Arab Existentialism _ Yoav Di-Capua - Academia

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Arab Existentialismby Yoav D i-Capua

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ArabExistentialism:An InvisibleChapter in theIntellectualHistoryofDecolonization

YOAVDI-CAPUA

IN MAY 1944, WHENTHE EGYPTIAN philosopher Abdal-RahmanBadawi defendedhisdissertationonexistentialtime,TahaHusayn,thedoyenofmodernArabletters,declareditthebirthofmodernArabphilosophy.Thedefensewasanationalevent,andthewidelydistributedEgyptiandaily al-Ahram immediately sharedthe newswithitsreaders.1 Sixyearslater,Badawiannouncedthathehaddevisedanewphilosophyforourgeneration.Hecalleditexistentialism(wujudiya),andthoughitsharedthenameoftheEuropeanmovement,itwasnotsimplyacarboncopyofit,butratheraseriesofformulationsandadaptationsthatcollectivelysoughttocreateanewpostcolonialArabsubject:confident,politicallyinvolved,independent,self-suffi-cient,andaboveallliberated.WhetherinitsHeideggerianoritsSartreanform,wenormallythinkofexistentialismsolelyasachapterinEuropeanintellectualhistory.Yetinthecontextofdecolonization,ArabintellectualsprocessedtheideasofMartinHeideggerandJean-PaulSartreintoanentirelynewintellectualtraditionthatwasEuropeaninoriginandMiddleEasternbydesign.Whatbeganasanesotericex-periment on a philosophersdeskgrewinto a decentralized yet influential intellectualmovementwithmeaningfulglobalconnections.Bytheearly1960s,Arabculturewasdominatedbythelanguage,assumptions,andpoliticsofexistentialism.Yetthisstory

hasthusfarremainedaninvisiblechapterintheintellectualhistoryofdecoloni-zation.

TheemergenceofArabexistentialismasamajorcategoryofArabthoughtco-incidedwiththeworldwideprocessofdecolonizationandtheriseofthefirstgen-erationofThirdWorldregimes. 2 BetweentheendofWorldWarII,whenpro-co-

lonialArabmonarchiesteetered,andthe1967Six-DayWar,whentherevolutionaryArabstatesthathadreplacedthemonarchiesweredefeated,ayounggenerationof

IwishtothanktheNationalHistoryCenterandthefacultyandparticipantsintheCenters2009De-colonizationSeminar,whichwasheldinWashington,D.C.,fortheirintellectualleadership.MyresearchwasalsogenerouslysupportedbytheUniversityofTexasHumanitiesResearchAward.Anearlierver-sionofthisarticlewaspresentedasapaperatNewYorkUniversitysKevorkianResearchWorkshopSeriesaswellasattheUniversityofTexas.Ithankmycolleaguesfortheircriticalcontribution.Mostly,Iamindebtedtothe AHR sexternalreviewers,inparticulartotheanonymousReviewer2,who,itseems,specializesinArabicliterature.

1 BadawisPh.D.oralexamlastedafullsixhoursandwasattendedbyhundredsofonlookers,students,teachers,andjournalistswhocametocelebrateanationalevent.Dukturafi-l-Falsafa, al-Ahram,May30,1944,2.

2 EventhoughmajortextsondecolonizationdonotfocusontheMiddleEast,itwasnonetheless

anessentialplayerinthisprocess.MarkT.Berger,AftertheThirdWorld?History,DestinyandtheFateofThirdWorldism, ThirdWorldQuarterly 25,no.1(2004):939.

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Arabintellectualsemployedvariantsofexistentialisminordertomeetthemultiplechallengesofdecolonization:culturalcontradictions,unevendevelopmentandthe

consequentsocialinjustice,astruggleforfullphysicalliberation,andthederivativesearchforanalternativeColdWarpoliticalspace.Thisprocesstriggeredasetofpressingquestions:WhoistheArabsubjectinthe

wakeofthecolonialexperience?Canthissubjectthinkofhimselforherselfintermsandlanguagethatwouldbeorganictohisorherhistory?CanArabshaveanau-thenticexistence,andisitpossibleforthemtobecomemodernontheirownterms?Ontheeveofdecolonization,intheIndiansubcontinent,Africa,andEastAsia,ahostofintellectuals,writinginmultiplelanguages,wereaskingthesamequestions.3

1062 YoavDi-Capua

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TheseconcernsconditionedtheworkofBadawisexistentialistgeneration,people

suchastheEgyptianMarxistcriticMahmudAminal- Alim, thejournalistLutfi al-Khuli,theLebanesemanoflettersSuhaylIdris,theIraqipoet Abd al-Wahhabal-Bayati,andhundredsofotherintellectualswhowerebornintheearly1920s.Yetadecadelater,followingthecombinedtragedyofthe1967WarandSartresun-expectedbetrayaloftheArabs,Arabexistentialismwasforthemostpartdead.

Giventhatexistentialismwasinstrumentaltodecolonization,itisstrikingthatthereisnoliteraturethatsituatestheintellectualgenerationofArabexistentialistswithintheglobalhistoricalcontextoftheirtime.Thisabsenceispartofalargerlackwithin whatmight becalled the intellectual historyof decolonization.How ThirdWorldintellectualsandtheirideasinformeddecolonization,andhowinturntheywereshapedbyit,isanimportantquestion,yetitremainslargelyunansweredinspite

ofaproliferationofstudiesondecolonizationandpostcolonialism.Onthebasisofexistinghistoriography,itappearsthatscholarshavelargely

avoidedthisquestion.Earlyscholarshipondecolonizationfocusedonthetransferofpowerasaunidirectionalprocessthatextendedfromthemetropoletothepe-ripheryinthefaceoftheso-calledonslaughtofnationalism.4 Forobviousreasons,muchofthisworkcamefromscholarsoftheBritishEmpire.Alatervariantofthisliteratureillustratedhowpowerwasnotsimplytransferred,butinfactdemanded,eventakenbyforce. 5 Thisprocesswasfurtherexplainedintermsofprovincialan-ticolonialnationalisms(freedommovements)andhigher-levelpoliticalsolidarity(Pan-Asian,Pan-Arab).Butsolidarityandresistancehavefunctionedlargelyastropesratherthanempiricalpointsofreference,withscholarsgenerallyassumingthatanticolonialnationalismwassimilarlyconstitutedwheneverandwhereveritoccurred.6 Thebestindicationoftheubiquityofthisassumptioncanbefoundinsurveysofthestateofthefieldofdecolonizationstudies.FromJohnDarwins1988

3 Forinstance,MahatmaGandhi,AlbertMemmi,LeopoldSedar Senghor, FrantzFanon, AimeCesaire, andWaThiongo Ngug .

4 Foracriticalsummaryofthisidea,seeJohnDarwin, TheEndoftheBritishEmpire:TheHistoricalDebate (Oxford,1991).

5 RecentexamplesofthisestablishedhistoriographicalpedigreeincludeRaymondF.Betts, De-colonization (NewYork,1998);DavidBirmingham,TheDecolonizationofAfrica (London,1995);JohnSpringhall,Decoloniza tionsince1945:TheCollapseofEuropeanOver seasEmpires (NewYork,2001);andMartinShipway, Deco lonizationand Its Impact: ACompa rati veApproach t o the End of the Colon ialEmpires (Malden,Mass.,2008).

6 TakingsolidarityandresistancetocolonialEuropeastheoverarchingsubjectmatteroftheirbooks,scholarsofThird-Worldismfurtherreducedthecomplexprocessofdecolonizationtothelevelofapowerstruggle.See,forinstance,VijayPrashad, TheDarkerNations:APeoplesHistoryoftheThirdWorld (NewYork,2007).

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pioneeringcallforresearchontheveryunderdevelopedsubjectofdecolonization

toA.G.Hopkinss2008extensiverethinkingofthefield,animpressivelineofwritersandeditors,includingRobertYoung,DietmarRothermund,andtoalesserextentPrasenjitDuara,havebeencomfortablewiththeassumptionthatthehistoryofan-ticolonialnationalismaccountsfortheroleofideasduringthisera.7

Indeed,evenpostcolonialstudies,afieldthathasmadeapointofstudyingthedecolonizationofthemind,hasdonelittletorehabilitatelocalthoughtanditsglobalcontext.WhileitoffersanimportantcorrectivetoEurocentricscholarshiponempireaswellasacritiqueofthepracticesofthenation-state,therealitiesofcol-onizedpeoplesarealmostalwaysprojectedagainsttheessentializedepistemologyofcolonialEurope,withtheultimategoalofinvestigatingthepersistenceofco-

lonialdiscourse.Withararefiedandfarfromrigoroushistoricalmethodthatusesepistemologyastheomnipresentreferentforallformsofthought,weareleftwiththefalsenotionthatcolonialismwasuninterruptedbytheprocessofdecolonization.Whilepostcolonialstudiesprovidesuswithinvaluableinsightsandacriticaleman-

cipationofmarginalhistoricalsubjects,ithasdonelittletodatebywayofpresentingasystematicandcomprehensiveaccountofhowpeopleputtheirthoughtstogether.8

Evenasscholarshiponlabor,ThirdWorlddiplomacy,race( negritude),andgenderisbeginningtobreaknewground,theongoingabsenceofintellectualhistorycallsattentiontoitself.9

7 A.G.Hopkins, RethinkingDecolonization, Past&Present 200,no.1(August2008):211247;JohnDarwin, Britain andDecolonisa tion: TheRetreat from Empire in the Post-War World (NewYork,1988);DietmarRothermund,TheRoutledgeCompaniontoDecolonization (Hoboken,N.J.,2006);Pra-senjitDuara,ed.,Decolonization:PerspectivesfromNowandThen (London,2004);JamesD.LeSueur,ed., TheDecolonizationReader(NewYork,2003);RobertJ.C.Young, Postcolonialism: AnHistoricalIntroduction (Oxford,2001);ChristopherE.GoschaandChristianOstermann,eds., ConnectingHis-tories:DecolonizationandtheColdWarinSoutheastAsia,19451962(Stanford,Calif.,2009).However,forsomeattemptstoaccountfortheroleofideasbeyondanticolonialnationalism,seeCliveJ.Christie,IdeologyandRevolutioninSoutheastAsia,19001980:PoliticalIdeasoftheAnti-ColonialEra (Richmond,UK,2001);andJamesD.LeSueur,UncivilWar:IntellectualsandIdentityPoliticsduringtheDecolo-nization ofAlgeria (Philadelphia,2001).

8 Asonecriticput it,Itwouldbeusefulif post-colonialscholarshipmademoreeffort tosituatethesewriterswithintheclassstructureoftheirhomesocietiesandtheculturalcontextofatransnationalintelligentsiasoastoavoidsimplisticgeneralizationsthattheirworkembodiessomenationalistorThirdWorldessence.DaneKennedy,ImperialHistoryandPost-ColonialTheory,inJamesD.LeSueur,ed., TheDecolonizationReader (NewYork,2003),122,here17.Havingsaidthat,theSubalternStudiesGroupandafewothersinSouthAsiahavetriedtorehabilitatelocalthoughtandcapturethemental/spiritualworldofthesubaltern.Theirconsequentclaimwasthatthesubalterndidnotbehaveasacolonizedsubjectandretainedhisorherownnotionsofcommunity,politics,andculture.Hencetheir

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argumentthatcolonialisminvolveddominancewithouthegemony.RanajitGuha,DominancewithoutHegemony:HistoryandPowerinColonialIndia (Cambridge,Mass.,1997);SudiptaKaviraj ,TheUnhappyConsciousness:Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and the Formationof NationalistDiscoursei n India(Delhi,1995).

9 Tacklingsomeofthe sameproblems,FrederickCooperobservedthat Colonialhistoryintheeraofde colonizationsufferedadoubleformofocc lusion.Fromthe1950sintothe 1970s,theideaofmodernizationoccludedthecolonial.Inthe1980sand1990stheideaofmodernityoccludedhistory.Cooper,ColonialisminQuestion:Theory,Knowledge,History (Berkeley,Calif.,2005),53.Recentschol-arshipincludesPieroGleijeses,ConflictingMissions:Havana,Washington,andAfrica,19591976(Cha-pelHill,N.C.,2002);MatthewConnelly,ADip lomatic Revolution:Algeria sFight for Independence andtheOriginsofthePostColdWarEra (Oxford,2002);ToddShepard, TheInventionofDecolonization:TheAlgerianWarandtheRemakingofFrance (Ithaca,N.Y.,2006);FrederickCooper,DecolonizationandAfricanSociety:TheLaborQuestion inFrenchand British Africa (Cambridge,1996);GaryWilder,TheFrenchImperialNation-State:NegritudeandColonialHumanismbetweentheTwoWorldWars (Chi-cago,2005);andKarenBouwer,Genderand Decolonizationin theCongo:TheLegacyof Patrice Lumumba(NewYork,2010).

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Arab Existentialism _ Yoav Di-Capua - Academia