ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 looks into the cultural transformation that these interchanges instigated, both in strengthening religious association and a new role for diaspora, which become engines for strengthening regional associations in the larger context of rising ethno-national politics. How empires themselves adapted to these conditions are especially important here, both in the regions covered and among diaspora who ultimately converge in places like Egypt, Eritrea, the Americas and western Europe. The book thus introduces an entirely new set of political and cultural arenas to studying empire and ultimately the study of modernity. The role of the diaspora as an engine for change not only in their homelands but also for their host societies and the imperial strategies geared to exploiting their activism constitutes an entirely new approach to studying empires, the origins of nationalism and regional history.
This chapter introduces the issue of Ottoman western Balkan and Yemeni diasporas based in Romania, Bulgaria, Eritrea, and Egypt. As “communities” that emerged over the course of the nineteenth century, taking a closer look at the interactions of members of these quite distinct clusters of communities, the experience of exile becomes a much more contested and dynamic environment to analyze. These disparate and constantly reanimated set of communities prove that certain logistical limits resulting from state administrative agendas mediated the fluid exchanges between the “homeland” and the immediate issues facing members of the diaspora. Ottoman reforms, in the end, were successful in encouraging most subjects of the empire to commingle local interests with the fate of the empire. But, these were tempered by specific contexts in the diaspora itself. This also applied to those living in what were supposed to be temporary homes. In other words, the parochial concern for the survival of the immediate community, no matter where it was located, transformed over time in ways that suggested even those supposedly in open opposition with the regime had a specific set of reasons for supporting the survival of the Ottoman state and the host state as well. These interlinking interests constitute a process between villagers, traders, soldiers, bureaucrats and the actors outside the empire altogether. What this ultimately means is the long held view that diasporas like those found in Egypt, Bulgaria, Eritrea, and Romania were crucial to forging modern Arab and Balkan ethno-nationalist movements may need serious revision. It is at this point that a brief description of the three regions used to make these methodological and ethnical points may prove helpful.
