LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

marginal literatures of the middle eastreceived their education in India. Bahrain and Bombay were the great commercialtransit centres for the pearl trade. The British government of India had aforeign policy that was almost separate from that of imperial government inLondon. The Colony of Aden was run from India. British consuls and agents inArabia, Iraq and Iran were appointed from the Indian military and civilianservices. Just as Maltese could be found in every Mediterranean port, so Somaliswere ubiquitous on the northern and western shores of the Indian Ocean.The ideologies of Arab nationalism have denied these rich heritages. Thetwentieth century has seen the triumph of the territorial nationalism of thecities of the interior. The kaleidoscopic mix of communities that were in all thecities and ports has yielded to a more monochrome uniformity. The OttomanEmpire was a multi-ethnic polity. The successor states have worked towards aunified culture. Those who have had a country to return to – Greeks, Maltese,Italians – have gone home. Those Armenians who survived early twentiethcentury Anatolia have contributed to forming the largest non-Arab communitiesin cities like Beirut and Aleppo. Others have moved to Armenia that forseventy years was under Moscow’s influence. Ottoman Kurds and Jews have hadcontrasting fortunes. So many Jews of the former Empire have moved to Palestine,at the expense of the indigenous Palestinians, that it could be argued thatthe State of Israel is a succession state of the Ottoman Empire. From outside theArab world, people of South Asia – Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and SriLankans – have however increased in numbers in Arabia and the Gulf, albeit onsufferance.Most countries of the area achieved independence only in the twentiethcentury. A major target of the elites of each country was to establish their ownlegitimacy. This legitimacy has been based on a mono-ethnic identity. Otherfoci of loyalty – national or linguistic – have been discouraged. The nationalideologies of Israel and Turkey have been similar. Even the more internationalistideology of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran enshrinesIranian nationality as a condition for full citizenship (Zubaida 1997: 105). In allthese countries illiteracy has been effectively eliminated with an emphasis on anational language. Marginal languages – Armenian, the Circassian languages,Nubian, Coptic, Berber, the languages of Southern Arabia or Southern Sudan –are not taught in government schools, though English and French are. Anofficial mainstream culture has been promoted through schools, universities andthe official media, and backed by the resources of the state, through censorshipand ultimately force.There is nothing exceptional in the Middle East about this. Countries havebeen following the practices of most European countries in identifying anational identity with territory and language. In nineteenth century Italy andFrance only a small minority spoke standard Italian or French (Al-Azmeh— 181 —www.taq.ir