This project offers an alternative perspective on the appearance of new forms of political community, types of social solidarities, and intellectual spaces in the French Mandate in Syria. Most previous scholarship on this period pivots on the presumption of once-and-future nationalisms as the driving historical force. The argument here articulates this history by reinscribing it into a wartime and postwar landscape of physical destruction and mass social, intellectual, and economic trauma. Through a close examination of wide variety of French and Arabic primary sources, this project emphasizes the traumatic origins of political communities and solidarities in the space of historic Greater Syria especially the area of the French Mandate of Syria. Arising initially out of the mass physical and institutional destruction of the First World War, this situation was reified by the persistence of manifold forms of French physical, economic, and intellectual violence. While recognizing the eventual nationalist historical outcomes, this project challenges the accepted primacy of its role in defining the historical period it emerged out of. The driving historical force in this period was not an amorphous nationalism but a shattered society’s intense political, social, economic, and intellectual anxieties about their current and future place in a vastly changed world. This defined the political shape Syria would assume and better explains how Syria and the region as a whole arrived at a nationalist historical outcome. / text

(i): The first part of this thesis questions the concept of ‘minority’, and the way it has been used to analyze French imperial policy in Syria (‘divide and rule’). Chapter 1 traces the concept’s emergence, showing that it is not self-evidently valid but rather depends on a set of wider social and political circumstances related to the existence of modern nation-states: the minorities of modern Syria cannot be mapped directly back onto the Ottoman millets or religious communities. Chapter 2 examines the term’s application in Syria between the wars: French imperial policy emphasised divisions in Syrian society, but the term ‘minority’ was only systematically attached to these divisions from the 1930s. The concept’s spread in Syria reflects its growing importance in international public discourse worldwide, as the nation-state became the standard state form after World War One. The second part of the thesis uses case studies of particular themes to show how the emergence of minorities illuminates processes of state-formation that have shaped the modern world. Chapters 3 and 4, on the question of ‘separatism’ and the definition of modern Syria’s northern border, examine the spread of effective state authority across a ‘national’ territory. This process bound culturally-divergent populations more tightly into the fabric of a centrally-controlled state, thereby constituting them as ‘minorities’. Chapter 5 examines the debate about a Franco-Syrian treaty leading to Syrian independence, showing that this made the recently-established body of international law on ‘minorities’ in newly-independent states applicable to Syria: the term only became widespread in Syria at this time. Chapter 6 looks at French efforts to reform personal status law in the later 1930s, when the restructuring, on religious lines, of the institutional relationship between the Syrian state and its population created a new uniformity within communities at the national level (one condition for their developing the sense of being ‘minorities’). It also sparked opposition from groups now claiming to represent the ‘majority’. Other Syrians, though, understood their society in different terms.

The main aim of this thesis is to examine the history of Sanjak of Alexandretta in the Turkish nationalist historiography. In this respect, it is important to comprehend how this region as a territory was tried to present as a homeland with ethnic-nationalist connotations and idioms through the discipline of history by Kemalist nationalists in the late of 1930s. Thus, in order to pay attention to the process of annexation of the region into Turkey requires focusing on how and by whom this nationalist history was written in order to gain different perspective. In general, the history of region has been considered on the basis of Turkish-Arab animosity. According to this approach, the history of region is the narration of encountering of these nationalist movements. On the other hand, the question of how this history was shaped by Turkish Kemalist nationalists and to interrogate the impact of the self-determination principle and mandate system on this nationalist history through which myths was created and the historical events were distorted in the process of integration of the region are also vital. Besides, while considering this local history, giving priority to the local narratives can open the path to investigate this nationalist history critically and understand the period of annexation from the view of ordinary people.

The Change of Morphology and Function of Public Spaces: Case Study of Latakia Since French Mandate till 2010 Yara Issa Abstract: This thesis explores the history and the practice of making use of squares in Syria in 20th century, particularly in the Syrian coastal city: Latakia. The thesis mainly focuses on the period from the beginning of the twentieth century till 2010. The thesis understands squares as a kind of urban public spaces in cities, which have a tradition ever since the Ancient times, and correspond to the Mediterranean concept of the city. It examines their morphological and functional transformation throughout history, analyzes the squares of Latakia and assets them according to special criteria for successful squares which have been articulated by occidental urban planners and architects. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The aim of this study is to investigate characteristics of urban transformation in Antioch and Alexandretta during the French Mandate, 1920-1938. Contending that a purely formal analysis would fail to grasp complex politics of architecture and urbanism promoted by the French administration, this thesis seeks to explore the urban transformation of these cities in its political and representational context. In analyzing the French perception of the urban space especially in Antioch, this thesis devotes an extensive attention to the nineteenth century travelers who visited Antioch, by emphasizing the ways in which they described the urban make-up of the city. Moreover, it situates the case of Antioch and Alexandretta within the broader framework of French colonial architecture and urbanism by occassionally referring to French North Africa on the one hand, and other cities of the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon on the other hand. Along with an analysis of the changing built environment in Antioch and Alexandretta, other visual and representational strategies such as the colonial exhibition, archeological works, scholarly endeavors, and tourism are discussed. It is the major premise of this thesis that a comprehensive portrayal of the architectural and urban transformation of these cities might be attained only through the inclusion of different forms of political and visual representation.

Gabriel Bounoure (1886-1969) a été durant plus de trente ans un acteur important de la vie littéraire française, collaborateur régulier de nombreuses revues prestigieuses. Il fut même, selon d’excellents juges, l’un des plus grands critiques littéraires de son temps. Il fut par ailleurs diplomate. Il vécut ainsi près de 30 ans à Beyrouth (1923-1952) avant de s’installer au Caire puis à Rabat. Au cours de sa carrière diplomatique, il a assumé de hautes responsabilités dans les domaines de la culture et de l’éducation. Gabriel Bounoure, garda, dans son exil oriental, des relations étroites avec la France. Par ses fonctions diplomatiques mais également par ses critiques qui, loin de s’attacher exclusivement aux écrivains les plus en vue de l’époque (Claudel, Gide) ou aux figures littéraires marquantes du XIXe siècle (Rimbaud, Nerval) ont contribué à faire découvrir des poètes alors jeunes comme Henri Michaux. Parallèlement, il éprouvait pour l’Orient une attirance et une affinité profondes. Il révéla ainsi au public français de jeunes auteurs francophones arabes comme Georges Schéhadé.Les liens entre Bounoure et l’espace méditerranéen sont complexes. La Méditerranée était alors le lieu de changements historiques décisifs. Quel rôle politique Bounoure a-t-il joué ? Quel acteur de la vie littéraire française fut-il à cette même époque ? De quelle façon ces deux facettes de sa personnalité, poétique et politique, ont-elles évolué ? Enfin, dans quelle mesure la réflexion politique et la réflexion critique se sont articulées ? Cette thèse rassemble ses articles critiques éparpillés dans les revues, donne à lire des témoignages et exploite de nombreuses archives inédites. / For more than thirty years, Gabriel Bounoure (1886-1969) played a major role in the French literary life, a regular contributor to many prestigious journals. According to excellent judges, he was even one of the greatest literary critics of his time. He was also a diplomat. He lived for nearly 30 years in Beirut (1923-1952) before moving to Cairo and Rabat. During his diplomatic career, he held positions of high responsibility in culture and education. During his eastern exile, Gabriel Bounoure remained closely linked with France, as a diplomat but as a critic as well, who did not focus exclusively on the writers most popular at the time (Claudel, Gide) or on prominent literary figures of the nineteenth century (Rimbaud, Nerval). He helped to discover young poets like Henri Michaux. Meanwhile, he felt an attraction for and a deep affinity with the East. He thus introduced to the French audience young Arab francophone writers like Georges Schéhadé.The links between Bounoure and the Mediterranean area are complex. The Mediterranean was then the place of decisive historical changes. What political role did Bounoure play? What was his role in the French literary life at the time? How did these two facets of his personality, poetic and political, evolved? Finally, to what extent did his thoughts and views both as a diplomat and a critic meet?This thesis gathers his critical articles scattered in journals, offers testimonials and uses numerous unpublished archives.

L'histoire de la genèse des institutions religieuses musulmanes diverge de celle des autres institutions particulièrement chrétiennes. En l'absence d'un pouvoir central puissant comme l'Empire byzantin, les premiers musulmans ne s'étaient pas pliés aux ordres d'une autorité politique dominante en dehors de l'islam. C'est ainsi que se développaient très tôt des institutions politico-religieuses qui ont pris en charge, tout à la fois, l'administration de l'Etat et la règlementation des affaires religieuses. A cet amalgame s'ajoutait l'aspect dogmatique de l'islam qui refusait toute sorte d'intercession ou clergé entre Dieu et les hommes. Cette émergence continue jusqu'à nos jours à être sujet de polémique entre les défenseurs d'une séparation nette des deux domaines et les défenseurs d'un Islam totalisant englobant le spirituel et le temporel. L'Empire Ottoman, comme ses deux prédécesseurs, a admis une collaboration étroite entre les deux domaines. Les Etats modernes se partagent entre trois tendances : Une qui supprime ou affaiblit les institutions religieuses, une autre qui les intègre à l'appareil de l'Etat et une troisième qui exerce une neutralité vis-à-vis d'elles. Le Liban adopte cette troisième voie. Pour connaître ce mécanisme chaque communauté religieuse est coiffée d'un appareil religieux central qui exerce des compétences législatives, exécutives et judiciaires en tout ce qui touche à ses affaires religieuses et à la gestion de ses biens-waqf. Comment fonctionnent ces institutions religieuses ? C'est le sujet de notre contribution à l'étude des institutions religieuses islamiques. / The history of genesis of the Muslim religious institutions diverges from that of the other institutions, particularly the Christian ones. In the absence of a powerful central power like the Byzantine Empire, the first muslims did not consent to the orders of a dominant political authority outside of Islam. This is how political-religious institutions developed very early, and those took in charge, all together, the administration of the State and the ruling of the religious matters. To this amalgam was added the dogmatic aspect of Islam, that refused to the clergy any sort of intercession between God and men. This emergence continues in our present days to be a subject of polemic nature between the defenders of a clear separation of the two domains, and the defenders of a totalitarian Islam grouping the spiritual and the temporal. The Ottoman Empire, like its two predecessors, have admitted a close collaboration between the two domains. The modern States are divided between three tendencies: One that cancels or weakens the religious institutions, another that integrates them to the State operation and a third one that exercises neutrality in their regard. Lebanon adopts this third way. To know this mechanism, every religious community has its own central religious engine that exercises legislative, executive and judiciary competencies in all what relates to its religious matters and to the administration of its properties- waqf. How do these religious institutions function? This is the subject of our contribution to the study of the Islamic religious institutions