2018/07/03 by Ami Ayalon · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Islamic Studies and History #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Archaeology and Historical Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/21520844.2018.1509188
openalex publication_date 2018/07/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The adoption of printing in the Ottoman Arab provinces in the nineteenth century portended a cultural transformation with profound implications, known as the nahda. Focusing on the Syrian town of Tripoli (Tarabulus al-Sham) as a case study, the article examines the historic cultural change from a peripheral vantage point. It looks at the impact of Arab printing and publishing, which evolved primarily in Cairo, Alexandria, and Beirut, on a community on the fringe of cultural change and examines its cultural interrelationship with these centers. Its findings show that, more than acting as mere consumers of print, Tripoli residents in substantial numbers took an active part in the discourse on social and cultural dilemmas which printing facilitated across the region, before adopting similar novelties in their own town toward the end of the century. The probe casts light on the manifold process by which printing, its products, and its diffusion mechanisms spread throughout the region. As printing was a key channel for circulating news and views, the study also affords a credible notion of the role that communities away from the production epicenters played in the nahda.