Teachers as State-Builders: Education and the Making of the Modern Middle East

289 Pages·2022·10.15 MB·English

by  Hilary Falb Kalisman

teachers as state- builders

Teachers as State- Builders
education and the making of the
modern middle east
hilary falb kalisman
prince ton university press
princet on & oxford
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ISBN 978-0-691-20433-8
ISBN (pbk.) 978-0-691-23425-0
ISBN (e- book) 978-0-691-20432-1
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Fred Appel and James Collier
Production Editorial: Jill Harris
Cover Design: Chris Ferrante
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Kate Hensley and Charlotte Coyne
Copyeditor: Anita O’Brien
Cover image: Palestine Bursary Students, 1926–1927. Photo graph shows L– R: Mahfuz
Ajluni, Ibrahim Matar, Ali R. Sha’th, Husayn Ghunaym, Dimitri Baramki (center),
and Olga Wahbeh. American University of Beirut, University Libraries, Archives and
Special Collections.
This book has been composed in Arno Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Phil, Aaron, and Eda

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowl edgments xi
Introduction 1
1 From Kuttab to College: Imperial Legacies 21
2 Policies and Practices: The Idiosyncrasies of Teaching
in the Interwar Era 54
3 “Borders We Did Not Recognize”: Travel, Transnationalism,
and Habitus in the Interwar Era 98
4 Educators and Governance: Rebellions from Nation to State 140
5 The Professional Teacher and the Hazards of Mass Education 184
Epilogue 219
Bibliography 225
Index 257
vii

illustrations
1.1. Courtyard, Imperial High School, Baghdad,
between 1880 and 1893 23
1.2. Students, Imperial Military Middle School, Baghdad,
between 1880 and 1893 42
1.3. Village of Irbid, ca. 1900–1920 46
2.1. The Education Committee, Baghdad, 1919 66
2.2. Zakho School, Iraq, 1920s 68
2.3. Village school at Sharqat, Iraq, 1920s 69
2.4. Bir Idhren School, schoolmaster and three pupils, Iraq, 1920s 69
2.5. Number of government teachers in the mandates 75
2.6. Student-to-teacher ratio 76
2.7. Iraqi government school teachers, 1928–1929 78
2.8. Female teachers in Iraq, 1928–1929 79
2.9. Tyreh: schoolmaster and his boys at work in the garden, 1932 83
3.1. The Arab College Jerusalem, Palestine, between 1910
and 1962 105
3.2. Maʾarouf al-Rusafi foundation ceremony of Al- Tifayidh
School, 1928 123
4.1. A professor in Baghdad, Akram Zuʾaytir, 1934 141
4.2. Celebration of Iraq becoming member of the League of
Nations, Baghdad, 1932 152
4.3. Portion of the intermediate futuwwa of Karkh making a military
salute, Iraq, 1936 153
4.4. The martyr Professor Sami al- Ansari, 1936 166
ix