at the Turn of the 20th Century”. Die Welt des Islams 54, 3-4 (2014), pp. 322–362. [Online behind paywall]

Abstract: As historiography on Ottoman Tripolitania and Benghazi focuses mainly on the Italian invasion and on the Sanūsiyya and pays little attention to Ottoman records, studies on political practice and change in that period are rare. However, the special circumstances of that remote and sparsely populated part of the empire enable us to focus on the role of intermediaries and complaints within the imperial framework. Complaints and related correspondence were crucial in the negotiation of order, both from the government’s and from the subjects’ point of view. With the 19th-century reforms, new notions of order emerged, and old notions were modified. The new mode of politics did not, however, consist of immutable prescriptions but could acquire new layers of meaning in a process of translation into the vernacular politics of the Libyan provinces and vice versa. Imperial notions of order were thus read and utilised in various ways. The key interpreters and translators in this process were intermediaries between imperial, provincial and local levels. This contribution suggests to study political communication within the imperial framework by focusing on these intermediaries.

Article: Shakīb Arslān’s Libyan Dilemma

Leave a reply

The essay “Shakīb Arslān’s Libyan Dilemma: Pro-fascism through anti-colonialism in La Nation Arabe” by Jakob Krais on the Ottoman administrator Shakīb Arslān’s writings about the Italian colonization of Libya is available online as part of the online publication Rethinking Totalitarianism and its Arab Readings. Proceedings of the Conference “European Totalitarianism in the Mirrors of Contemporary Arab Thought”, Beirut, October 6-8, 2010. Here is the introduction:

“Shakīb Arslān is considered one of the Arab world ‘s most important anti-colonial propagandists of the inter-war period. At the same time, he belongs to the few activists from the Middle East who actually tried to gain support from the fascist powers in the years preceding World War II. Apart from al-Ḥājj Amīn al-Ḥusaynī, the mufti of Jerusalem, with whom he collaborated, and the Iraqi Arab nationalist Rashīd ʿAlī al-Kaylānī, Arslān perhaps came closest to proclaiming unequivocal sympathy towards Italy and Germany. In this essay I will examine his views of Mussolini ‘s regime as expressed in the French-language journal La Nation Arabe which Arslān published in Geneva from 1930 to 1938. Italy represents a particularly interesting case insofar as it could be seen as an ally against the colonialist western powers Britain and France in the Middle East, but was itself an imperialist regime that ruled an Arab country, Libya. I will shed light on how Arslān dealt with this dilemma in his articles. Although a comprehensive account of Arslān ‘s assessment of fascism certainly would have to include other works of this prolific writer, as well as his correspondence with politicians in Europe and the Islamic world, here I shall concentrate on La Nation Arabe where he publicized his views for a larger audience, both western and Muslim. It is possible to distinguish two phases in his journalistic writings on Italy and Libya, one critical from 1930 to 1933 and one conciliatory, stretching from 1933 up to 1938.”

Read the rest of the piece here.

Article: Violence and the politics of prestige: the fascist turn in colonial Libya

Leave a reply

A recently published article on the colonial period in Libya and the dynamics of fascist policies is the following, unfortunately behind a paywall. The abstract is below.

Eileen Ryan, “Violence and the politics of prestige: the fascist turn in colonial Libya.” Modern Italy 20/2 (2015), pp. 123-135.

“In 1922–1923, Fascist Party leaders hoped to define a sharp break from previous approaches to colonial rule and imperial expansion in Italy’s Libyan territories. Mussolini’s nomination of Luigi Federzoni, a leading figure of the Italian Nationalist Association, as the Minister of Colonies at the end of 1922 signalled a new era in Italian colonial administration focused on aggressive expansion and the institution of what was known as a ‘politics of prestige’. This definition of a fascist style of colonial rule appealed to the enthusiasm for violence among blackshirt militias and early fascist supporters in the Libyan territories. This definition of a fascist style of colonial rule, however, inspired immediate reaction from both colonial officials, with stakes in maintaining a measure of continuity and stability, and from those within the nascent Fascist Party who wanted to promote an alternative model of fascism in the colonies. This article examines contests to define fascism and fascist colonial rule in the Libyan territories through the employment of voluntary militias, the competing voices of Fascist Party outposts, and various programmes for the development of a colonial culture.”

 

Book: A Libyan publication on the Tebu

Leave a reply

d8bad984d8a7d981Another important community in Libya, which we mention on this blog for the first time, are the Tebu, who live mainly in southern Libya. Essentially nothing, as is repeated here all too often, has been published about the Tebu of Libya in Western scholarship [1]. Nevertheless, the Tebu have come increasingly into the news as a result of conflicts in southern Libya. Also, given the restrictive language and minority-related policies of the regime and subsequent turmoil, little in Arabic was produced in Libya, either.

Happily an Arabic book about the Tebu in Libya has appeared recently (as Lameen informs me),  The Book of the Tebu by ‘Abd al-Mun‘im al-Maḥjūb. I haven’t found a copy yet, so can’t vouch for it, but draw attention to it here as it is a good sign that Libyan scholars and publishers are devoting resources to the study of communities such as the Tebu. Here is part of its introduction:

إن هذا الكتاب يساهم في إعادة ترتيب فصول وأولويات التاريخ الثقافي للصحراء الكبرى، من خلال التعريف بالتبو ودراسة لغتهم واستقصاء تاريخهم المجهول وعرض بعض الأنماط الفولكلوريّة التي تختزل كيانهم الاجتماعي، كما يهدف إلى تجريد هذه الموضوعات من طابع الحداثة الذي يغلب عليها في الآراء والانطباعات السائدة الآن، وذلك بإعادة اقتراح إحداثياتها التأسيسيّة وموضَعتها من جديد ضمن سياقاتها التاريخية وتراتيبها الكرونولوجية، وهو الأمر الذي تنطبق ضرورته على تاريخ الأقوام المجاورة أيضاً”. ينقسم الكتاب إلى ثلاثة فصول على النحو التالي: الفصل الأول يعرّف بالتبو في محيطهم الجغرافي والديموغرافي والإثني، ويقرأ أصولهم ممّا توفّر من إشارات نادرة تركها المؤرخون القدامى. الفصل الثاني: يتناول التكوين الاجتماعي والتقسيم الطبقي والأعرافهم والتقاليد والطقوس والممارسات الاجتماعية والفنون الفولكلوريّة والمهارات في استخدام عناصر البيئة الصحراوية لصنع الأدوات والمستعملات اليومية. الفصل الثالث: يتناول لغة التبو وإشكاليتي تدوينها وتصنيفها، وبحث فرضيات نشأتها الأولى، مذيلاً بمسرد لغوي مقارن، وبعض تعابيرهم الشفوية. كما يجد القارئ في نهاية هذا الكتاب ملحقاً بمختارات ممّا كتبه الرحّالة الذين مرّوا بالتبو ودوّنوا عنهم ما شاهدوه عياناً أو لاحظوه استنتاجاً، وذلك من خلال نماذج تختزل مثيلاتها من كتابات القرن الثامن عشر والقرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين

 1. The only published study that I could find after extended searching was racial science drivel about Tebu living in Kufra which I won’t dignify with a reference here.