Arab Identities in Search of Bilingual Modernity before wwi

Abstract

The purpose of this study is not to retell the history of education in geographical Syria in the late Ottoman era before WWI, but to highlight the process that made it possible for an important group of Syrian Muslim intellectuals to change their perceptions, from professing an anti-missionary, anti-Western Arab cultural identity-as earlier studies have emphasized-to having a positive outlook toward Western schools. This shift occurred because they perceived that Western culture was a necessary means to modernize Arab cultural identity. Although this process started before the mid-19th century with the importation of translated books on modern secular subjects from Egypt in 1838, this study concentrates on the late 19th and early 20th century to sharpen perception of the process.